EMC Corporation, the world leader in information storage, today announced that Williams Communications, leading carrier-focused broadband network and independent business communications integrator, has achieved dramatic time-to-market reductions by standardizing its rapidly growing information infrastructure on EMC Enterprise Storage Network (ESN). EMC`s Enterprise Storage Network collects, moves, and archives billions of data records associated with calls made on Williams` network.
"EMC is central to our ability to deploy new services quickly, bring new customers online at record rates, leap ahead of our competitors - and still keep our systems up on a 24x7 basis," said Randy Tucker, Williams Communications` Vice President of Information Technology Infrastructure. "Before EMC, we continually added onto our storage infrastructure every time we wanted to add a new application - which would drain our staffing resources and result in costly time-to-market delays. EMC, on the other hand, provides a completely fluid, centralized pool of storage that is always online and accessible."
Tucker credits EMC`s dramatic information availability improvements, in part, with reducing the time it took to develop a complex broadband network services solution from three years to less than nine months. Williams also teamed with EMC`s Professional Services consultants to speed the development and implementation of its ESN.
"Not only was EMC`s technology two years ahead of other vendors`, but EMC`s technical experts just dove in and worked with us," said Tucker. "EMC has proven time and again that they are far more than a vendor; they are an infrastructure ally."
ESN comprises a dedicated, high-speed network that uses standard network-attached storage capabilities, such as IP, and standard channel technology, such as Fibre Channel, SCSI, and ESCON, to weave together heterogeneous storage devices, switches, hubs, and servers into a single, easily managed, centralized information infrastructure. ESNs consolidate distributed information from departments and business units throughout the enterprise as well as from remote locations over wide-area networks.
Williams` EMC Symmetrix Enterprise Storage systems deliver storage services via EMC Connectrix switches to Hewlett-Packard, Sun, Digital, Compaq and Dell servers in Windows NT, UNIX and NFS environments. Forty terabytes of EMC storage reside on the ESN to support network management, video distribution, e-commerce, customer service, and operations support. Williams has deployed EMC software - including EMC TimeFinder, Symmetrix Remote Data Facility (SRDF), EMC InfoMover, EMC PowerPath, EMC Volume Logix, and EMC ControlCenter - to further improve data availability and manageability.
Said Tucker, "EMC provides this rich resource of software tools to deliver something new - whether it be further expanding our online windows or moving large quantities of data across diverse platforms without incurring downtime. For example, we enhance our information availability with EMC ControlCenter, which provides centralized management control over our ESN, which is located in both Tulsa and Houston."
Based in Tulsa, Okla., Williams has qualified under the EMC Proven E-Infostructure program, which enables selected Internet-focused companies to publicly validate their world-class information infrastructures. This program defines the highest standards for information availability, scalability, and management.
"Williams Communications is a premier example of a company for whom information and revenue are inextricably tied," said Mike Ruffolo, EMC`s Executive Vice President of Global Sales, Services and Marketing. "Making data accessible across the enterprise as Williams Communications has done creates a competitive advantage that cannot be easily duplicated."
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EMC Corporation
EMC Corporation is the world leader in information storage systems, software, networks and services, providing the information infrastructure for a connected world. Information about EMC`s products and services can be found at http://www.emc.com.
About Williams Communications Group, Inc.
Williams Communications, through its subsidiaries, is North America`s only exclusively carrier-focused fiber-optic network and the largest independent source of end-to-end integrated business communications solutions--data, voice or video. Based in Tulsa, Okla., Williams Communications had revenues of $2 billion in 1999 and today has more than 9,000 employees primarily in North America, with offices in Europe and Asia and investments in South America and Australia. Approximately 85 percent of WCG stock is held by Williams which, in 1985, became the first energy company to harness its core competency as a builder of networks to enable competition in the communications industry. Additional information is available at www.williams.com and www.williamscommunications.com.