RETAIL
CUSTOMER SUCCESS STORY
Leading Online Shopping Destination Leverages
Zadara Storage to Address Scalability, Management
and Total Cost of Ownership Challenges
“Our fundamental problem was aligning our IT infrastructure with our company growth. We
moved from a storage solution that was hindering growth, to one that is enabling growth.”
Company Profile:
Gilt is an innovative online shopping
destination offering its members
special access to the most inspiring
merchandise and experiences every
day at insider prices.
Challenge:
• Storing the growing number of
product images created scalability
and management challenges
• Storage infrastructure was
cumbersome and expensive to run
and maintain
• IT was not responsive to the
departmental needs
Solution:
• Gilt replaced existing 3PAR with
Zadara’s Virtual Private Storage
Array (VPSA) connecting to AWS
Results:
• Reduced storage costs by 85%
• Accelerated new capacity
deployment from days to minutes
• Able to redeploy people from
mundane storage management to
strategic, high value activities
Anders Holm, Senior Systems Engineer at Gilt
Gilt%Reduces%Storage%Costs%by%85%%
with%Zadara™%VPSA™%Enterprise%
StorageAasAaAService%(STaaS)%
%
An% online% shopping% destination% for% the%
savvy% consumer,% Gilt% continually%
searches%the%world%for%the%most%coveted%
brands% and% products,% including% fashion%
for% women,% men,% and% children;% home%
decor;% and% unique% activities% in% select%
cities%and%destinations.%Gilt%releases%new%
products% to% their% website% on% a% daily%
basis% with% discounts% of% up% to% 70%% off%
retail.% % The% growing% business% created%
scalability% and% management% challenges%
for% their% entire% IT% infrastructure.% Gilt%
made% the% decision% to% move% their%
compute%infrastructure%to%Amazon%Web%
Services%(AWS)%over%managing%their%own%
data% centers% to% gain% the% flexibility% and%
cost%advantages%of%cloudAcomputing.%%%
%
When% the% time% came% to% look% at% their%
storage% infrastructure,% they% wanted% the%
same% level% of% scalability,% elasticity% and%
cost%advantages.%As%Anders%Holm,%Senior%
Systems%Engineer%at%Gilt%in%Dublin,%put%it,%
“One%of%the%benefits%of%AWS%is%that%they%
manage% our% compute% resource% for% us.%%
We% essentially% push% the% headaches% to%
them% so% that% we% can% focus% on% our%
business.”%Gilt%wanted%that%same%level%of%
“asAaAservice”%solution%for%their%storage.%%
However,% they% also% wanted% the%
enterprise% features% that% they% were%
lacking% in% their% prior% storage% solution.%%
Holm% continued,% “Really% no% other%
solution%on%the%market%was%able%to%meet%
our%needs.%The%Zadara%VPSA%was%clearly%
the%best%solution%for%us.”%

“We are able to expand
existing storage or set up
new storage volumes within
minutes. Our ability to be
responsive to our internal
customers, rather than being
perceived as a roadblock is
a huge win for us.”
“We are able to have
significantly more capacity
with Zadara at a fraction of
the cost we were paying for
3PAR.”
“Really no other solution on
the market was able to meet
our needs. The Zadara
VPSA was clearly the best
solution for us.”
– Anders Holm, Senior
Systems Engineer at Gilt
Zadara Storage
U.S. Headquarters
6 Venture, Suite 140
Irvine, CA 92618
(949) 251-0360
© 2015 Zadara Storage. All rights reserved.
Company or Product names may be the property of their respective owners.
