A&W Food Services Satisfies Hunger for File Virtualization with AutoVirt

NASHUA, N.H., April 26 /PRNewswire/ -- AutoVirt™, Inc., the leading provider of file virtualization and data management solutions, today announced that A&W Food Services of Canada, one of Canada's largest and fastest growing restaurant chains, is implementing a virtualized file storage environment with AutoVirt.  The AutoVirt solution was chosen to replace existing StorageX technology, as AutoVirt offered a more advanced and easier to use solution for the management of backend corporate file systems, over the soon to be end-of-lifed StorageX technology.  A&W's new virtualized environment, which will come online without any disruption to users, will enable A&W to completely reorganize its file environment for streamlined backup, retention and security policies, leading to tremendous improvements in operational efficiency and dramatic cost savings.

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When Bruce Jamieson, the company's Network Systems Manager, joined the Corporate IT Department about five years ago, he inherited a number of challenges, especially in regards to the company's backend file storage environment.  The file system had very little structure, making it impossible for Jamieson to separate the relatively few files that required specialized policy-based treatment from the rest of the data.  As a result, Jamieson needed to apply the same expensive backup, retention and security policies to all the files in his environment.  Jamieson needed to find a solution that would enable him to clean up, and then more easily manage the company's backend corporate file data.  After an extremely successful server virtualization initiative, he was sold on the value of virtualization and decided to apply a virtualization solution to his file infrastructure as well.  

"Initially, I tried to use the StorageX technology from Brocade, but I quickly learned that it did not work 'as advertised.'  Moreover, it was soon in the process of being end-of-lifed," said Jamieson.  "I needed a solution that would work seamlessly with what I already had, without requiring me to rewrite every file pointer in my environment, retrain my users, or take the data offline for extended periods of time.  After careful research and review of potential alternatives, AutoVirt emerged as the obvious choice.  Due to its unique software-only approach, as well as its other distinctive features and functionality, it was really the only technology able to deliver on these requirements.  It was also priced dramatically lower than its competitors."  

Jamieson continued, "With AutoVirt, we will be able to quickly and easily virtualize our Windows file storage environment and organize the files so that I can easily apply targeted data management policies to just those files where such policies are required. For example, I can now ensure that my critical financial files are backed up more frequently than my users' mp3 files. Only AutoVirt could let me do this without ever disrupting my end-users."

"Bruce recognized that he can solve many of his file management challenges by virtualizing his files.  For five years, Bruce was unable to migrate his users to a better organized file environment without it having a major impact on his users.   With AutoVirt, Bruce will be able to accomplish this without disrupting his business, putting him in a better position to manage those files more efficiently," said Brian Gladstein, Vice President of Marketing for AutoVirt.  "What is even more important to note is that like many of our customers, Bruce had the foresight to realize that while file virtualization is a highly effective means by which to execute fast, transparent and error-free data migrations, it is also a very powerful tool for a variety of other storage management initiatives. For instance, tiering files with AutoVirt enables more effective backup, data protection, disaster recovery, long-term data retention and archiving, as well as other day-to-day processes necessary for the effective management and protection of corporate data."

Jamieson also plans to leverage AutoVirt's file virtualization capabilities to consolidate how his users view and access their files, making it easier for them to find what they are looking for.  Jamieson will be able to archive unused files to lower-cost SATA drives, shrink A&W's backup window, and apply appropriate retention policies to data after users leave the company. These activities all result in hard and soft savings across disk, tape, hardware, software and operational processes.

To learn more about A&W Food Services of Canada, please visit: http://www.aw.ca/.  

About AutoVirt

AutoVirt is the leading provider of file virtualization and data management solutions.  AutoVirt's file virtualization solution eliminates the biggest obstacle to any file management project: user disruption. IT administrators can easily virtualize access to files with AutoVirt, and then use the platform to migrate, consolidate, replicate, or tier data across any number of physical devices without affecting users or reconfiguring applications. This means that, for the first time, IT departments can seamlessly move data around while it is in use, dynamically route users to disaster recovery (DR) sites, and transparently tier data to cost-effective platforms, driving significant savings in storage hardware and management. AutoVirt's software-only platform installs easily and requires no changes to existing infrastructure. For further information, please call 603-546-2900, e-mail [email protected], or visit www.autovirt.com.

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SOURCE AutoVirt, Inc.