STORAGE FROM PAGE 36 structure, ERP (enterprise and went through a few partner Adeara to work with
business applications such resource planning) and sales cycles in order to Siler’s IT staff.
as Microsoft Exchange, desktop and user comput- understand the company’s “We were looking for
Project and SharePoint, ing. needs,” Jensen said. a channel partner that
custom-built software, file “Whenwemetwith Cho- Cholestech not only would not only work
and print, payroll, and doc- lestech, theyhadabigserver wanted to migrate from well with Cholestech but
umentmanagement—allof environment where disk DAS to a NAS (network- could also quote the over-
whichservedthecompany’s space was underutilized,” attached storage) or SAN all solution,” Jensen said.
220 employees. said Scott Jensen, account (storage area network) Adeara was matched with
Siler said he knew that executive at Pillar Data Sys- environment but was also the customer based on
overhauling some of the tems, in San Jose, Calif. interested in server con- factors such as location,
company’s IT infrastruc- “The company was looking solidation and virtualiza- company size and its expe-
ture was necessary so it for a cost-effective storage tion. rience with storage and
could support the biotech- solution that offered state- Pillar was the first stor- virtualization.
nology company’s goal to of-the-art features and the age vendor Siler met with According to Siler, after
become a leading world- ability to pool storage.” but not the last. From Feb- his initial introduction
wide provider of tools and While P illar had at - ruary to June, the company to Adeara the t wo com-
information to health care tempted to meet with also evaluated storage tech- panies interviewed each
professionals and consum- Cholestech in the past, it nology from EMC and Net- other. “We found that we
ers to assess risk and moni- wasn’t until the company’s work Appliance. fit like a hand in a glove,”
tor therapy for chronic dis- new director of IT phoned “Based on Axiom’s cost he said.
eases. Jensen in February 2006 savings and expandabil- The IT department’s that the vendor was given ity alone, Pillar was head At the core
assessment made several the opportunity to intro- and shoulders above a pillar channel part-
things clear: Cholestech’s duce its storage technol- the competition,” Siler ner for more than 18
IT road map going forward ogy. “We met with a cou- said. EMC and Network months, Adeara focuses
wouldhavetoaddressinfra- ple of gentlemen from IT Appliance, he said, were on four core technology
limited when it came to areas: security, storage,
cost-effectively support- networking and enterprise
ing company growth and management.
system expansion. “I was Adeara’s Reny noted
also interested in doing that Pillar was there to help
HARDWARE off-site snapshots, which them with the architecture
would have cost several design, make equipment
AS A hundred thousands of dol- recommendations and
lars more with either EMC facilitate on-site work with
SERVICE or NetApp,” he added. an engineer from Cisco
The cost of a storage Systems, which provided
solution from either EMC some of the equipment
As services in general, and managed services in or NetApp was about twice needed for the overall
particular, gain momentum in the IT channel, solu- the initial set price Pillar solution.
tion providers are looking for ways to keep their cus- gave Cholestech, according “This sale wouldn’t have
tomers’ network equipment up-to-date and running to Siler. Based on Pillar’s happened without Pillar,”
smoothly. Since hardware purchases typically require initial price only, the bio- Reny said.
big upfront expenses, some providers have started tech company would see a “We sold Cholestech with
including hardware in fixed-fee contracts. Though the return on investment in 14 Adeara on the storage side,”
concept sounds good, it poses serious challenges. Find months. Jensen said. “It’s important
out how to tackle those challenges in the next issue of e WEEK Strategic Partner on May 28. In addition, visit The next step for our customers to know that we support the channel
the e WEEK Strategic Partner Web site, esp.eweek.com, when cholestech signed but that we’re not abandon-
for more in-depth news and analysis of the topics that the contract with Pillar in ing them.”
matter to your business. August, the vendor already With Pillar in the back-
had brought in channel ground, Adeara worked
38 eWEEK n MAY 21, 2007