One$ of$ the$ key$ problems$ with$ Gilt’s$ Gilt$ is$ also$ pleased$ with$ the$ seamless$
prior$solution$3PAR,$was$scalability$and$ connectivity$ between$ their$ AWS$
manageability.$When$they$needed$new$ compute$ resources$ and$ their$ Zadara$
capacity,$ they$ would$ add$ LUNs$ and$ Storage$ capacity.$ They$ are$ able$ to$
assign$new$volumes$to$the$applications.$$ connect$ any$ of$ their$ AWS$ accounts,$
The$process$was$cumbersome$and$was$ regardless$ of$ region,$ to$ any$ of$ their$
taking$days$to$complete.$With$the$new$ Zadara$Storage$VPSAs.$$This$has$created$
Zadara$ VPSA,$ the$ same$ task$ is$ taking$ very$ powerful$ data$ availability$ options$
minutes$ using$ the$ Zadara$ VPSA$ for$ Gilt.$ They$ are$ now$ considering$
console.$ Anders$ Holm$ summarized,$ replicating$ data$ between$ their$ key$
“We$ are$ able$ to$ expand$ existing$ locations$ and$ possibly$ using$ Zadara’s$
storage$or$set$up$new$storage$volumes$ other$ data$ protection$ features$ to$ add$
within$ minutes.$ Our$ ability$ to$ be$ additional$ levels$ of$ availability$ to$ their$
responsive$ to$ our$ internal$ customers,$ data.$ Zadara’s$ Backup$ to$ S3$ (B2S3)$
rather$ than$ being$ perceived$ as$ a$ option$ allows$ users$ to$ replicate$ their$
roadblock$is$a$huge$win$for$us.”$ data$ to$ costReffective$ Amazon$ S3$
$ objectRbased$targets.$$
Another$ significant$ challenge$ Gilt $
with$ their$ prior$ storage$ reduced Anders$ Holm$ concluded,$ “The$
architecture$ was$ cost.$ As$ the$
Gilt$business$grew,$the$cost$of$
storage Zadara$ VPSA$ has$ worked$
extremely$well.$It$has$delivered$
acquiring$ and$ managing$ their$ costs by asRpromised.$ Also,$ the$ support$
85%
storage$ would$ not$ scale$ and$ service$ department$ has$
approriately.$ Their$ storage$ been$ fantastic.$ Overall,$ it$ has$
costs$ were$ outpacing$ other$ IT$ been$ a$ great$ experience$ working$ with$
resources.$ By$ taking$ advantage$ of$ the$ Zadara.”$
Zadara$ Enterprise$ StorageRasRaRService$ $
(STaaS)$ business$ model,$ Gilt$ reduced$ Gilt$is$a$perfect$example$of$a$company$
their$ storage$ costs$ by$ 85%.$ “We$ are$ who$ recognized$ that$ the$ traditional$
able$to$have$significantly$more$capacity$ model$ of$ acquiring$ and$ managing$ IT$
with$Zadara$at$a$fraction$of$the$cost$we$ resources$ does$ not$ scale.$ Much$ like$
were$paying$for$3PAR.”$ many$ other$ resources$ such$ as$
$ electricity$and$telephone$services$have$
One$ of$ the$ side$ benefits$ that$ was$ not$ moved$to$a$utility$grid,$IT$resources$are$
expected$ when$ Gilt$ made$ the$ decision$ following$ the$ same$ proven$ path.$
to$ move$ to$ Zadara$ Storage$ was$ that$ Corporations$are$asking$for$StorageRasR
people$ previously$ assigned$ to$ the$ aRService$ (STaaS),$ where$ they$ pay$ for$
mundane$ task$ of$ managing$ storage$ what$ they$ use$ and$ let$ others$ manage$
could$ now$ be$ redeployed$ on$ much$ the$ infrastructure.$ Whether$ you$ are$
higherRvalued$ activities.$ Not$ only$ did$ looking$for$a$cloudRbased$option,$or$on$
this$ increase$ overall$ productivity,$ it$ your$own$premises,$Zadara$Storage$has$
made$for$more$engaged$employees.$ the$right$solution$for$your$company.$
International For more information:
Headquarters www.zadarastorage.com
Beit Tavor 1 sales@zadarastorage.com
Yokneam 20692 Israel
SEP302015