WSIPC Enhances Storage Efficiency with Azure Elastic SAN!
WSIPC Enhances Storage Efficiency with Azure Elastic SAN
WSIPC has streamlined its storage processes and reduced costs by implementing Microsoft Azure Elastic SAN. Supporting over 300 school districts and serving nearly 3 million students and educators, WSIPC needed a scalable, cost-effective solution to manage terabytes of critical school data, including ERP systems, student information, and HR and finance applications.
Before migrating to Elastic SAN, WSIPC faced challenges with costly and rigid storage expansions that required large upfront investments and system downtime. "At one time, I couldn’t expand or manage disks without downtime," says Ray Steele, Technical Architect at WSIPC. "It was always a little spooky to shut down the server, detach the database, expand it, and hope everything worked right."
By switching to Elastic SAN, WSIPC has cut backup times from three hours to seven minutes, reduced SQL Server storage costs by 20%, and gained the ability to dynamically expand storage without disrupting operations. This flexibility has significantly improved performance and reliability for school staff who rely on these systems daily. "By switching to Elastic SAN, we get our backups done faster and keep school staff online," adds Jeff Simons, Chief Information Officer at WSIPC.
The transition to Azure Elastic SAN has also simplified storage management for WSIPC’s IT team, freeing up time for innovation. With greater efficiency and cost savings, WSIPC is now exploring AI-driven advancements to further enhance the technology services provided to K-12 education. "We have time to think about the next challenge to tackle and how to apply AI to improve the services we provide our districts," says Andrew Hepworth, Infrastructure Engineering Manager at WSIPC. "I like to think that we’re mavericks in the education technology space."
Read the full story here on Microsoft’s site!
WSIPC is a non-profit public agency that provides technology solutions (including SMS 2.0 and Qmlativ), services, and support to K-12 schools. WSIPC’s purpose is to help schools do more with every dollar and to empower them with the tools to work smarter. To learn how your district can become part of the WSIPC Cooperative, contact us at info@wsipc.org or 425.349.6600.
WSIPC. Inspired by education. Empowered by technology.TM