Hosting Services Firm LeaseWeb in The Netherlands Adopts NetApp

Business hosting services firm LeaseWeb, has made a decision to use a FAS 3040HA mid-range platform by NetApp so that it will be able to offer its customers a complete storage-on-demand (SOD) solution.

LeaseWeb currently hosts more than 11,000 servers in the Netherlands, divided over four data centers. In order to offer its customers additional storage services, the Netherlands’ fastest-growing hosting provider ordered the design of a shared and virtual storage platform.

Ruud Mous, Sales Director at LeaseWeb noted: "This platform will allow us to offer several new hosted services, including managed back-up, archiving, disaster recovery, replication and deduplication."

The corporate hosting provider compared storage platforms of several providers and eventually decided on the FAS 3040HA mid-range platform by NetApp. The choice was based on the scalability and uniformity of the platform as well as its possibilities for further expansion.

A component of the unified NetApp architecture, the FAS 3040HA platform supports servers as well as FC SAN, IP SAN and multiple network configurations. The platform is also easily scalable to powerful systems without any special data migration being required.

Mr. Mous added: "In the future, it will be possible to scale the platform to more than one petabyte. NetApp helped us to implement the platform in a quick manner and they also provide SE support. Thanks to NetApp, we will succeed in reducing our operational expenses. And by combining the platform with VMware solutions, we achieve many benefits from virtualization."

Recently, LeaseWeb was granted ISO certification for information security, through an IT Audit. Risk management within LeaseWeb was a security aspect that Noordbeek IT Audit included in its assessment.

The ISO 27001 certification offers security for LeaseWeb’s larger corporate customers, and also for e-commerce sites. Con Zwinkels, Managing Director at LeaseWeb added: "Corporate website hosting requires a structured and secure approach from a hosting provider, through fixed procedures."

ISO 27001 is a continuous process, and LeaseWeb will be audited according to ISO standards annually. Mr. Zwinkels added: "Continuity is extremely important in the assessment according to this ISO standard. It guarantees our customers professional hosting, and gives them the security that their hosting is and will continue to be professionally organized."