Utility Storage Provider Delivers Flexibility and Efficiency to Power FlexSafe Cloud

3PAR announced today that Horizon Data Center Solutions (HDCS) has chosen 3PAR Utility Storage to enable their newly announced FlexSafe Cloud. Founded in 2008, the up-and-coming datacenter and managed services provider (MSP) chose 3PAR Utility Storage as the foundation for its cloud computing services based on the superior efficiency, agility, and scalability of 3PAR’s highly virtualized InServ Storage Server platform.

As a growing datacenter and managed services provider, success for HDCS depends on the ability to distinguish itself from the competition by providing a level of agility and efficiency not achievable with legacy storage infrastructures. By allowing HDCS to build an effective and flexible managed storage platform at a low cost, 3PAR fit the cloud computing company’s storage needs perfectly. In fact, by deploying highly virtualized 3PAR InServ T-Class Storage Servers, HDCS reduced their Total Cost of Storage by 60% as compared to purchasing legacy storage systems from a traditional storage vendor—a definite competitive advantage.

“As a proven virtualized storage leader in the enterprise cloud computing arena, 3PAR Utility Storage was the natural choice for enabling us to hit the ground running as a new contender in a competitive environment,” said Chuck Smith, Chief Marketing Officer and Executive Vice President at HDCS. “But what truly sold us was that 3PAR was different from the other storage vendors we had dealt with. They really spoke our language, not just in terms of future scalability, but also in terms of translating dollars into cost per useable gigabyte or terabyte—the same way that we communicate costs to our end-users.”

The 3PAR InServ T-Class Storage Server deployed at the HDCS datacenter in Dallas is part of a broader virtual datacenter deployment based on 3cV, a combination of highly virtualized utility storage from 3PAR with HP BladeSystem c-Class server blades and server virtualization software from VMware. This virtual datacenter forms a secure cloud computing environment that enables HDCS to offer highly flexible and highly customizable managed services to its customers.

By targeting companies that have outgrown their current service provider but are still too small for the multi-billion-dollar outsource venture, HDCS differentiates itself by addressing the specific needs of mid-tier enterprises that are traditionally underserved within the current MSP landscape. 3PAR has provided HDCS with the freedom to meet the needs of the companies that fall into this niche without compromising the agility and efficiency that are expected of MSPs.

“Initially, 3PAR’s unique understanding of the service provider space was what attracted us to utility storage,” said Smith. “Since deploying our virtual datacenter, 3PAR has delivered everything we need from a storage platform—industry-leading performance, high availability, virtual private arrays, disaster recovery, tiered storage capability—all within a single, consolidated array that is both cost-efficient and easily scalable.”

The native tiered-storage capabilities of the T-Class have allowed HDCS to consolidate multiple tiers of storage and multiple drive classes onto a single array that is highly compact, simple to manage, and easy to grow. With 3PAR, HDCS has the ability to scale non-disruptively and in small increments in order to align storage costs with business growth. In addition, HDCS has realized $100K in annualized administration savings due to the platform’s superior ease of management, which has enabled HDCS to administer their new storage infrastructure with existing resources. With traditional systems, two additional storage administrators would have been required to manage their storage infrastructure.

“HDCS is part of a growing faction of emerging cloud computing service providers that have built their businesses catering to individual customer needs with highly targeted, highly adaptable service offerings,” said David Scott, President and CEO for 3PAR. “Due to its superior agility and efficiency, 3PAR Utility Storage offers the ideal foundation for supporting this business model and for offering flexible, secure, and cost-efficient cloud-based services tailored to individual customers and their specific requirements.”