Old Durable Goods Company JSJ Deploying Nasuni Storage-Infrastructure-as-a-Service

Nasuni Corporation announced that JSJ Corporation, a 95-year old durable goods company located in Grand Haven, MI, projects to save $300,000 over the next five years by deploying Nasuni’s Storage Infrastructure as a Service (SIaaS).

Nasuni will replace JSJ’s centralized storage system, which included backup, WAN optimization and primary storage for 20 locations around the globe.

JSJ’s manufacturing and design teams are distributed across locations worldwide. This global manufacturing footprint means that employees in multiple locations share key resources, requiring access to the same files and information, so the IT organization has to provide data protection and access to end-users around the globe.

The IT organization initially implemented centralized storage in HQs and WAN optimization to deliver files when and where they were needed. However, poor performance often caused long wait times for file access. Engineers in some locations were reporting up to a 20-minute wait to load a single set of CAD drawings. The existing centralized storage system was also expensive, especially enterprise backup in the data center, because it required a massive amount of personnel time dedicated to manage it. Plus, some remote locations still required local backup. China, in particular, experienced significant challenges with unreliable and frequently failing backup systems.

JSJ implemented Nasuni’s Storage Infrastructure as a Service to deliver local access to files, integrated, data protection and centralized management of data – all while driving towards a 40% reduction in file storage costs.

Dave De Young, VP and CIO at JSJ, and his team evaluated Nasuni SIaaS alongside several similar solutions. The improved data protection, distributed access to data and cost-effective solution drove JSJ to select Nasuni for file services in all locations. JSJ implemented Nasuni SIaaS to deliver fast, local access to files with true centralized management for IT. Files are now available locally in each location, eliminating time wasted waiting for files to download. Design and manufacturing teams distributed across the globe access the same files, which increases productivity and end-user satisfaction.

To address the challenges with unreliable backup solutions, the SIaaS storage controllers include built-in data protection at each location. The result is superior data protection delivered uniformly across all locations. The previous 24-hour data-loss window was reduced to just a few minutes, and IT manages data protection centrally without needing to make an additional investment in a separate backup system.

Lowering costs was of paramount importance to JSJ. Switching to the Nasuni storage service resulted in storage cost savings of 40%.

These savings came from three key areas:

• MPLS Bandwidth: File traffic travels over the public internet as opposed to MPLS, but remains safe since all data is encrypted on-site with JSJ’s keys prior to being sent to the cloud;
• Backup Systems: Built-in data protection eliminates the cost of separate backup systems; and
• Hardware NAS: Virtual storage controllers replace traditional hardware NAS solutions.

Because the Nasuni service is a consolidated storage solution sold based on volume, JSJ always has an accurate view of storage costs and charge each individual business based on usage.

The integrated Nasuni solution including storage controllers, cloud storage and end-to-end services and support means that JSJ has a storage partner and a single point of responsibility for file services. JSJ delivers better files services and achieves better management and control, all while realizing a significant cost savings.

“With Nasuni, we will save over $300,000 in five years and give our customers better service. It’s hard to beat that,” said Dave De Young, VP and CIO. “Nasuni SIaaS is the way file storage and performance should be. I no longer hear complaints about slowness of file access. On top of that, our customers are also confident that their data won’t be lost and can be recovered from any point in time.”

“For manufacturers who simply want to sharply reduce the cost of providing storage and backup at multiple locations, Nasuni provides a clearly superior alternative to traditional systems,” said Andres Rodriguez, CEO, Nasuni. “But with Nasuni, they get the benefits of unlimited capacity, centralized management, and fast access to shared files in every office – especially CAD data. This is storage designed for the needs of distributed enterprises.“