Security was once a big issue as companies began researching the potential of taking their business applications to the cloud. Companies with particularly sensitive data, such as health records, would shoot down any mention of cloud-based services, especially cloud storage, due to security concerns. This assumption of risk, however, has turned into opportunity.

According to this StorSimple report, Pine Rest Christian Mental Health Services is a good example of a company with sensitive data that gave its business to a cloud-based company. This migration occurred only after its HIPAA officer gave a full review and his approval.

Pine Rest is a not-for-profit organization that is held accountable for every penny it spends. With 18 outpatient clinics and more than 200 licensed care workers, however, the company's IT staff couldn't get any bigger without investing more money into staff and infrastructure. Given these limitations, it went shopping and came up with a cloud storage solution in StorSimple, leveraging its file server, exchange and sharepoint storage.

Before making this move, Pine Rest had obvious concerns about security. Its patients range from children to older adults who are considered in-patient or getting partially hospitalized services. Though a majority is seeking help for depression, the illnesses range from anxiety to schizophrenia.

Because of HIPPA concerns, the organization couldn't trust its cloud storage needs with a SaaS (News - Alert), public or private cloud-based solutions or a mix thereof as its clients' personal health information could be accessed by the service providers. StorSimple can securely and transparently integrate the cloud into an on-premise application, providing Pine Rest with the necessary security in a cloud-based solution, according to the case study.

Pine Rest was able to get rid of its direct-attached storage and tape backup technology and acquire multi-gigabyte inboxes by going with cloud storage solutions from StorSimple. The organization was also able to implement disaster recovery assurance through StorSimple.

Companies like Pine Rest, that need to reduce their costs where storage is concerned and can't invest in more infrastructure, choose StorSimple. Not only do StorSimple clients reduce costs, they get a managed, multiple-storage solution with separate management interfaces.

Moreover, their data can be backed up quicker than ever, and is protected through StorSimple's “snapshots and cloud clones” that offer off-site data protection. Using the cloud snapshot or cloud clone, companies can double their infrastructure investment while saving money.

StorSimple's cloud storage also offers pre-configured, optimized volumes for Windows File Shares, VMware libraries, SharePoint Content, Log files or databases and exchange. The company is also renowned for being the first and only cloud storage solution certified for Windows Server 2008 R2. It's also the first and only cloud storage solution to be VMware Ready certified.