Copan Leverages GSA Agreement with Promark

COPAN Systems announced the availability of a new General Services Administration (GSA) contract schedule for government agencies and COPAN value-added resellers (VARs). The availability of the GSA schedule makes it easier for federal, state and local government agencies to take advantage of the significant data center cost, energy and space efficiencies and energy savings available with COPAN’s Enterprise MAID (Massive Array of Idle Disks) storage technology. The GSA schedule is available to all government agencies and COPAN VARs through its agreement with Promark Technology, a value-added distributor of data storage products in the United States.

Energy consumption for storage in the data center is becoming a critical concern for government IT executives and the increasing volume of spinning disks is a prime culprit. Back in 2006, Congress required federal government data centers to install energy-efficient servers. The former administration recently signed an executive order requiring federal organizations to find ways to save energy. Overall, the Fed has set a goal of 30% reduction in energy consumption by the year 2015. The current economic crisis and new economic stimulus plan are likely to accelerate efforts like these. In addition, the Obama administration is expected to focus even more heavily on technologies that deliver strong environmental benefits.

"Data storage is one of the primary drivers of our government customers’ data center power and cooling requirements," said Howie Evans, vice president of Dallas Digital Services LLC, a COPAN value added reseller partner. "As we help them plan for storage growth, we also consider the cost and environmental impact of any decision. COPAN’s Enterprise MAID storage technology enables our customers to gain dramatic and immediate efficiencies that traditional storage solutions simply cannot."

COPAN’s Enterprise MAID technology platform is purpose-built for the cost-effective and energy-efficient storage of fixed, long-term and infrequently accessed ‘persistent data’ that represents more than 75 percent of all data currently under management. Many government agencies are already seeing significant gains in the efficiency of their storage systems with COPAN including cost savings ranging from 75 to 90 percent of energy per unit of storage. Users can gain an estimated four-year power and cooling savings of $9.5 and $13 million, compared to data stored on traditional disk array solutions.

"We’re committed to supporting our reseller customers with those solutions best suited to their customer’s needs," said Todd Hartung, vice president of Promark Technology. "By extending our GSA contract schedule to COPAN’s channel partners, we’re making it as easy as possible for government agencies to take advantage of the significant benefits available from COPAN’s Enterprise MAID storage solutions and address government-mandated energy reductions and other green IT initiatives."

"COPAN’s MAID storage technology is already in production at nearly 20 federal agencies driving dramatic energy reductions and cost savings," said Will Layton, co-founder and president of COPAN’s Federal Division. "By extending the availability of Promark’s GSA schedule to all our value-added reseller partners and their customers, we’re able to expand our reach to this important market and enable our partners to provide the best solution possible to help address the government’s significant persistent data storage demands."