Grant Thornton consolidates information

EMC Corporation today announced that the US operation of Grant Thornton, the leading global accounting, tax and management consulting firm dedicated to serving the needs of middle-market companies, has implemented EMC CLARiiON Enterprise Storage systems and software as the cornerstone of an advanced infrastructure that is expected to significantly reduce costs.

Grant Thornton is using EMC CLARiiON storage area networks (SANs) in distributed hubs throughout the US to help eliminate one-third of its servers, dramatically reduce IT staffing costs and improve client service.

Dave Johnson, Grant Thornton`s Director of Information Technology, said: "The deployment of our five CLARiiON systems is the final step of a major, firm-wide infrastructure redesign. This cutting-edge strategy will enable us to significantly reduce costs and leverage our regionalised IP architecture to more efficiently deliver voice and data services to our 44 US offices. Without the deployment of SAN technologies, the level of complexity to achieve this degree of consolidation and standardisation would have been a deterrent."

Based in Chicago, Illinois, Grant Thornton has implemented an EMC CLARiiON SAN in each of its regional hubs in New York, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angles and an enterprise data centre in Chicago that will provide the firm`s 2 800 US network users with remote access to integrated voice, data and video applications. The SANs are built on EMC CLARiiON FC4700 storage systems and Fibre Channel switches. The 14-terabyte EMC infrastructure provides intelligent storage to Grant Thornton`s Compaq Windows NT and Windows 2000 servers. Applications supported by CLARiiON include Web access, human resources, payroll, Microsoft Exchange, billing, expense reporting and Unified Messenger to provide users with integrated access to electronic mail, voice mail, and fax via their desktop.

Grant Thornton evaluated a range of other storage options - including Compaq, Hitachi, Hewlett-Packard and Network Appliance - before deciding on EMC CLARiiON. Johnson noted: "CLARiiON`s performance, reliability and manageability far surpassed the alternative storage choices we considered. We were impressed with EMC`s commitment to product development and its consistency and experience in the market. So many other vendors treat storage as an add-on and it shows in the quality of their product."

Consolidation of information assets onto EMC CLARiiON SANs is also allowing Grant Thornton to reduce the total number of servers it operates from 190 to 125. The accounting firm utilises EMC CLARiiON software - such as EMC SnapView and EMC ControlCenter Navisphere Manager - to provide even tighter, more cost-efficient management and availability of business-critical information assets. Management and support tasks that previously took days are now being accomplished in minutes.

"CLARiiON`s management software and seamless scalability is providing the foundation for a virtualised view of our information assets across the regional centres. For example, we are now able consolidate the storage of various advanced applications, such as current distance-learning technology, where our users participate in integrated audio and video presentations on their notebooks. CLARiiON`s SnapView is a powerful tool that makes our data more available and reduces costs at the same time. We use it to make an online copy of our databases so we can back up and restore online as opposed to just using tape."

Frank Hauck, EMC`s Executive Vice President of Customer Operations, said: "Grant Thornton is pursuing a cutting-edge information infrastructure that is merely an idea or wish for so many other firms. With the CLARiiON`s advanced storage architecture and software, Grant Thornton is well prepared to accelerate its information consolidation strategy, which will lower operational costs and deliver significant enhancements to client service."

Grant Thornton is the leading global accounting, tax and management consulting firm dedicated to serving the needs of middle-market companies. Founded in 1924, Grant Thornton serves public and private middle-market clients through 44 offices in the US, and in more than 650 offices in 109 countries through Grant Thornton International. Grant Thornton`s Web site address is www.GrantThornton.com.