SendOutCards Using Isilon SmartPools Software

Isilon Systems, Inc. announced that SendOutCards, LLC has deployed Isilon scale-out storage to power its greeting card creation, customization and distribution services.

Using Isilon’s SmartPools software, SendOutCards has unified multiple performance tiers of Isilon scale-out storage into a single file system, simplifying data management to drive increased IT efficiency, cost-savings and application performance. With SmartPools, SendOutCards has consolidated all of its user-generated content, production data and email onto a central, shared storage pool, aligning user demand with storage resources to improve utilization and increase productivity.

"Our success depends on our ability to consistently provide flexible, on-demand services for our customers, so we need data storage that can do the same for us," said Nick Brooks, systems engineer, SendOutCards. "Isilon delivered. It’s simple to manage, scales on-demand, and with SmartPools and InsightIQ, we get automated tiering and deep analytics all in one, easy-to-use file system."

Prior to using Isilon, SendOutCards NFS servers couldn’t keep pace with continued growth and increasing user demand, which complicated storage management and slowed project turnaround. Working with leading Isilon integrator Advanced Systems Group (ASG), SendOutCards deployed Isilon scale-out storage in multiple data centers, using Isilon’s SyncIQ software to seamlessly replicate data between the clusters for backup and disaster recovery. For SendOutCards’ primary production environment, ASG used SmartPools, in combination with Isilon’s X- and NL-Series, to create a single file system and single point of management for multiple performance tiers, eliminating the need for SendOutCards to manually migrate data between tiers and reducing storage management to less than one full-time equivalent (FTE).  

"Multi-tiered storage environments like SendOutCards are becoming commonplace in IT, requiring new, innovative solutions that simplify storage management and accelerate data movement," said Blake Hawkes, client executive, ASG. "SendOutCards’ success proves Isilon’s SmartPools can do both, all from a single file system, which is a significant competitive advantage in any industry."

"SendOutCards is helping improve how we communicate with those we care about," said Sam Grocott, vice president of marketing, Isilon. "Now, by using Isilon to accelerate productivity and improve efficiency, they’re helping demonstrate that there really is a better, simpler way to manage your data."