Webair Cloud Storage Services Reach New Heights with EMC Isilon

SEATTLE - April 03, 2012 -

EMC Corporation (NYSE: EMC) today announced that Webair, a global leader in web hosting and managed services for companies of all sizes, has deployed EMC® Isilon® scale-out NAS to provide its clients with reliable, fast, easily scaled cloud storage. The EMC Isilon X-Series was deployed to replace its legacy storage systems, which were costly to acquire and cumbersome to maintain. As Webair's customer base and Big Data storage needs grew, the company needed an easier, more flexible and cost-effective storage infrastructure. By implementing EMC Isilon, Webair is saving money and offering more flexible, automated storage services to clients.

Customer Benefits:

• Reduced costs – By deploying Isilon, Webair was able to eliminate 100 legacy storage systems in its data center, saving hundreds of thousands of dollars in capital expenditures as well as in electricity and other costs.
• Flexible storage services for clients – Webair clients pay only for the storage they use and can easily increase capacity as needed, which saves them money and makes Webair's client offerings more competitive.
• Improved performance – Isilon outperformed the legacy storage systems, especially when processing large client files such as streaming video.
• Easy scalability – Isilon scale-out architecture and software enables Webair to seamlessly manage an increase of hundreds of terabytes every year with no additional staff required.

Customer Challenges and Solution:

Prior to the deployment of the EMC Isilon-based Webair Cloud Storage Service, each Webair client was provided a dedicated storage system. To accomplish full redundancy, standby appliances and more complex configurations were often required. This legacy configuration created additional management overhead and resource requirements, given the large number of storage systems Webair had deployed. Once Webair converted clients to its new Cloud Storage Service, built on an Isilon infrastructure, the company was able to remove all the capacity and speed limitations associated with standalone systems, reduce data center power and cooling draw, and provide clients with a more scalable and redundant solution, thus reducing customers' costs and its own operating expenses.

In September 2008, Webair rolled out its first Isilon deployment. Webair was among the first to take advantage of Isilon support for Virtual LANs (VLANs). VLANs enabled Webair to easily segment Isilon storage for each client for security and privacy purposes. With Isilon's ease of scaling and unique "pay-as-you-grow" model, Webair's clients only pay for the capacity they use, which can be easily increased as needed.

Isilon X-Series, along with Isilon SmartQuotas and SmartConnect, has significantly simplified storage management for both Webair and its clients. Webair developed its own custom API to run on top of the Isilon system and management tools. Webair's customized configuration enables the company to automatically add and delete clients, and lets clients increase cloud storage capacities or restore from a snapshot without requiring support from Webair. Webair is also able to automatically invoice clients based on their cloud storage usage.

Customer Quote:

Sagi Brody, chief technical officer, Webair

"EMC Isilon provides us with increased functionality so that we can match the right storage solution to the specific client use case. Clients no longer need to invest in dedicated storage systems based on growth projections. Instead, they can order a cloud server from Webair with the CPU, memory, and storage resources they need, pay only for what they use today, and scale easily. Clients get the performance and capacity that a dedicated storage system would give them, along with the benefits of having that system securely in the cloud. They experience the best of both worlds."

EMC Quote:

Sam Grocott, vice president of marketing, EMC Isilon

"Web hosting and cloud services are extremely competitive industries. By deploying EMC Isilon for its storage infrastructure, Webair is staying one step ahead of competitors. They've significantly reduced their CapEx and other costs while giving clients secure, reliable, scale-out cloud storage. It's a win for both Webair and its clients."

About Isilon

Isilon, a division of EMC, is the global leader in scale-out NAS. We deliver powerful yet simple solutions for enterprises that want to manage their data, not their storage. Isilon’s products are simple to install, manage and scale, at any size. And, unlike traditional enterprise storage, Isilon stays simple no matter how much storage is added, how much performance is required or how business needs change in the future. We're challenging enterprises to think differently about their storage, because when they do, they'll recognize there’s a better, simpler way. Learn what we mean at http://www.isilon.com.

About Webair

Founded in 1996, Webair is a leader in managed hosting solutions, including Managed & Secure Cloud Infrastructure for companies of all sizes and is recognized as a global leader in the industry. Webair offers a variety of Web Hosting services including Cloud Servers, Hybrid & Private Clouds, Dedicated Servers, CDN and Video Streaming Solutions. Webair, headquartered in New York, provides managed and secure cloud services and guarantees uptime through its international network of data centers located in New York, Los Angeles, Montreal and Amsterdam.