A Reliable and Scalable Resilience Solution for Expert Data Protection Services

Overview

Challenge

• Ensure robust data protection for customers by implementing a fast, reliable infrastructure optimized for data resilience at scale.

Solution

• Deploy HCP for Cloud Scale, an enterprise-grade solution that smoothly integrates with Veeam Backup, with data replicated between two data centers.

Outcome

• Gain a highly scalable, resilient platform that makes it easy to protect almost 2PB of customers’ data, minimizing downtime and freeing resources to develop new revenue sources.

Challenge

Founded in 2000, Managecast Technologies is a managed service provider offering a comprehensive suite of data protection services using Veeam Backup. With industry-leading Veeam expertise, Managecast aims to provide clients with peace of mind and liberate their IT teams to focus on strategic initiatives instead of managing backups. Managecast’s services support many large companies with extensive backup requirements, which means the company needs its storage infrastructure to be fast, reliable and scalable.

In the past, Managecast relied on a storage solution that was cost-effective, but suffered from performance issues. “We kept burning through the arrays within months,” recalls Nathan Golden, CEO of Managecast. “Each time we hit the limits of the arrays we were using, we had a huge data migration process which caused a lot of headaches. The performance was just never going to be enough.”

To support its expert data protection services, Managecast looked for a reliable object storage solution that would not only meet the company’s vast storage needs but also provide enough headroom for continued future growth.

“We wanted something future-proof,” says Nathan Golden. “There was no point buying a solution that would meet our needs today but would need replacing again in a year or two.”

Solution

“We talked to Veeam and let them know about our challenges,” Golden explains. “The Hitachi Vantara storage solutions came highly recommended as one of the most stable platforms that other managed service providers were using.”

Managecast selected Hitachi Content Platform (HCP) for Cloud Scale, a software-defined storage (SDS) platform that enables effectively limitless scalability. Due to the strong partnership between Hitachi Vantara and Veeam, there is a high degree of integration between HCP and the Veeam software, providing a complete and resilient solution to protect Managecast’s business-critical workloads and data. The joint Veeam/Hitachi Vantara solution takes advantage of features such as immutable backups and storage snapshots to ensure rapid recovery and minimal downtime.

In addition to the HCP platform’s well-designed integration with Veeam, Managecast was also attracted by Hitachi Vantara’s enterprise-grade support, which gave them confidence in the arrays’ reliability.

Managecast deployed four HCP nodes across its two data centers; two in the Cincinnati production data center, and two in the Detroit disaster recovery (DR) center. After the installation, Managecast migrated the data across from its old infrastructure and ran both systems side by side for several months. Once it was convinced by the stability of the new platform, Managecast acquired extra storage to expand the capacity of its production data center.

“We added an extra 500TB of disk,” says Nathan Golden. [AI1] “Within two weeks we had set it up and continued business as usual without any issues. We can trust HCP to continue scaling without adding lots of management overhead.”

The Cincinnati data center now holds around 1.1PB of client data, while the Detroit DR center has around 700TB of capacity. Together, the data centers support services for almost 400 clients and growing.

Outcome

With HCP for Cloud Scale and Veeam Backup, Managecast has a reliable, scalable data resilience solution to support its existing expert data protection services and create revenue opportunities with new offerings.

“We’re very excited about VMO Backup, which is a Managecast company that we have been able to grow thanks to the scalability of HCP,” says Nathan Golden. In contrast to the white-glove services offered by Managecast, VMO Backup is a self-service, plug-and-play model for Veaam for Microsoft 365 backups that aims to achieve a more global reach. A customer anywhere in the world can sign up at any time of the day, and their data will get stored on Managecast’s HCP arrays immediately and automatically.

Ultimately, HCP for Cloud Scale enables Managecast to focus on developing these innovative services, while the infrastructure takes care of itself — keeping clients’ critical data continuously protected with minimal management overhead.

“It comes down to reliability,” concludes Nathan Golden. “Before, although we made sure that storage issues never affected service quality for our customers, we spent a lot of time managing our arrays behind the scenes. We don’t have to babysit the Hitachi solution in the same way, which certainly lowers our risk and lets us prioritize strategic work.”