University Of San Diego Achieves VM Backup With Quantum

Quantum Corp. announced that the University of San Diego has deployed DXi-Series deduplication with vmPRO software to protect the school’s VM data, bringing data growth under control and reducing the school’s reliance on disk storage through a new backup workflow.

Based on the university’s growth projections, the new system is anticipated to save $1.6 million over the next three years.

Fixing a Broken VM Backup Workflow
A technology trailblazer, the University of San Diego was among the first universities to virtualize its IT infrastructure, and has a 98% virtual environment. While virtualization yielded cost savings, the volume of data began to overwhelm the university’s backup workflow, and it was unable to meet backup windows.

Meeting Evolving Data Use Demands
Challenged to meet demands to use data in new and innovative ways – including the addition of integrated systems and mobile applications that are so important to the students, faculty and staff at universities – the university explored a variety of deduplication appliances and software solutions. The university chose the combination of a DXi appliance and vmPRO software for protecting VMware virtual environments, drawn to the system’s ‘future proof’ scalability.

As a purpose-built backup appliance, the DXi-Series is designed to be easy to implement and manage. The university began seeing results after deploying it, achieving a 22:1 deduplication ratio and improved restore times with the DXi appliance, reliable and cost-effective. The IT department also found the agentless vmPRO software and, because it backups data in native VMware format, the university is protecting its virtual environment with greater availability and efficiency.

The IT department no longer struggles to meet the backup policies it sets and can backup all of its data within established backup windows. Due to the cost savings resulting from the improved workflow and process delivered by Quantum technology, the university’s systems architects are also now free to work on more strategic projects to advance the school’s goals for the future. In addition, with DXi’s cloud-ready capabilities, the university is exploring how it can leverage the cloud for replication and archive purposes.

Christopher Wessells, vice provost and CIO, University of San Diego, said: “In speaking with CIOs or IT leaders about how they can improve their ability to backup, restore and protect data, I would recommend Quantum products. Quantum’s DXi-Series and vmPRO software have been an absolute step forward for us. Any organization that has a VMware virtual environment and is facing challenges with backup not done in a timely manner can see huge improvements by implementing Quantum solutions.“

Robert Kelly, CEO and founder, Partners Data Systems, Inc., said: “Having offered Quantum for many years now, we’ve built the mutual trust to successfully provide reliable solutions that always meet and typically exceed our clients’ expectations, like we did for University of San Diego. Quantum’s sales and support teams are great to work with, and we very much value our partnership.“

Robert Clark, SVP, product operations, Quantum, said: “The University of San Diego’s experience vividly illustrates what happens when traditional backup workflows break down under the weight of today’s virtualized environments. Quantum’s next-gen data protection solutions offer the simple scalability, high performance, and economic value that uniquely align with USD’s strategic vision for the future.“