A prominent video game development and publishing company, renowned globally for its iconic titles, faced the challenge of modernizing its backup and archiving processes. As a producer of creative content assets that form the backbone of their business, the company required a storage solution that could meet their present needs and scale effortlessly for future demands. This case study follows this video game maker’s journey.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Company: Leading Video Game Maker
Industry: Video Game Development and Publishing
Challenge: Modernize backup and archiving solutions, move away from tape, and ensure long-term scalability for creative content assets.
Solution: Cloudian HyperStore with Rubrik for data protection.
Key Cloudian Benefits:
- Native S3 API: Seamless integration with existing and future applications.
- On-Premises Security: Secure, centralized storage of active archives.
- Ease of Management: User-friendly interface reduces IT workload.
- Scalability: Simple, non-disruptive expansion.
- Geographical Data Protection: Protect data across multiple locations without extra licensing costs.
- Enterprise-Grade Support: Reliable, expert assistance.
ROI: Achieved a 25-30% annual cost saving by eliminating tape-related expenses, reducing employee workload, and cutting off-site storage costs.
Emerging Use Cases: Elastic backups and Avid archives.
CASE STUDY
Challenge: Modernizing Backup and Archive Solutions
The company’s primary objective was to move away from traditional tape-based archives and implement a modern, scalable solution. As their game assets are never deleted and may be reused in future releases, it was critical to have a highly scalable, reliable, easy-to-manage storage solution. Additionally, with the firm’s growing global presence, ensuring data protection across multiple geographies without adding complexity or special licensing requirements was essential.
Solution: Cloudian HyperStore and Rubrik
After an extensive evaluation of solutions from DELL/EMC, CEPH, Scality, and NetApp, the company chose Cloudian HyperStore paired with Rubrik for data protection. The decision in favor of Cloudian was driven by several key factors:
- Native S3 API Implementation: Ensuring seamless integration with existing and future applications was critical. Cloudian’s native S3 API platform offered the compatibility they required.
- On-Premises Security: Cloudian’s on-premises solution provided the company with the ability to store active archives securely in a centralized private cloud, giving them control over their data.
- Ease of Management: Cloudian’s platform was noted for its user-friendly management interface, simplifying operations and reducing the workload on IT staff.
- Scalability: The solution’s simple, non-disruptive expansion capabilities allowed the firm to grow its storage infrastructure without the need for complex migrations or system overhauls.
- Geographical Data Protection: The ability to protect data locally and across multiple locations without incurring additional licensing fees was a critical feature for the company’s global operations.
- Enterprise-Grade Support: Cloudian’s robust support services ensured that the firm could rely on expert assistance whenever needed.
Results: Significant ROI and New Use Cases
Since deploying Cloudian HyperStore, the company has realized a rapid return on investment and ongoing savings of approximately 25-30% year-over-year compared to their previous tape-based solution. These savings were achieved through several means:
- Eliminating Monthly Media Purchases: By transitioning away from tape, the company no longer needs to purchase media on a monthly basis, leading to significant cost reductions.
- Reducing Employee Burden: The simplicity of managing Cloudian HyperStore compared to the complex and varied media types used in tape backups has freed up valuable employee time.
- Cutting Off-Site Storage Costs: The ever-increasing costs associated with off-site tape storage have been eliminated, further contributing to the firm’s savings.
Moreover, the joint Cloudian and Rubrik solution has enabled faster primary backups and significantly reduced the time required to archive and retrieve data, improving operational efficiency.
Emerging Use Cases
While the Rubrik archive continues to grow rapidly, the company has also identified new opportunities for leveraging Cloudian HyperStore. Notably, they now use HyperStore for Elastic backups and have started utilizing it for Avid video archives, demonstrating the platform’s versatility and capacity to support a wide range of use cases within the organization.
Conclusion
With over 130 Cloudian nodes in operation, the company has successfully modernized its backup and archive infrastructure, ensuring secure, scalable, and cost-effective storage for its invaluable creative content assets. Cloudian HyperStore has not only met the company’s current needs but has also positioned them for future growth, ensuring long-term, trouble-free operations in an industry where data is the lifeblood of success.
