OmegaFi Ranks EMC Unified Storage "In a Different League" Over NetApp

HOPKINTON, Mass., Feb. 23, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- EMC Corporation (NYSE: EMC) today announced that Omega Financial, Inc. (OmegaFi), a provider of online financial, fundraising and communications solutions, as well as consulting and staffing support to thousands of college fraternities and sororities across the U.S., has selected EMC^® VNX^™ unified storage over NetApp.  As a result, the VNX increased OmegaFi's performance by 10X and enabled dramatic improvements to the scalability and data availability of its Citrix XenServer virtualized web servers, Microsoft SQL Server databases and other mission-critical applications. Customer-driven innovations like VNX have led customers to recognize EMC as the #1 storage choice for Microsoft, Oracle, virtual desktops and other mission-critical environments in a recent survey by IDC(1).

Customer Benefits:

• Improved Performance—Since implementing VNX, OmegaFi has achieved a 10X increase in the performance for its end users.
• Increased Scalability—As OmegaFi continues to grow, its VNX can scale to meet the needs of the growing business without compromising performance.
• Simplified Management—VNX's ease of use and Unisphere™ management software allows OmegaFi to provision new storage in just minutes and instantly view its performance.
• Robust Data Protection- VNX's replication solutions deliver comprehensive data protection and disaster recovery to OmegaFi.

Customer Challenges and Solution:

OmegaFi recently expanded its business model to include in-house data storage for the national organizations it serves. As a result, the significant increase in member records required increased performance, scalability and business continuity. OmegaFi's previous infrastructure, based on standalone file and Web servers, was not meeting its growing needs.

OmegaFi selected EMC VNX unified storage with EMC replication technologies over NetApp for its performance, scalability and disaster recovery capabilities.  VNX provided a simpler, "no compromise" way for OmegaFi to consolidate its file and application data.  EMC RecoverPoint^™ software, part of the Remote Protection Suite, protects OmegaFi's physical and virtualized file and block data with continuous replication from one VNX in a primary data center to a second VNX at a recovery site 110 miles away.

OmegaFi relies on Citrix XenServer to virtualize its Windows file servers on the VNX, as well as 25 virtual machines running Red Hat Linux and SQL Server applications supported by the VNX.   With EMC VNX's unified capabilities, OmegaFi has consolidated its file and block data onto the VNX, simplifying management, reducing operational costs and enabling future growth.  

Customer Quotes:

George Elliston, Network Administrator, OmegaFi

"When looking for a new storage solution, we compared the EMC VNX and NetApp offerings box to box. VNX was definitely in a different league than NetApp as far as its simplicity, efficiency, performance and ability to scale with our data growth. Service was also a strong consideration for us.  EMC support is as reliable as it comes."

"Because VNX and Unisphere software make system administration so easy, we're able to respond very quickly and efficiently to needs of the business. We can provision new storage in just minutes, maintain the system or achieve an instant view of how the entire environment is performing. The VNX, with Unisphere practically manages itself."

"With the VNX, once everything was set up I realized that I didn't have to think about it, which has really increased my productivity. There's no real hands-on management to speak of. I now have much more time to spend on virtualization projects and other more strategic work. I don't know how I managed before without it."

"Our users say that everything runs 10X faster on the VNX than it did with our previous storage solution. We have several executives who work remotely and pull files across the network, and they have been raving about how much faster the performance has been since we implemented VNX."

"With the growth we've been experiencing, the VNX allows us to scale easily and increase capacity whenever needed without worrying about decreasing system performance."

"It's incredible how fast VNX and RecoverPoint are at moving enormous amounts of data. We once restored two 60-70 gigabyte databases to a test server in just five minutes.   The VNX just works. It has proven to be more beneficial and reliable than any solution I've ever used.  I love that we have both our file and block storage consolidated on the VNX. It's simple to manage and grow."

About VNX

The award-winning VNX Family offers customers simple, efficient, affordable and powerful unified storage optimized for virtualized application environments. With the EMC FAST^™ Suite, VNX customers can cost-effectively leverage the benefits of Flash performance --with "no compromise."  VNXe^™ offers an affordable unified storage platform for smaller businesses with solution-focused software that's easy to manage, provision, and protect. The VNX Family dramatically simplifies the deployment and management of virtualized applications, including those from Microsoft, Oracle, and virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) solutions from VMware^® and Citrix.

Additional Resources:

• Learn more about EMC VNX unified storage
• Read the customer profile
• Connect with EMC via Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn and ECN  

About EMC

EMC Corporation is a global leader in enabling businesses and service providers to transform their operations and deliver IT as a service. Fundamental to this transformation is cloud computing.  Through innovative products and services, EMC accelerates the journey to cloud computing, helping IT departments to store, manage, protect and analyze their most valuable asset — information — in a more agile, trusted and cost-efficient way. Additional information about EMC can be found at www.EMC.com.

(1) IDC, Storage User Demand Study, 2011 - Spring Edition: Unlocking the Minds of Storage Users, Doc # 230148, Sep 2011

EMC, VNX, VNXe, FAST, RecoverPoint, and Unisphere are registered trademarks or trademarks of EMC Corporation in the United States and other countries. VMware is a registered trademark of VMware Corporation in the United States and other countries.  All other trademarks used herein are the property of their respective owners.

SOURCE EMC Corporation