Architecture Firm MulvannyG2 Buils on Nimble Storage

Nimble Storage announced that MulvannyG2, one of the 50 largest architecture firms in the world, has adopted Nimble CS240 converged storage arrays for primary storage and backup, reducing backup times for architectural 3D design files by orders of magnitude in just the first few months since deployment.

The arrays are also expected to play a role in speeding the launch of virtual-desktop (VDI) technology, initially in the firm’s remote offices.

Facing a three-fold increase in the data backup volume on its network over one year and the rapid adoption of data-intensive 3D technology for architectural renderings, MulvannyG2 adopted the Nimble array to reduce the strain on its backup operations, which are typically initiated on Fridays and have recently extended into Monday-morning business hours. With the aid of the Nimble CS240, MulvannyG2 has reduced backup times to under a minute, cutting backup costs by 50 percent and reducing storage complexity – in part by incorporating data compression and eliminating the need for tape as a medium for storage and backup.

"Backups today take under a minute, versus the hours or days in the past with the legacy hardware and software we had in place," said Mike Brester, System Administrator for MulvannyG2.

Additionally, through hourly storage ‘snapshots,’ the firm has reduced its recovery point objectives to one hour, ensuring that a data loss would result in no more than 59 minutes of remedial effort under any circumstance. MulvannyG2 uses its second Nimble array for offsite data replication, a component in the firm’s data protection initiatives.

Taming Massive 3D Files
MulvannyG2 architects have progressively relied on the Revit modeling tool for its sophistication in producing 3D building information models. Where the more traditional AutoCAD file typically ranges from two to 10 megabytes, a Revit file consumes 100 to 200 megabytes. As a result, the firm sees data compression as one means of coping with mounting storage challenges and forestalling the purchase of new storage capacity. The firm cites the Nimble array for a combination of raw speed (IOPS) and front-end data compression that enable it to manage massive increases in data. On one volume storing information in a number of databases, MulvannyG2 has achieved 67% compression.

The integrated flash architecture of the Nimble array has also played a part in the firm’s improvement in backup times. "In one test in our Shanghai office, a Revit file opened 10 times as fast on the Nimble array as it did on our legacy SAN," said Brester.

Virtualizing Data in Remote Offices
MulvannyG2 plans to use the Nimble CS240 as part of a near-term plan to roll out virtual-desktop technology, with two offices scheduled to go live as a pilot effort. In the deployment, which will couple front-end compression and IOPS performance over a high-bandwidth connection, entire remote offices of virtual-desktop users will access project data stored at company headquarters in Bellevue, Washington.

Longer term, the firm plans to remove local SANs from each of its regional offices and deploy a Cisco UCS system to support all VMware instances, using a local Nimble array to store all virtual machine data. With this configuration, snapshots from each data volume will be replicated to the firm’s second, offsite Nimble array.