Enterprise storage has become a differentiator for managed service providers (MSPs) who are offering cloud-based services to enterprise customers, but not all enterprise storage is created equally. This is why MSPs are on a hunt for storage capabilities that are higher performance, more cost-effective, unfalteringly reliable, and tightly cyber secure to enhance their “as a service” offerings, whether Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Backup as a Service (BaaS), Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS), Containers as a Service (CaaS), or whatever the service is.
Enterprise end users consider many factors when selecting an MSP or cloud service provider (CSP). One of these factors is the enterprise storage solution that they have as the backbone of their service offerings. End-user customers want to know that the service will always be available, which calls for 100% availability. They want to know that the speed will be extremely fast, which is why the highest performance is a must-have. They want to know that it can scale, which is why high-capacity, multi- petabyte scale storage solutions are a given. They want to know that the storage infrastructure will be cyber secure, which is why next-generation data protection capabilities are integral to the storage infrastructure that service providers are going to utilize as the basis upon which its services sit.
At the same time, MSPs need to hit the right cost equation to be able to offer such high performance, 100% availability, cyber storage resilience, and high capacity at a price point that makes it profitable for the service provider. This delicate balance of performance, capacity and cost is what separates great MSPs from simply good MSPs or MSPs just barely getting by. Enterprise storage presents an opportunity to cut out waste and inefficiencies, improve margins, and achieve cost savings that can be passed along to benefit end-user customers. It helps ensure the long-term viability of an MSP.
MSPs in Action
An example of an MSP that has harnessed the opportunity to upgrade their storage infrastructure, unlock a significant amount of benefits for end-user customers, and gain a competitive advantage in their segment of the market is US Signal. It offers a groundbreaking “Infrastructure as a Service” product called OpenCloud. This offering is one of the only open-source cloud services solutions available in the U.S.
US Signal set out to upgrade its storage infrastructure to support the company’s strategy to deliver a true private cloud experience, free from the limitations of traditional virtualization technologies. After a thorough evaluation of many storage vendors, this service provider selected Infinidat’s enterprise storage solution. US Signal implemented the InfiniBox™ SSA G4 system on its cloud services platform for its high performance, high capacity, 100% availability, ease of IT operations management, cyber resilience and flexibility in support of the critical data needs of enterprise customers.
John White, Chief Operating Officer at US Signal, commented on the competitive advantage that US Signal has gained with Infinidat’s InfiniBox SSA G4 all-flash solution as its storage backbone: “US Signal’s OpenCloud is an Infrastructure-as-a-Service platform that revolutionizes the cloud hosting market by providing the performance, cost certainty, security, and flexible consumption that customers demand to run their critical enterprise workloads. Wherever you are in your cloud journey, organizations consistently see faster performance, lower costs, and improved outcomes with US Signal’s OpenCloud compared to other cloud platforms. One of the reasons US Signal can deliver these key benefits to their customers is by leveraging the power of Infinidat’s InfiniBox SSA G4.”
White added, “With Infinidat, we are confident that we have the highest-performing, highest available, highly reliable, and highest cyber resilient all-flash storage on the backend of OpenCloud, which is designed to transform our customers’ cloud experience.”
As a private network, OpenCloud is a cloud platform that can be anywhere the enterprise customer wants. This flexibility is a strong selling point that sets US Signal apart from the competition. And when compared to hyperscalers or other larger cloud service providers, US Signal’s solution has demonstrated in extensive testing to be more performant, at a price point that is significantly less than those competitors.
The InfiniBox SSA G4’s capabilities helped eliminate challenges and barriers that US Signal would have run up against otherwise. Infinidat helped enable US Signal to come to market with an open-source cloud platform, and it’s a win-win.
Another prime example is Net3, a leading cloud service provider (CSP) in the U.S. Headquartered in Greenville, South Carolina, Net3 owns and operates a private cloud, PvDC, which has coast-to-coast locations, giving their customers a choice of where they want their data to be run and to be protected.
Net3 made a strategic decision to replace its existing storage infrastructure with enterprise storage solutions from Infinidat. The first InfiniBox® was installed in March 2022. Infinidat’s enterprise storage solutions transformed Net3’s ability to operate, meet customer requirements, and grow.
“The key challenge that Infinidat solved for us was our need for reliable storage in a consumption model that would grow as we grow,” said Ryan Walker, CIO at Net3 Technology. “The uptime, availability, performance, ease of administration, and flexible consumption models that Infinidat delivers are unmatched compared to any of the arrays we had run previously. With Infinidat, we’re able to operate our cloud services business more cost-effectively and with substantially more confidence.”
The company has gone from sub-par availability before Infinidat to 100% availability with Infinidat. The performance metrics have also skyrocketed. Net3 adopted one of Infinidat’s flexible consumption, pay-as-you-grow models – ideally suited for CSPs. Net3 eliminated the need to put out a large, up-front capital expenditure. Infinidat provided them with an all-inclusive licensing model that improved the economics of enterprise storage. The financial benefit to Net3 and their customers is that they are not paying for storage that they are not using. This fixed the previous issue that Net3 had with the shortcomings of monolithic storage arrays from other storage vendors.
Net3’s CIO added, “We wouldn’t be where we are as a company without Infinidat. When we needed to ‘up our game’ to deliver always-on availability and exercise more agility to meet and exceed our customers’ expectations, Infinidat saved the day. I only wish we had moved to Infinidat sooner.”
Uncompromising Enterprise Storage
From the start of their journeys to enhance, upgrade and supercharge their services platforms, both of these service providers required an uncompromising enterprise storage solution that can be trusted. Like most MSPs, they value the highest performance, lowest latency, rugged reliability, flexible consumption models, cyber storage resilience, and a lower CAPEX and OPEX. There is not only technical value, but also business value to have these features and characteristics in a service provider’s storage infrastructure. This multi-dimensional value gives salespeople an advantage in selling their “as a service” offerings.
When an MSP is upgrading its enterprise storage, it’s making an investment, and the company wants a return on investment (ROI) sooner rather than later. Choosing the right enterprise storage directly affects this ROI for an MSP. Infinidat’s InfiniBox delivers an 8.7-month payback period, which has been validated in an independent analyst report by leading analyst firm, IDC.
This choice of upgrading or refreshing the storage estate affects how competitive an MSP or CSP can be and whether it is able to overcome challenges and eliminate barriers. So much is riding on the storage infrastructure that serves as the backbone for a service provider.
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About Eric Herzog
Eric Herzog is the Chief Marketing Officer at Infinidat, a Lenovo company. Prior to joining Infinidat, Herzog was CMO and VP of Global Storage Channels at IBM Storage Solutions. His executive leadership experience also includes: Senior Vice President of Product Management and Product Marketing for EMC’s Enterprise & Mid-range Systems Division, and CMO and Senior VP of Alliances for all-flash storage provider Violin Memory.
