Last month Data News was focused on encryption information. Chris Harrold wrote a highly informative article highlighting the uses and methods of encryption. TapeSentry’s real-world case study emphasized the importance of purchasing affordable data security solutions without compromising server performance. Finally, we posted last month’s podcast titled, “Encryption in the Data Center and Beyond.”

This month we welcome two of our newest employees and offer an invitation to follow us on Twitter. You’ll learn about “Server Virtualization and Its Considerations,” in this months podcast. A Xiotech case study and an article from Chris Harrold offer insight into Data Storage Solutions and the importance of choosing the right business partner.

Finally, we are now announcing our winners of the Sane Choice monthly drawings and introducing an exciting new program we like to call “Where in the World is Sanity?” Read on to find out more.

Thank you for your continued support.

Sincerely, Jason
jcherveny@sanitysolutions.com

Keep your Sanity with Our New Services and Assessment Programs

For the sanity of all of our clients, we are now providing comprehensive service and assessment programs. Our current offerings include assessments in Storage (performance, LUN creation, and utilization), Data Centers (power and cooling) and an evaluation of the CommVault Simpana technology and it’s best practices. If you

are looking to maximize your existing infrastructure, optimize your data efficiency, improve business outcomes, manage current storage technology or increasing capacity, the technology specialists at Sanity Solutions can analyze your current infrastructure and create a management strategy to meet all of your needs. Give us a call to learn more about our services that will help your business run more efficiently.

Following Sanity’s News and Industry
Best Practices on Twitter

A great way to easily keep up with Sanity’s free educational events, Sanity news and industry best practices is to follow us on Twitter.

We will regularly post our events and other educational material available to help you keep up with changes and offerings within the SAN environment.

Twitter id: sanitysolutions.

Sanity Spotlight —Fred Bowman and
Chris Renken

Sanity is pleased to welcome Fred Bowman and Chris Renken as our two newest account executives.

Based out of our Arizona office, Fred comes to Sanity from BVA, an IT consulting and outsourcing firm, where he was responsible for running operations from a sales and marketing standpoint. He has also worked for Xiotech, HP and IBM. His years of valuable experience in the industry are sure to be an asset to Sanity.

“I wanted to find the right small firm with the right value system in an industry were I’ve spent almost my entire career, and Sanity met all those needs for me,” Fred explains. “What really drew me to the company is we have a group of seasoned professionals. It’s a small company but has a lot of firepower.”

Fred has lived in Arizona for 34 years and loves it. He’s married with two daughters, and enjoys the outdoors, running and golf.

Chris works in our Denver office and, is responsible for introducing and facilitating the acquisition of relevant technology and services to Sanity’s clients. Prior to joining Sanity, Renken was as a pre-sales engineer for CommVault and also worked in several other aspects of technology on both the sales and operations sides.

“I am very excited about being a part of the Sanity team,” says Renken. “Our industry is continuously evolving, and I am proud to work for a company that prides itself on providing the most up-to-date and comprehensive data storage solutions on the market.”

We are happy to have both Fred and Chris on board and invite you to join us in welcoming them to the Sanity team!

Podcasting For Your Data Management Success

Sanity will be hosting a series of five podcasts that address common best practices for data management in your business environment. Listen to our fourth podcast, Server Virtualization and Its Considerations now, and stay tuned for our next podcast.

Our previous podcasts can be found in the best practices section of our website. Our library includes Archiving and its Impact on Your Data Center, Data Deduplication in Backup Architecture and Encryption in the Data Center and Beyond.

Case Study: Xiotech, Data Core and Brocade

Xiotech and DataCore Drive
Knight Transportation Business

It takes more than just trucks and drivers to become one of the nation’s leading transportation companies.

For more than a decade, Knight Transportation has been recognized as one of the “200 Best Small Companies in America,” as well as a “Hot Growth Company” by BusinessWeek magazine. The company offers dry van, refrigerated, and brokerage services through a network of 47 service centers and branches in the United States. It has 650 employees at its offices and more than 3,700 trucks.

A critical requirement for the company is a high-availability IT infrastructure to ensure everyone from office staff to truck drivers and customers can access data such as driver logs, customer orders, and mileage information.

