What is our primary use case?
My organization's storage for our production staff is on-site, and we are spread across 30 offices. This setup makes it much easier for us to workshare between staff and disparate geographic locations.
How has it helped my organization?
It took some time to see benefits while we moved all of our data into CloudFS, however, as soon as we had all of our data within the CloudFS container, we start immediately seeing the benefits.
What is most valuable?
The core function of Panzura CloudFS, with its synchronizing of files across multiple servers, provides us with a much more efficient workflow for our production staff.
We do have Detect and Rescue enabled. We haven't had to use the Rescue feature.
Panzura provides very good granular snapshots. We can establish the snapshots that meet our needs, including how often they occur.
It's easy to manage data using Panzura. It's just like managing any other Windows file system.
We use Panzura Edge in a limited capacity. The use cases we identified have been successful, and we will renew.
Panzura has not increased its data storage costs. The cost of the storage is the same, yet we have more capabilities.
It helps us increase network resilience. We have a primary object library stored in the cloud and have Panzura Mirroring which allows us to place data in a secondary cloud for added resiliency.
What needs improvement?
There are a few file types that do not work well with Panzura CloudFS. Specifically, the GIS data formats, such as a geo database, have been found better kept outside of Panzura CloudFS. However, everything else works very well.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have used the solution for almost three years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability has been good. We have never had their system crash on us. The only issues we have had have been associated with a power outage that took a server down.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It scales very well. From our original entry with Panzura CloudFS, we have added an additional seven sites, and deploying those additional nodes was very seamless and did not take any effort.
How are customer service and support?
Most of the time, their response time is good. We have had a few tickets that have lingered, and we worked with our technical point of contact to make sure that they were addressed in a more timely fashion.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We have not used a competitor solution. We evaluated several, however, Panzura CloudFS is the only hybrid cloud solution that we have put into production.
How was the initial setup?
The deployment was easy. They provided us with the specifications we needed. We had to purchase new hardware. That wasn't expensive. Standing it up and managing the environment was very simple.
The migration we did was part of the deployment. The deployment basically gave us a green field to work with, and then we chose our timeline for putting our data in. Panzura CloudFS did offer to migrate the data for us, however, we used this opportunity to change our file system structure. Part of the data migration process was how we chose to reorganize how we were storing our data.
Migration took about three months. Once that was done, we started seeing benefits.
There is some maintenance in terms of patching or some instances where files can be locked. We have to manage the environment so that locks are cleared.
What about the implementation team?
To get the environment stood up, we had three or four IT people managing the configuration and initial deployment of the system.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The pricing is fine. It's in line with the industry. It did require us to purchase new hardware, however, that was not overly expensive.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We reached out to several other consulting firms that are similar to half and asked them what their experiences were and how effective it was. Panzura CloudFS had the best track record from the people that we reached out to.
What other advice do I have?
We are Panzura customers only.
I would advise others to take a serious look at Panzura CloudFS to see if it meets their business needs. It has been a solid product for us, and it was a good fit for the way in which we operate.
I would give it an eight out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Hybrid Cloud
*Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor.
