In The Cube’s ongoing coverage of Dell Storage Forum, Dave Vellante and Stuart Miniman of Wikibon.org meet with Tecplot IT generalist, Pete Koehler (full video below).  Vellante begins by reminding viewers that The Cube finds the signal through the noise, providing only the most relevant newsworthy information.  True to style, Vellante and Miniman’s discussion with Koehler gets directly to the point concerning Tecplot’s strategies and experiences Dell EqualLogic, the back-up window and translating “data-speak” into simple terminology for stakeholders concerned with the bottom line.

Tecplot decided to use Dell’s EqualLogic solution to address storage challenges.  Tecplot makes simulation analytics and data visualization software that helps engineers, mainly in the airplane industry, solve complex problems such as how to make an airplane wing more efficient.  A challenge for Tecplot, according to Koehler had been: “How to have a scalable infrastructure that allows [clients] to meet the demands of computer storage?”  If Tecplot were to build out a new virtualized environment with shared storage, with limited IT resources (manpower), they would still be tasked with managing that storage. Koehler explains that the need for management assistance that led Tecplot to choose Dell EqualLogic.

Vellante asks how the experience of the customers has changed with EqualLogic adoption.  Koehler suggests that the speed of provisioning has now significantly changed: “Our software development group had automated build systems that would need me to build them or protect them in a very quick way, and that was simply not possible in the past.”

Koehler shares that Tecplot received a wake-up call when, unfortunately, a neighboring building burned down.  The destructed firm’s loss re-enforced the importance of taking new technology and leveraging it for disaster recovery.

Koehler also discusses changes in Tecplot’s back-up strategies.  Before, the company, as Vellante puts it, was“bowing down to the back-up window!”  Tecplot had focused on serialized back-up to tape.  However, according to Koehler: “When we were virtualizing our infrastructure, it took the focus to block based replication.”  Now, the company back-ups involve localized snapshots, offsite san to san replicas and long-term archiving methods.

When it comes to making discussions of data, specifically concerning RPO and RTO requirements, understandable to major stakeholders, Koehler says it’s important to communicate how much data one can afford to lose or give up.  His advice to other IT generalists communicating data needs, requirements and threats is to “help them understand in very simple terms what are the implications of moving forward or not doing anything.”