Staples Consolidates Information On EMC Enterprise Storage
Cites Strategic Role of EMC Platform-Independence and 24x7 Data Availability
HOPKINTON, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 20, 1999-- EMC Corporation today announced that Staples, Inc., the world's largest operator of office superstores, has standardized on EMC Enterprise Storage to more effectively manage rapid business growth, reduce information management costs, and improve customer service.
''Staples is growing in all directions -- we're acquiring companies, adding more stores, and expanding overseas,'' said Max Ward, Staples' Vice President of Technology. ''This has triggered an explosion of data, which we must properly manage. To keep our momentum strong, we partnered with EMC to create a consolidated enterprise storage solution for all our information -- including UNIX, Windows NT and AS/400-based information. EMC Enterprise Storage has enabled us to drive down information management costs, serve customers better by ensuring higher levels of data availability, and more quickly respond to all of the changes around us.
''For example, we are rapidly growing our data marts into the double-digit terabyte range,'' Ward said. ''This will give us a microscopic view of sales trends, improve our analytical and decision-making capabilities, and lead to more effective product development, marketing and customer support. Only EMC provides the flexibility and resilience to support data marts of this magnitude.''
Staples cites Windows NT as one of its fastest-growing operating environments. ''A big barrier to making NT enterprise-ready is that NT storage is traditionally managed on an individual server basis, which becomes unwieldy and inefficient as we add new servers and applications,'' said Ward. ''By pooling storage, we put EMC's superior data availability to work across all of our NT servers and can more cost-effectively and rapidly respond to our growth requirements.''
To further increase data availability, Staples uses EMC TimeFinder software to create non-disruptive mirrored copies of its merchandising data warehouse. ''Because TimeFinder copies are created while production systems are online, we're moving from weekly to daily backups of our merchandising data warehouse,'' explained Ward. ''As we establish new stores across multiple time zones, TimeFinder solves the problem of shrinking backup windows and enables us to move toward becoming a 24-hour-a-day operation.''
In addition, Staples will implement EMC Symmetrix Remote Data Facility (SRDF) software to provide remotely mirrored backup copies of data between systems located in its mega-warehouses in Maryland and Connecticut.
Staples, based in Westborough, Mass., has consolidated six terabytes of storage onto EMC Symmetrix systems supporting Windows NT servers, Hewlett Packard MPE and UNIX servers, IBM AS/400 systems and Oracle databases. The Symmetrix systems provide storage to warehouse management, inventory replenishment, data marts, electronic mail, and other applications.
''Staples has emerged as an outstanding success story,'' said Bob Dutkowsky, EMC's Executive Vice President of Markets and Channels. ''Staples' sustained growth stems from its ability to see the market clearly and execute flawlessly on its business and IT strategies. EMC will continue to play a key role as Staples builds its information infrastructure around the agility and high availability of EMC Enterprise Storage.''
EMC Corporation, a Fortune 500 company based in Hopkinton, Massachusetts, is the world's technology and market leader in the rapidly growing market for intelligent enterprise storage systems, software and services. The company's products store, retrieve, manage, protect and share information from all major computing environments, including UNIX, Windows NT and mainframe platforms. The company has offices worldwide, trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol EMC, and is a component of the S&P 500 Index. For further information about EMC and its storage solutions, EMC's corporate Web site can be accessed at emc.com.
EMC and Symmetrix are registered trademarks and EMC Enterprise Storage and TimeFinder are trademarks of EMC Corporation. Other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
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Contact:
EMC
David Farmer, 508/435-1000 (Ext. 77206)
farmer_dave@emc.com
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