NAKIVO Enables Service Provider to Improve VM Data Protection Levels while Cutting Costs for Clients by 50%

Business Challenge

American Datacenters has close to 50 ESXi hosts with over 500 client VMs. The majority of the VMs run Windows 2003 or Windows 2008 servers and hold critical company data in files and databases. Many of them run specialized vertical applications such as logistics planning, ERP, CRM, and financials.

Businesses can be severely impacted by the loss of data and many businesses don't have the people on staff to keep their data well protected. Since most small and medium sized businesses rarely have virtualization experts on staff, American Datacenters can bring the level of expertise required to ensure client VM data protection processes are in place and frequently tested.

"In the past, we used a number of different products to protect client VMs," said Michael. "These products were great in their day, but as technology progressed they added too much complexity and baggage to easily implement and support."

The biggest disadvantage of the legacy software products was the need to install and manage backup agents. "Also, the price per server became outrageous as a small business added just one or two servers," added Michael. "As a result, once the small business purchased a backup product, they didn't keep up with the high support costs and didn't purchase upgrades along the way. They settled for an inefficient process with dated technology because they couldn't afford anything newer."

Solution

The IT team at American Datacenters began looking for a VM data protection solution that would be suitable both for them and their customers. "We have tried several leading data protection products. Each has great features on paper, but many were either difficult to implement, or very expensive when you start looking at the licensing," said Michael.

"As a result of our products investigation and lab testing, the team found the multi-tenant version of NAKIVO Backup & Replication to be the most feature-rich, intuitive, and far and away the easiest solution to implement and support. NAKIVO provides a technologically advanced solution to back up, replicate, and recover client's VM data at a price-point that our clients can afford. The technology is outstanding and the process to implement the solution couldn't be easier or more straightforward," said Michael. "We know because we've tried and tested the leading VM backup solutions!" he added.

Results

"With NAKIVO, the licensing costs for the end-users that we support are about half as expensive as our prior product," said Michael. "From an implementation time aspect, we save at least 3 hours per installation to setup and configure the NAKIVO product over our prior product. That translates into hundreds of dollars of cost savings that we pass along our clients for," he added.

To license the NAKIVO product on a per-VM monthly rental basis and to receive other partner benefits, American Datacenters joined the NAKIVO Cloud Provider Program. Now American Datacenters offers an extremely affordable monthly, per-VM pricing to their clients for VM Backup-as-a-Service with NAKIVO, that keeps their clients up-to-date on support and new features while also improving their VM data protection levels and recovery times. "It's a win-win," said Michael. "They get advanced technology at a price-point that they can afford. And best of all, their virtualized data is better protected!"

Company Profile

American Datacenters provides data center services for SMB clients in hundreds of locations across the USA, helping them protect data from the challenges of technology. American Datacenters services range from basic colocation to managed onsite backup/recovery, off-site backup, replication, disaster recovery, production virtualization, as well as full outsourcing of production and disaster recovery services. American Datacenters specializes in the SMB market, delivering IT expertise that results in a long-term, mutually beneficial relationship with their customers.

"Our most distinguished feature is our attention to customer service," says Michael Marchuk, Senior Technical Director at American Datacenters. "By focusing on hard-working small businesses, we can provide the same level of service you'd expect from a boutique IT services firm but with the national presence and high-end skills that you need to keep your company in business and thriving."