A large auto parts retailer, relying on an infrastructure spread across seven data centers, needed to allocate storage for a new application.

Instead of buying a new array, they hoped there might be an alternative solution to the application requirements – as well as to their ongoing challenges with manual storage data collection and reporting.

The very first screen of every Visual Storage Intelligence client dashboard displays how much free space and “orphaned storage” is in the enterprise infrastructure.

Orphaned storage appears “in-use” because it is allocated, but it no longer serves any purpose. This adds to costs and reduces perceived available capacity – all while remaining hidden in most environments.

With just a couple of clicks in the Visual Storage Intelligence dashboard, the hide-and-seek ends. Our detailed reporting quickly identifies which arrays have orphaned storage and how much of the array is orphaned. That way clients can spend their time on more important things, like re-allocating the storage for better use.

The customer was surprised by the insight quickly provided by Visual Storage Intelligence. After a quick set-up (no additional tools or product installations required), they immediately found that 75% of a particular array was orphaned.

Six months before, the IT team had undergone an intense data migration project. This particular array had data from the migration that was no longer needed, but the LUNs nevertheless appeared allocated.

Excited about these findings, the IT manager was able to show how this free space could be used for the new application. The company did not have to buy new storage, saving themselves $250,000. And with unified visibility into all of their arrays regardless of manufacturer, their team saved time and felt more confident making decisions.