Virtual Iron Software knows the value of consolidation. The fast-growing Lowell, Massachusetts, firm provides server virtualization software that has helped more than 2000 organizations consolidate their servers and streamline their data centers, resulting in as much as a ten-fold boost in resource utilization. The software also reduces the cost of setting up a disaster recovery site, as companies can run mirrored systems on virtual servers rather than having to buy a complete set of identical hardware. But while Virtual Iron's own IT department had server consolidation under control, storage growth remained a problem for the savvy start-up company.

After looking at alternatives, Virtual Iron decided that a Quantum DXi3500 disk backup appliance with data de-duplication was just what it needed to ensure data was backed up within the window and could be restored quickly. With the DXi3500 disk appliance, all of the Virtual Iron backup jobs are finished within 10 hours, and Quantum's data de-duplication technology enables the company to retain as much data as they need on disk for fast restores - 75 percent faster than their previous process. Today Virtual Iron is storing 24.1 terabytes (TB) of backup data in only 1.3TB of disk capacity, a reduction of 95 percent. In addition, the company is saving $12,000 a year in tape media costs and has reduced IT management time by roughly 300 hours a year.