Fortune 100 Firm Consolidates Storage With CTERA Cloud Storage Gateways

The company’s branch office users regularly create and share data among themselves. Microsoft Windows file servers had been used for this task but they were nearing the end of their lifecycle and needed replacement. Additionally, an application used by branch employees was backed up daily using proprietary software, but with no off-site copy for disaster recovery, and no ability to monitor backups, or rapidly restore files in the event of a crash or outage. Moreover, this existing solution was expensive to operate, consuming IT support resources. The company needed a different approach, one that would combine local storage capabilities with full centralized management, off-site backup, and the scalability to handle thousands of locations and tens of thousands of users – all at a palatable cost.

The IT department had set its sights on a private cloud storage architecture, which would provide the required data access control and security. However, finding cost-effective ways to extend that infrastructure to the company’s remote branches was proving difficult. WAN optimization options were too expensive to consider for such a large number of sites, and traditional NAS solutions were rejected due to lack of centralized management and the lack of integrated private cloud backup. The company sought a solution that would combine the capabilities of enterprise-grade small-footprint NAS appliances, with scalable management, WAN optimization and private cloud storage integration.