• Front- and back-office data protection demands along with burgeoning video surveillance storage needs taxed current storage framework.
• Increasing need for retaining more than a week of video on disk to streamline retrieval when required.
• Requirement for scalability necessitated upgrade to expandable, high-capacity storage platform.
• Best-in-class Windows ACLs support and dynamic home directories provide executives and managers with secure information areas on the network to store sensitive and businesscritical data, including PCIcompliance info.
• Performance boost improves moving files around while performing backups is much faster.
• More than 10 days of video can be stored on disk for fast, efficient retrieval.
Zodo’s—Bowling & Beyond is one of the busiest bowling centers on the West Coast, boasting 24 lanes, an arcade, pro shop as well as a full-service, highly popular restaurant and bar. After the Goleta, Calif.-based facility was purchased by Kinko’s Inc. founder, chairman and avid bowler Paul Orfalea along with other Kinko’s executives, the business was transformed into a 25,000-square foot entertainment center that appeals to all ages.
The multi-million dollar business continues to thrive despite a decline in the bowling industry thanks to its plethora of special programs, such as “Bowl your Brains Out, Win a Vespa,” “Lunch ‘n Bowl,” and “Glow Bowling,” where black lights shed a whole different light on a typical game. On weekends, Zodo’s hosts the area’s largest laser light show and a live disc jockey to liven up the perennial party atmosphere. According to Cindy Lawrenz, vice president of operations for Zodo’s, the company embraces leading-edge technology to run all aspects of the business. “We are very savvy when it comes to technology,” she explains. “It starts with our deployment of automated scoring systems, synthetic lanes and AMF pinsetters and extends to sophisticated point-of-sale systems, widespread WiFi access and state-of-the-art intelligent lighting systems.” During recent remodels, Zodo’s has installed CAT-5 cabling through the facility along with a 48-camera, high-resolution video surveillance system for monitoring activity and supporting insurance liability requirements.
Initially, Zodo’s installed a Snap Server 520 with one terabyte of storage, which met the early needs for highly reliable NAS storage with a variety of enterprise-class features. Among the pluses of this first system were remote management of BakBone’s NetVault: Backup data protection, which was embedded on the Snap Server platform, as well as the ability to write command-line scripts and automate different operations for reduced administrative overhead. The first Snap Server also kept pace with Zodo’s rapidly rising video surveillance solution.
When it came time to increase capacity, Zodo’s once again turned to Overland’s Snap Server to supply the additional storage while also leveraging a host of new features and advanced functionality. The new Snap Server 620 boasts 63 percent higher performance than the 520, thanks to a new dual-core AMD Opteron processor. Additionally, the new NAS platform can be configured with four enterprise-class SATA II drives for an initial capacity of one, two, three or four terabytes as well as optional scalability to 88 TBs to suite a variety of storage demands and budgets.
Additionally, GOS 5.0 features a Linux 2.6 kernel for improved stability, robustness and performance while the availability of RAID 6 and 10 support delivers an extra measure of data protection. Overland also has broadened its NAS replication functionality with the latest release of Snap Enterprise Data Replicator (EDR) 7.2, which can be embedded in GOS optionally to bolster the ability to distribute, synchronize and protect data residing in remote offices. Finally, integration with BakBone’s NetVault: Backup 8.1 extends open systems data protection.