aol news: brcd: but more generally some analysis on ROI for SANs
Brocade and KPMG Release Study Showcasing Strategic Value Delivered By Storage Area Networks
Intuit Translates Brocade-Based SAN Into Competitive Advantage and Experiences
Quantifiable Benefits
SAN JOSE, Calif., Aug. 14 /PRNewswire/ -- Brocade Communications Systems, Inc. (Brocade(R)) (Nasdaq: BRCD), the world's leading provider of infrastructure for Storage Area Networks (SANs), announced today the availability of a study, conducted by KPMG Consulting, that reports findings on the Return on Investment (ROI) and quantifiable benefits yielded from SANs in enterprise-class storage environments. Using standardized, tested methodologies and working directly with end-user IT organizations, the study shows the business benefits realized by companies that invested in SAN technology. Copies of the study can be ordered at brocade.com.
Brocade customer, Intuit, Inc., was one of the companies participating in the initial study, entitled Case Studies on the Business Impact and Strategic Value of Storage Area Networks. The study comprised interviews, questionnaires, analysis of technical documentation, and the use of a financial model that analyzed the ROI on the companies' investments in SANs when compared with the direct-attached storage model that they had prior to the SAN.
"The SAN allows us to reduce management costs and capital expenditures while improving fault tolerance and overall flexibility of the infrastructure," said Peter Philp, senior systems manager, Technology Operations, Intuit. "We could not find another storage solution that would enable our business to run as dynamically as our Brocade-based SAN. The capabilities that we have derived from the SAN go to the core of our business-efficiently managing data to provide first rate financial services for Intuit's customers."
Results of the Study
The study revealed that the financial return from implementing a SAN is significant and that companies can use SANs to improve their competitive position. The study also found that SANs provide specific, substantial business, financial, and operational benefits, including:
-- Reduced capital expenditures and optimization of existing equipment
investments
-- Increased IT staff efficiency
-- Higher system and application availability, leading to more application
uptime and customer satisfaction
-- Ability to efficiently exploit full value of information assets
-- Faster time to market with new products
-- Better IT decision making through granular knowledge of the demands on
the storage environment
-- Flexibility to move on new initiatives and reallocate storage and
application resources quickly
Intuit, Inc. - Storage and Server Consolidation Delivered Significant
Return on SAN Investment
Intuit implemented a SAN to provide the benefits of storage consolidation, backup and recovery, and high availability. After SAN deployment, Intuit has been able to reduce backup times from 26 hours to 4 hours, and the SAN has delivered an annual return of 123 percent. For its high availability systems, the SAN produced an annual ROI of 525 percent and complete payback of the SAN in two months. Implementing the SAN for storage consolidation has produced an annual ROI of 296 percent. Additionally, centralization of Intuit's storage libraries has led to lowered IT management costs, increased productivity, and the ability to handle system-wide data growth of 75-100 percent per year.
"We have always known that SANs are providing a positive effect on our customers' overall business that goes well beyond the storage environment," said Jack Cuthbert, Brocade vice president of Sales, Marketing, and Support Services. "This definitive study and methodology for determining return on SAN investment demonstrates that the Brocade model for networking storage provides a tangible competitive advantage for today's leading companies."
About Brocade Communications Systems, Inc.
Brocade offers the industry's leading intelligent platform for networking storage. The world's leading systems, applications, and storage vendors have selected Brocade to provide a networking foundation for their SAN solutions. The Brocade SilkWorm(R) family of fabric switches and software is designed to optimize data availability and storage and server resources in the enterprise. Using Brocade solutions, companies can simplify the implementation of storage area networks, reduce the total cost of ownership of data storage environments, and improve network and application efficiency. For more information, visit the Brocade website at www.brocade.com or contact the company at info@brocade.com.
NOTE: Brocade, Extended Fabrics, Fabric Aware, Fabric Integrator, Fabric OS, Fabric Threads, Fabric Watch, Fabric Weaver, QuickLoop, SilkWorm, SilkWorm Express, and SOLUTIONware are trademarks or registered trademarks of Brocade Communications Systems Inc., in the United States and/or in other countries. All other brands, products, or service names are or may be trademarks or service marks of, and are used to identify, products or services of their respective owners.
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SOURCE Brocade Communications Systems, Inc.
CO: Brocade Communications Systems, Inc.; KPMG Consulting; Intuit, Inc.
ST: California
IN: NET STW CPR
SU:
08/14/2001 08:22 EDT prnewswire.com |
