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EqualLogic Supports Rentré Wonen Customer Data in Growing Housing Market

LONDON, 17^th May 2006 Rentré Wonen, a Netherlands-based housing corporation, has seen a 20 percent reduction in operational costs since its long-standing application service provider, iTraction, implemented two EqualLogic iSCSI storage arrays in February 2006. iTraction installed the new EqualLogic SAN specifically to meet Rentré’s growing data storage needs and its new business applications, enabling it to focus on its core business 24/7.

Rentré Wonen, the driver of the ambitious Rivierenwijk restructuring project in Deventer, has outsourced the management of its entire IT infrastructure since 2001 to iTraction, a global application service provider.  The EqualLogic PS300E arrays were implemented to replace direct-attached storage (DAS), which became inflexible and difficult to manage as data volumes increased steadily. The EqualLogic implementation also enabled iTraction to successfully combine the hosting of Rentré’s new mission-critical business applications, including Microsoft Office 2003, Exchange 2003 mail server, SQL Server, Internet Information Services 6 (IIS6) web server and the Omega suite.

The iSCSI-based storage area network (SAN) provided Rentré with a consolidated, reliable and cost-effective storage system.  Data is stored on the SAN at the central iTraction site and is replicated to the other array located at a disaster recovery site to ensure maximum data security.  Business continuity is enhanced further by the PS Series array’s automated snapshot capabilities, which allows the SAN to take full snapshots of critical data at given intervals to enable immediate recovery in the event of a failure.

The self-managing arrays were up and running in 15 minutes, and backups are running and finishing in an efficient three- to four-hour timeframe.

Henri Vlasblom, Rentré Controller, comments: “Rentré Wonen has outsourced its IT management to iTraction which has recently upgraded Rentré’s business applications.  Rentré needed a consolidated storage system that could cope both with hosting these applications as well as its increasing data volumes to ensure optimum productivity and efficiency.  EqualLogic’s self-managing arrays allow Rentré to achieve maximum uptime at 99.999 percent or better and offers the flexibility to scale on the fast-developing space of renovation and regeneration for modern housing development.”

John Duynhouwer, Senior Consultant, iTraction, comments: “EqualLogic’s SAN provided a reliable and easy-to-manage storage that Fibre Channel simply could not match.  All the software to complete any function was included in the one-off price, which meant the solution was both affordable and fully functional.  For example, the speed it takes to complete actions such as snapshots and backups is very impressive; a full snapshot of a 100 gigabyte volume can be taken within four or five seconds, immediately securing important customer data.”

Paul Klinkby-Silver, VP Europe for EqualLogic adds: “Companies such as Rentré rely on having their data hosted securely, conveniently, with no hidden costs. iTraction, therefore, needed to ensure it implemented the right storage system to suit Rentré’s growing business needs – one that offers reliable data protection, demands little management and offers scalability for the future.”

EqualLogic's PS Series of storage arrays deliver a complete solution to Rentré, offering a reliable, self-managing, scalable pool of storage that responds nimbly to the company’s growing demands.  EqualLogic's award-winning and data-center-proven PS Series is the only native iSCSI SAN solution to offer a comprehensive and fully integrated standard feature set at no additional cost.  Each PS Series storage array comes with fully redundant, fault-tolerant hardware and includes automatic storage-management software in a self-contained chassis. Multiple arrays can be simply combined to form a scalable enterprise storage grid of more than 100 terabytes.

About EqualLogic

EqualLogic, Inc., is the leading provider of intelligent, enterprise-class iSCSI storage area network (SAN) solutions that enable businesses - from Fortune 100 to small and mid-size organisations - to realise the economic benefits of consolidated, self-managing storage. The EqualLogic PS Series of storage arrays, based on the company's patented peer storage architecture, is the industry's first automatic storage platform that delivers operational simplicity, comprehensive data management services and high data availability in a single, scalable pool of storage. EqualLogic's global headquarters are located in Nashua, New Hampshire.  For more information about EqualLogic, please visit www.equallogic.com.

About Rentré Wonen

Rentré Wonen is a housing corporation based in Deventer, The Netherlands. They own about 5000 units in the area Deventer and employ 85 people. They are focused on social entrepreneurship and are the drivers of the ambitious Rivierenwijk restructuring project in Deventer.

About iTraction

iTraction is a leading Application Service Provider based in Almere, The Netherlands and operating worldwide. They currently have 17 people employed.  iTraction has been doing business since 1993. Originally, an OS/2 Systemhouse they switched to Microsoft and Citrix in 1997. In 1999 iTraction was the first ASP in Europe hosting the 4 leading Office suites form Microsoft, SUN, Lotus and Corel. Their customers are housing corporations, automotive industry and ISV’s. iTraction provides Outsourcing, ranging from server based computing to managed servers, managed networks, firewalls and IPS services. For more information about iTraction, please visit www.itraction.com.


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