Prompt Service Wins OEM Integrator Government Sales
An OEM integrator retains a government agency customer by installing
and maintaining storage equipment for critical applications.
Storing massive amounts of data is critical in many business environments today. For most large businesses, purchasing storage is an ongoing process because the alternative, losing data or reducing the amount of data stored, is simply not an option. Therefore, OEM systems integrators like Globalstor Data Corporation must act swiftly when additional storage is requested by large customers, in particular, government agencies. According to David Leif, sales manager at Globalstor Data, storage devices are readily available, but dependable service is more difficult to find.
“We’ve serviced one government agency for more than 10 years,” says Leif. “Our technical knowledge and convenient location were factors in the initial contact with the customer. However, we knew that in order to maintain a relationship with a customer of this magnitude, service had to come first – with no exceptions.”
The agency gathers and stores immense amounts of data (i.e. petabytes of data). So, Globalstor is called upon frequently for on-site maintenance, hardware, and service. The visits allow Leif to strategize with the agency for future developments that include the next generation of storage solutions that can support a multitude of hard disk drives.
“About six years ago, we had technical problems with the storage arrays we sold from another company,” says Leif. “At the time, we were qualifying storage equipment from Arena, now known as Arena Maxtronic, Inc. The Arena arrays passed our quality control inspection, so we integrated the storage units into the agency’s infrastructure.” Since then, Globalstor has used RAID [redundant array of independent disks]-protected data storage hardware from Arena Maxtronic, which is close in proximity to our location.
“Most recently we installed the Arena Maxtronic JanusRAID SA-6641s [a single controller design] controller at this government agency,” says Leif. “The department requesting this unit had run out of storage space within its existing infrastructure. The agency collects large amounts of mission-critical data over its LAN, and if it ran out of space, it could be catastrophic.” Leif chose the JanusRAID because of its plug and play installation. When used in conjunction with the customer’s UNIX servers, it provides a NAS (network attached storage) solution under an OS and an architecture the customer is already familiar with. The device can be configured for virtually any OS, and the integrated setup program enables quick attachment to the host server. “Most importantly, the storage unit is accessible immediately following the setup, even with a RAID build running in the background,” says Leif. “This storage unit was preconfigured at our facility, plugged in at the agency’s office, and assigned as an additional drive on the network. Within minutes, it was collecting data.”
Product Availability Gains More Government Sales
Because the agency is consistently acquiring colossal quantities of data that it’s required to store, Globalstor Data has installed several Arena Maxtronic products for the agency including the SA-3831, SA-4830, SA-4831, SA-4340, SA-4540s, SA-4541s, SA-6640, and other SA-6641 units. “Whenever we need equipment from Arena Maxtronic, we have access to it that same day, so it facilitates our hurried service to the agency,” states Leif. “Additionally, due to our long-term relationship with the agency, its representatives trust us. They know we can build a 16-bay unit with 500-gigabyte drives within a few hours and deliver it immediately thereafter.”
The agency requests service and equipment from Globalstor Data when old storage units necessitate replacement, or when supplementary storage units are required. Some of the units are installed into SANs (storage area networks), or attached to the network providing access to an additional drive, or installed in secured locations that are not readily accessible. Leif has sold hundreds of units to this agency, and he makes service a priority when equipment isn’t working properly. “We rarely have hardware fail, but due to the number of components used at this facility, it has happened,” says Leif. “Because of the level of service we’ve provided coupled with the service we receive from Arena, this agency has also referred other government agencies to us. This includes other locations that the agency administers as well as unrelated offices. We also regularly upgrade the storage devices used at the agency and install new units. The SA-6641d [a dual controller design] that Arena recently released will also be used.”