U.S. Sailing
Case Study
Company:
U.S. SailingCore Competency:
Training, education, and programs to support the sport of sailing, and a wide range of sailing organizations.Challenge:
In need of a hosting provider with an ideal combination of location, experience, and capacity to handle expansion.Service Solutions:
Hosted Solutions’ Hi-TouchTM Colocation Services, Storage Services, Disaster Recovery, and Security ServicesThe Company:
The United States Sailing Association, otherwise known as US Sailing, is the national governing body for sailing and sailboat racing. Headquartered in Portsmouth, Rhode Island, the organization’s mission is to encourage participation and promote excellence in sailing and racing in the US. US Sailing offers training and education programs, supports a wide range of sailing organizations and communities, and provides administration and oversight of competitive sailing across the country, including the US Sailing Teams and US Olympic and Paralympics Sailing Teams.
US Sailing has embraced and supported the rapidly expanding public access programs and continues to create high-quality instructional and reference materials for race officials and to field successful Olympic and Pan American Games teams.
Media Center
Data Center Locations
The Business Challenge:
US Sailing is the sport’s leading authority and a key focal point for information. By providing access to a wealth of online content, US Sailing sought a provider that could deliver the level of service, stability, and security required to support the deployment of their web applications.
With this challenge came the need for a provider who’s network would allow for burstability to handle peak traffic periods and scalability to handle expected future growth. Another motive for the decision to outsource the day-to-day operations of their IT environment was the potential cost savings. An internal analysis showed that the cost for hiring, training, and staffing a full time IT department would be very substantial, and would still fall short of delivering the 24x7 availability required by the organization.
Finally, because of the tremendous volume of information accessible from their web site, US Sailing sought a provider that could manage these extraordinary storage demands reliably and cost-effectively.
"We sought a world-class hosting facility to support US Sailing’s mission to promote the sport of sailing nationwide," retorts Charlie Leighton, US Sailing Executive Director. US Sailing continues to make as much information available online as possible and demand is high to take advantage of these materials - not only by the sailing governing bodies, but everyday recreational sailors browsing for research and training purposes. The organization sought to make more information available online, thus being a factor in it’s search for a local hosting company that could help accommodate the necessary world class facility specifications, the network applications, and the expansion of data servers needed to fulfill the demand by their members. "The demand for our information had exceeded our expectations. The issues however were availability, service, and space. Our own facilities were fast being outstripped, as was our ability to effectively manage and protect the data until expansion became available," quotes Leighton.
The Solution:
After assessing several data center providers, US Sailing concluded that Hosted Solutions would be the best partner to satisfy their requirements. Hosted Solutions operates four SAS 70 Type II certified data centers located in Charlotte, Cary, and Raleigh, North Carolina and Boston, Massachusetts providing best-of-breed data center operations with hardened physical infrastructure, the highest level of security, and a complete managed services portfolio. "Hosted Solutions was recommended to us by a number of associates as a company that would deliver what they said when they said they would. While we were looking for a local company, it was paramount that they had the facilities to partner with us effectively. Hosted Solutions’ Boston data center provides us with an ideal combination of location, experience, and capacity to handle growth as US Sailing expands its membership and activities nationwide," said Leighton.
While US Sailing provided all of their own server hardware, Hosted Solutions provided them with colocation, network, disaster recovery, managed storage, and managed firewall services within a cost effective operational cost structure. Hosted Solutions Boston data center facility satisfied US Sailing’s desire for a local partner, but it was the facility that made the decision a breeze. Hosted Solutions’ Boston data center offers fully redundant electrical systems, HVAC infrastructure, and multi-provider network access deployed in a best practice 2n+1 configuration to maximize redundancies. Hosted Solutions Boston data center’s advanced physical security and next-generation building automation systems assure a secure and optimal operating environment.
With their website, ussailing.org, being a very content rich web site, they relied on Hosted Solutions to provide the necessary bandwidth for an optimal online experience. Not only does it include general sailing information and an online store, but it also provides training forums and a wide range of useful information on the sport. Hosted Solutions Hi-Touch network services were a key element of the decision. US Sailing’s ability to leverage Hosted Solutions fully redundant network to guarantee the availability of their site has raised customer satisfaction immensely. “From the onset of our partnership, Hosted Solutions’ team of experts managed our transition perfectly. The migration was seamless and completed without any disruptions to our daily traffic flow. Hosted Solutions’ fully redundant network and 100% network uptime SLA gives us the satisfaction that our organization’s demands will be exceeded,” quotes Leighton. The summer season is the busiest for US Sailing, and Hosted Solutions could properly prepare for spikes in online traffic during this period. By providing "bandwidth on demand," and by helping US Sailing plan for their busy season, Hosted Solutions reassures the availability of the website. Hosted Solutions 5.4 Gigabits of connectivity offers the scalability that ensures the necessary bandwidth is accounted for, and load distribution capacities are in place to easily handle unplanned spikes in activity. Hosted Solutions’ redundant, scalable architecture meets the criteria for US Sailing’s long-term growth initiatives.
With years of experience managing the application and Internet infrastructure for hundreds of organizations, Hosted Solutions has developed expertise, processes, and tools that enable us to cost-effectively and efficiently provide services that would be cost-prohibitive for US Sailing on its own. Hosted Solutions Network Operations Center is staffed 24/7 with experts in all aspects of application and Internet infrastructure management, and with the costs of these resources spread over many different customers, US Sailing enjoys the benefits of a larger IT staff. US Sailing also also takes advantage of Hosted Solutions’ processes and automation tools for provisioning, installation, troubleshooting, escalation, and remediation. By delivering these services over an operational cost structure, US Sailing can deter any large capital expenditures while minimizing the set up time.
Being so content rich, storage was the final piece in the decision to utilize Hosted Solutions as a partner. Hosted Solutions Hi-Touch storage and disaster recovery services provided US Sailing with the comfort of assuring the protection of corporate and customer data . "With Hosted Solutions as our partner we are looking forward to continuing the growth and education of the US sailing community," says Leighton.