Challenges:
- Terabytes of archiving data
- No space for on-premises infrastructure
- Archive terabytes of data from on-premises servers to cloud
- Compliance challenges
Solution:
- StoneFly Storage in AWS Cloud
- StoneFly Archive DTDs
Results:
- Affordable & secure storage in AWS
- Hassle-free migration from on-premises servers to cloud
- Compliant long term data storage in AWS cloud
Organization
A reputable European law firm with corporate and government clients.
Industry
Law | Legal Industry
Challenges
With decades of experience providing legal services to corporate organizations in Europe, the law firm had racked up a substantial volume of legal data. In order to comply with regulations, the law firm had built a heavy duty IT infrastructure to store and retain legal information.
However, they were running out of storage space and needed a solution. Moreover, they couldn’t delete older data. In fact, most of the data had to be retained for several years.
“We had several terabytes of data in our local storage systems that we had to retain for years and we had used up most of the available storage space in our servers. We needed a long term solution; a solution that was scalable, secure and compliant to pretty strict regulations” – noted Jim, the Chief Information Officer for the law firm.
In order to cope with the need to scale and archive data for several years, the firm decided to move to AWS cloud.
“AWS cloud is known for its durability. So choosing the CSP was a no brainer for us” – said Barry, the Chief Technology Officer for the law firm.
Choosing the Cloud Service Provider (CSP) is one thing but moving terabytes of archiving data from on-premises infrastructure to the cloud is a whole different ball game.
“We quickly came to the conclusion that doing this by ourselves would be time consuming, costly, and things could go very wrong, very fast” – noted Barry.
Solution
StoneFly came up with a two part solution to help the law firm efficiently and easily migrate terabytes of legal data from their on-premises infrastructure to AWS cloud:
- StoneFly storage in AWS cloud
- StoneFly archive Data Transfer Devices (DTDs)
StoneFly shipped the archive DTDs to the law firm. They offloaded archival data to the DTDs. The DTDs were then shipped to the AWS data center where they were offloaded to StoneFly storage in AWS cloud.
The cloud storage in AWS delivered simplified licensing, highly secure, easily scalable and compliant S3 storage repositories for data archiving. While the DTDs provided an easy way to move terabytes of data without having to transfer it over the wire.
“What stood out to us about StoneFly was the complete package deal that included AWS archiving, the DTD appliances and professional services” – said Barry.
Results
With the StoneFly solution, the law firm was able to easily migrate the large volume of archival data to the desired AWS data center. The solution delivered the following results for the law firm:
Affordable & Secure Storage in AWS
With StoneFly solution, the law firm saved thousands of dollars that would’ve been spent on purchasing, setting up, and maintaining additional on-premises infrastructure.
Additionally, the law firm had acquired the DTD appliances from StoneFly as part of a rental agreement. Once the data transfer was complete, they returned the appliances to StoneFly. The ability to rent appliances instead of purchasing them also helped reduce the cost of the solution for the law firm.
Besides affordability, one of the primary concerns for the law firm was data security. As a law firm, they could not risk data breach, data loss, or unauthorized data access. StoneFly storage in AWS delivered features that help them setup advanced data security for their sensitive legal data.
The features that helped enhance data security included:
- Immutable WORM (Write-Once Read-Many) Storage
- Advanced Data Encryption
- Built-in Anti-virus & Anti-Ransomware
- Immutable Delta-Based Snapshots
Hassle-Free Migration from On-Premises Servers to Cloud
As opposed to conventional migration processes that involve many moving parts, StoneFly simplified the experience using the archive DTDs. For the law firm, it was as easy as “plug and play”.
The solution was a four step migration process:
- StoneFly shipped the DTD appliances to the law firm
- The law firm transferred archive data to the DTD appliances
- The DTD appliances were shipped to the AWS data center
- Archive data was transferred from the DTD appliances to servers in the AWS data center and made available to the law firm
Compliant Long Term Storage in AWS Cloud
The advanced data security features of StoneFly DTD appliances combined with the secure storage in AWS cloud simplified compliance for the law firm.
“The data transfer appliances had built-in data security features, and the storage in AWS cloud uses advanced encryption and WORM storage to secure our data. These features have played a vital role in helping us stay compliant” – noted Jim.
With the scalable storage in AWS cloud, the firm does not have to worry about server maintenance or storage space consumption. Additionally, they can retain data in the cloud for several years by configuring the WORM storage retention policies.
Simply put, the StoneFly archiving solution delivered exactly what the law firm was looking for along with continued value.
To learn more about StoneFly cloud archiving solutions, click here
Are you looking to archive terabytes of data in AWS cloud?
Let us help simplify your data archiving experience. Contact us to discuss your projects and archiving needs today:
Email: sales@staging.stonefly.com
Phone: +1 (510) 265-1616