In an effort to improve its systems, Knight focused on upgrading the storage area network (SAN) that housed its critical data. A failure of the SAN carried the risk of down time, lost revenue, and business interruption. “We needed a more reliable storage solution,” says Shawn Smith, systems manager for Knight Transportation. “We selected Xiotech’s Emprise™ 5000 storage systems with DataCore SANmelody software, and I can easily say it is one of the best IT purchases I have ever made.”

Click here to read the full article.

Storage Econ 101

Who you buy from is almost as important as what you buy
Written by: Chris Harrold, Senior Consultant at Sanity Solutions

You did the research, found the product that met the needs of your organization, vetted the technology, and validated the functionality. During this process did your partner do the same thing for you?

In the current economic climate and with IT budgets shrinking for the first time in many years having the right partner is more important than ever. There are many myths and misconceptions about the reseller world, but there are real business reasons that it makes sense to build a partner relationship. Choosing the right partner is the challenge.

The Reseller Mythos
Most IT professionals view the reseller as a “necessary evil” in the greater realm of IT. They are the ones who call and bug you about meeting with them, they are the ones who always want to talk about some new technology (even if it has no use for you), and they are the ones that are always inviting you to another seminar or demo. This is the myth of the reseller space; yes they call, they have to, it is how they communicate with you to make sure they are keeping track of your needs. Yes they want to talk about new technologies that you “have no use for”, but since it is a new technology, how do you know you have no use for it? Yes they have seminars and demos, but those events allow them to reach many people with common needs and goals in a very short timeframe. More importantly they are great networking opportunities for you, because in the IT 2.0 world it is not what you know, but who you know.

The fact is that resellers are like basketball’s 6th man, they come in off the bench when the team needs a lift in a new direction, and if you have chosen the right partner to be your 6th man then you can count on them when you need them the most because they will understand your organization and they can better react to your needs as they change.

What Makes a good partner?
The days of carrying every product known to man and simply being a purchase order taker are long gone or at least should be. The fact is that customers expect more from a partner and those partners that embrace the change are going to succeed. When evaluating your partner relationship the key criteria for the level of your relationship is to be sure the partner is addressing the needs of your organization. Ask yourself some simple questions:

Does my partner work with me to develop solutions or do they simply present a product?
Does my partner listen to my requirements and business objectives first before presenting a solution?
Is my partner proactive about presenting information to me that might make an impact for my organization?

Chances are that your partner is trying very diligently to work with you, but if not it may be time to shop around for a new partnership. The partner-customer relationship is only good for the customer when the partner is working with you not in reaction to you.

Evaluating a new partner
If it is time to look for a new partner the single most important thing you can do is ask for references from them of other customers that can vouch for their work and their partner style. Every partner organization works differently and the best ones will operate on the premise that they are working with the customer to build a relationship, not just win the next deal. In other words they take a long term view of the relationship. After all, when they do, everyone wins.

Where in the World is Sanity

Summer is in full swing and Sanity hopes you’ll find some time to take the family somewhere interesting. Since we can’t be there with you Sanity wants to make it easy for you to be featured in our monthly newsletter. All you have to do is take a photo of yourself wearing Sanity gear on your next trip, write a short description for the photo and send it to us at contact@sanitysolutions.com

Here are some pictures that Sanity’s own David Stalcup took while on a recent vacation to New York City.

Sanity Solutions

The Sane Choice Monthly Drawing

Sanity would like to thank everyone who has participated in our monthly drawings. We have experienced a great response to the drawing and would like to recognize our winners up to this point.

February: Lisa Liss (City of Loveland)
March: Danny Hollister (National Park Service)
April: Rebecca Hollister (Westland Resources in Arizona)
May: Tony Valenzuela (Skyport Development)
June: Joseph Orndoff (Colorado Department of Labor & Employment)

Remember, anyone who registers for an event or requests to receive an information package will automatically be entered to win in the Sanity Solutions

Sane Choice Drawing. You can also fill out this form and type the word "DRAWING" in the event code section.

Check back monthly to see what you could win!

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Data News

July, 2009

Compos Mentis Sanity Speaks