Ready to Talk to a System Engineer?

Please enter your information and we'll contact you to set up a call. Thank you!

Customer Success Story

Customer Success Story

Global Engineering Firm Prefers ExaGrid Over Data Domain for Price/Performance

Customer Overview

Permasteelisa Group is a leading global contractor in the design, engineering, project management, manufacture, installation and after-sales service of architectural envelopes. The Group brings its Know-How and expertise to all projects, in particular when dealing with Special Features Buildings and advanced façades, beginning from the design development phases all the way to the successful completion, achieving the customer’s highest expectations. The Group is present in four continents, with a network of 30 entities in more than 20 countries and 6 production plants.

Key Benefits:

  • ExaGrid system fits easily into existing backup infrastructure
  • The system easily scales to accommodate growing data
  • Post-process deduplication and the ability to run backups in parallel help to shorten backup window
  • Superior customer support model provides assigned engineer who is ‘responsive and experienced’
Download PDF

ExaGrid Replaces Failing Tape Library and Improves Retention

Permasteelisa’s IT department was wasting precious resources struggling with the company’s unreliable tape library, and the constant breakdowns often left the staff with no other choice but to back up the firm’s growing amounts of data to a single tape drive.

“We burned through four tape libraries in the last few years, and it seemed like we were constantly struggling with mechanical issues, failed backup jobs, and lack of retention,” said Crystal Utz, systems administrator for Permasteelisa North America. “Finally, we decided to look for a disk-based solution capable of consistently backing up our data, improving retention, and reducing the amount of time and energy we were wasting on managing backups.” Utz said that after looking at several solutions on the market, Permasteelisa narrowed down the field to systems from ExaGrid and Dell EMC Data Domain.

“The ExaGrid system provided all the functionality we needed at a better price than the EMC Dell Data Domain system,” she said. “We also liked that we could use the ExaGrid system along with our existing backup application, Arserve Backup, so our learning curve was minimized.”

Easily Scalable to Accommodate Increased Backup Requirements

Permasteelisa initially purchased an ExaGrid appliance and installed it in the firm’s Windsor, Connecticut datacenter. The system was recently expanded to handle increased amounts of backup data.

“Expanding the ExaGrid system up was simple. We bought an EX3000, and I installed it into the datacenter rack. Then our ExaGrid support engineer accessed the system remotely and finished the configuration. It really couldn’t have been easier,” said Utz. ExaGrid’s award-winning scale-out architecture provides customers with a fixed-length backup window regardless of data growth. Its unique disk-cache Landing Zone allows for the fastest backups and retains the most recent backup in its full undeduplicated form, enabling the fastest restores.

ExaGrid’s appliance models can be mixed and matched into a single scale-out system allowing a full backup of up to 2.7PB with a combined ingest rate of 488TB/hr, in a single system. The appliances automatically join the scale-out system. Each appliance includes the appropriate amount of processor, memory, disk, and bandwidth for the data size. By adding compute with capacity, the backup window remains fixed in length as the data grows.

Automatic load balancing across all repositories allows for full utilization of all appliances. Data is deduplicated into an offline repository, and additionally, data is globally deduplicated across all repositories. This combination of capabilities in a turnkey appliance makes the ExaGrid system easy to install, manage, and scale. ExaGrid’s architecture provides lifetime value and investment protection that no other architecture can match.

"The ExaGrid system provided all the functionality we needed at a better price than the Dell EMC Data Domain system. We also liked that we could use the ExaGrid system along with our existing backup application, Arcserve Backup, so our learning curve was minimized. "

Crystal Utz, Systems Administrator

Data Deduplication Increases Data Retention, Speeds Backups

Utz said that ExaGrid’s zone-level deduplication helps to maximize retention while ensuring that backups run as quickly as possible. “We back up a lot of large SolidWorks and AutoCAD files, and ExaGrid’s data deduplication technology does a great job at reducing our data so that we’re able to keep three months of data on the system,” she said.

“Restores are also far more convenient than tape. We can restore a file quickly right from the system, and we don’t have to deal with the hassles of tape.”

ExaGrid writes backups directly to a disk-cache Landing Zone, avoiding inline processing and ensuring the highest possible backup performance, which results in the shortest backup window. Adaptive Deduplication performs deduplication and replication in parallel with backups for a strong recovery point (RPO). As data is being deduplicated to the repository, it can also be replicated to a second ExaGrid site or the public cloud for disaster recovery (DR).

Permasteelista’s backup times are significantly shorter now that the ExaGrid system is in place, Utz said. “We’re now able to run multiple backup jobs simultaneously to the ExaGrid system. One of the biggest differences for us is that we can now run differential backups during the week, and they take less than an hour,” she said. “It’s so nice that I don’t have to worry about changing tapes or troubleshooting a tape library.”

Easy-to-Manage System, Experienced Customer Support

Utz said that she spends far less time managing backups with ExaGrid. “From a management perspective, ExaGrid is far easier than tape. There’s really not too much to manage – once it’s set up, it just works,” she said. “We’ve also had a very good experience with our ExaGrid’s support engineer. Our engineer is extremely responsive and experienced.”

The ExaGrid system is easy to install and use and works seamlessly with the industry’s leading backup applications so that an organization can retain its investment in its existing backup applications and processes. “The ExaGrid system was cost effective, and it fit into our existing backup infrastructure,” said Utz. “We’re far more confident in our ability to restore data than we were with tape, and it’s reduced the amount of time we spend on backups. I’d highly recommend the system.”

ExaGrid and Arcserve Backup

Efficient backup requires close integration between the backup software and backup storage. That is the advantage delivered by the partnership between Arcserve and ExaGrid Tiered Backup Storage. Together, Arcserve and ExaGrid provide a cost-effective backup solution that scales to meet the needs of demanding enterprise environments.

Intelligent Data Protection

ExaGrid’s turnkey disk-based backup system combines enterprise drives with zone-level data deduplication, delivering a disk-based solution that is far more cost effective than simply backing up to disk with deduplication or using backup software deduplication to disk. ExaGrid’s patented zone-level deduplication reduces the disk space needed by a range of 10:1 to 50:1, depending on the data types and retention periods, by storing only the unique objects across backups instead of redundant data. Adaptive Deduplication performs deduplication and replication in parallel with backups. As data is being deduplicated to the repository, it is also replicated to a second ExaGrid site or the public cloud for disaster recovery (DR).

About ExaGrid

ExaGrid provides Tiered Backup Storage with a unique disk-cache Landing Zone that enables fastest backups and restores, a Repository Tier that offers the lowest cost for long-term retention and enables ransomware recovery, and scale-out architecture which includes full appliances with up to 6PB full backup in a single system.

Talk to us about your needs

ExaGrid is the expert in backup storage—it’s all we do.

Request Pricing

Our team is trained to ensure that your system is properly sized and supported to meet your growing data needs.

Contact us for pricing »

Talk With One of Our System Engineers

With ExaGrid’s Tiered Backup Storage, each appliance in the system brings with it not only disk, but also memory, bandwidth, and processing power—all the elements needed to maintain high backup performance.

Schedule call »

Schedule Proof of Concept (POC)

Test ExaGrid by installing it in your environment to experience improved backup performance, faster restores, ease of use, and scalability. Put it to the test! 8 out of 10 who test it, decide to keep it.

Schedule now »