Irish Company Data Electronics Partners With HDS

Data Electronics, an Irish managed services provider, has partnered with Hitachi Data Systems Corporation to offer a new storage on demand service The new Storage Area Network (SAN) solution offers clients a cost effective and resilient storage solution that provides greater flexibility and liquidity for businesses to manage their day-to-day storage needs.

The ‘SAN on Demand’ service will be delivered across Data Electronics’ two primary Data Centres, Kilcarbery Park and its newly opened Northwest Business Park. It will give clients the opportunity to avail of a high-end storage solution and management expertise without any upfront costs and at rates that are significantly more affordable than purchasing, maintaining and managing units in-house.

Using Hitachi Data Systems’ Enterprise Storage Arrays, the service is complemented with a full package of software tools that allow many different combinations of features, replications and management capabilities. Included in which is the ability to classify data and store it in the most cost effective type of disks available, from Fibre Channel to SATA disks and the ability to manage systems and data from other vendors.

Commenting on the new service, Maurice Mortell, Chief Executive, Data Electronics said: “We are delighted to have partnered with Hitachi to provide this ‘SAN on Demand’ service. The ability to scale up or down on storage availability opens unprecedented opportunities for clients who need scalability and availability during times of peak demand, but who also need to keep their costs under control. In addition, this service can be a valuable addition to company’s business continuity and disaster recovery programmes. In the current economic climate, businesses now more than ever need a way to manage their storage that is flexible to respond to their changing needs, yet allows them to reduce their storage costs by only paying for the capacity they need at any given point”.

“There is no question that IT managers are faced with possible budget cuts and where budgets are available they are under pressure to justify ROA on all IT projects”, said Steve Murphy, Vice President UK & Ireland, Hitachi Data Systems. “With IDC predicting that the global storage-as-a-service market will enjoy a 29% annual compound growth rate between 2007 to 2012, HDS and Data Electronics are well positioned to tap into this market potential. This service truly addresses the business needs of IT managers in these tough times.”