Cloud Storage Channel Feature
StorSimple has Most 'Fully Baked' Cloud Storage Offering, MedPlast States
MedPlast, a provider of thermoplastic medical device, is the latest company to turn to StorSimple, the leading provider of enterprise cloud storage for Windows and VMware infrastructures.
When MedPlast took notice that its existing backup targets were becoming full and backup windows were growing excessively long, MedPlast began to direct its attention toward the cloud and cloud storage offerings. Its extensive search process brought it to StorSimple and, ultimately, MedPlast selected StorSimple for VMware ready cloud storage on Amazon S3.
StorSimple’s appliance will be used for primary storage, automatic archiving, snapshots, cloud snapshots and disaster recovery, according to company officials. “When you talk about primary storage and backup, it is one of the most critical parts of your infrastructure and you really need to have confidence in your solution,” said Dan Streufert, IT director for MedPlast. “We looked at all of the vendors in this space and I spent a lot of time analyzing the capabilities and the pros and cons of each one.”
“It was apparent that StorSimple has the most fully baked solution,” he added. “They have the most enterprise class product and organization. As soon as you open the box with the StorSimple device you can tell it’s an enterprise class, robust, purpose-built device.”
StorSimple has had a lot to celebrate recently, aside from this latest news. Earlier this summer, the cloud storage company was named Microsoft (News 
- Alert) (News - Alert) BizSpark Partner of the Year, it received the grand prize for Best of Show in the Product section at the 2011 Interop (News - Alert) (News - Alert) Tokyo show, investors described StorSimple as a “safe bet” and StorSimple announced a Series C round of funding of $10.5 million.
Now, the cloud storage company is delighting in the fact that MedPlast, a company that specializes in contract manufacturing of thermoplastic and elastomer medical devices for the healthcare and pharmaceutical industry, has selected StorSimple for its cloud storage needs.
“Storage is a challenge because the more complex the system, the higher the cost, which creates a very expensive system for enterprise organizations,” said Ursheet Parikh, StorSimple CEO. “To get the most out of enterprise cloud storage, companies need to think about data in a different way. StorSimple is a next generation cloud storage provider and customers, such as MedPlast, that do detailed investigations quickly find the value in our approach to cloud storage.”
MedPlast manages five plants across the U.S. that have to be run 24/7 in order to generate medical devices that are critical to people’s lives. When MedPlast first noticed that it was having problems with its existing backup targets, instead of purchasing additional disks MedPlast conducted a search to find a company that could help MedPlast find a long-term solution.
Its quest led the company to StorSimple. At first, MedPlast used the StorSimple 5010 just as a backup target, but company officials quickly decided that StorSimple is much more than that. MedPlast moved to storing its Virtual Machines (VMs) on StorSimple, which helped the company perform instant Snapshots and Cloud Snapshots with no adverse effects on performance and the backup window.
The VMs being managed include an ERP application with supporting components such as database reporting, Sharepoint, and programs that monitor the molding presses. File shares and archiving is another key use case.
“The primary lesson learned is that to get the most out of enterprise cloud storage you need to think of your data in a different way,” Streufert said in a customer case study. “Before you used to think about using a SAN, performing Snapshots, copying them to tape and using backup software to manage this whole process. There is a lot of complexity. StorSimple just simplifies this. You don’t have to worry about moving data around. Each block is automatically tiered based on use and automatically backed up offsite.”
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Carrie Schmelkin is a Web Editor for TMCnet. Previously, she worked as Assistant Editor at the New Canaan Advertiser, a 102-year-old weekly newspaper, covering news and enhancing the publication's social media initiatives. Carrie holds a bachelor's degree in journalism and a bachelor's degree in English from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University. To read more of her articles, please visit her columnist page.
Edited by Rich Steeves
