Attune Adds New Customer

SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- Attune Systems, Inc., a provider of enterprise-class file virtualization solutions, today announced that Lessard Group Inc., a leading architectural and urban design firm, has chosen the Windows-based Maestro File Manager appliance to analyze and manage its heterogeneous storage resources. Maestro provides non-disruptive data migration and helps eliminate file server downtime – estimated around $15,000 an hour – to ensure that users keep their data access regardless of what happens to the file server.

After evaluating various replacement storage solutions that were too expensive or too difficult to install, Zak Khalil, MIS manager at Lessard Group Inc, decided to go with Attune’s file virtualization solution, which, unlike most vendors, would allow him to reuse his existing hardware and would work well in his Windows environment. “My goal was to upgrade and not replace our storage,” Khalil said. “We wanted a way to build on and optimize our existing infrastructure. We needed a way to analyze, and then better manage our resources and our data. The fact that Attune’s Maestro is built on a Windows platform and naturally leverages key technologies from Microsoft such as CIFS, SMB, Microsoft Cluster Server, and Active Directory made it fully compatible with our environment, and that sealed the deal.”

Khalil is thrilled to not only automate all of their tasks, but leverage full-scale file virtualization benefits for his existing resources in order to eliminate costly downtime and increase storage efficiency. In the past, operating system problems have forced servers to shut down two or three times per year. “That’s a lot of money, plus we had virtually no maintenance window for file servers. Now with Maestro, we no longer need that window,” he said.

He liked the fact that the software would run on its own appliance rather than on his servers. Maestro sits one layer over the file servers without disrupting his infrastructure. Also, the initial discovery and analysis performed through the Attune Symphony Service proved to be very comprehensive and showed Khalil how to better optimize his environment. Installation and training were complete in less than two days, and Khalil was able to move data around and see benefits immediately. “With Maestro we will be able to leverage our excess, stranded capacity for the next three years. Without Maestro, we would have undertaken a very costly, risky and time consuming fork-lift upgrade,” Khalil added.

Attune Systems Inc.