Lifestyle
Challenge
This high-profile and fast-growing business was struggling with data sprawl and efficient file access.
Solution
Panzura consolidated the file storage environment and provided access to the same data from any operating system.
Goop is a modern lifestyle brand that develops content, and curates products across beauty, fashion, wellness, and home. With hundreds of products in their database, goop's IT team needed an efficient way to manage a large collection of files, apps and data.
The goop IT team realized their legacy NAS system was struggling. With over 300 employees, and little IT infrastructure in place, goop’s senior manager of Technology Infrastructure Lee Patrick McIntire knew that they needed a new solution.
Enter Panzura CloudFS, which provided goop with data consolidation, scalability, ease of use, and speed.
Challenge: Default file syncs creating slow speeds, and consuming too much storage
Prior to the implementation of Panzura, goop struggled with data sprawl. Data was sitting in silos and the team did not know which data lived where. They were using multiple sources including a small QNAP NAS, floating hard drives and Dropbox for their storage needs.
It was challenging to get file access/permissions and they had different ways of syncing files. For example, when a new employee would start at goop, Dropbox would automatically sync everything stored on file host to their hard drive, leaving them with little to no leftover storage after their first day.
There were also collaboration issues between the web producers and photo and video retouchers, due to latency. The teams struggled with poor speed whenever they would share, download, and re-upload large media files to Dropbox.
Compounding the challenge, there was no server room on site due to the company’s limited physical space. In fact, goop’s QNAP NAS was housed in the CFO’s closet as a makeshift local file server prior to the company’s recent move to a new office building.
We evaluated other options and found Panzura to have the best combination of features. Moreover, we run on AWS cloud and wanted a solution supporting multi-cloud architecture. We’ve been up and running since the beginning of the year and the Panzura environments are running flawlessly. And getting data organized and accessible is worth its weight in gold!
CloudFS Delivers Speed, Scalability and Ease of Use
goop was looking for a solution that they could scale up as their business grew. They also envisioned improving and personalizing the customer experience by matching the most relevant messaging and images based on machine learning. This included customization at a regional level based on various parameters such as seasons, and event differences. Moreover, goop is an Amazon business and McIntire wanted a solution that would work with their current AWS architecture.
To help enhance speeds for the video team, McIntire also knew that he would need to find a solution that had active directory permissions and the ability to autoarchive and specify caching rules on different volumes. That’s when McIntire was referred to Panzura by the IT manager of Live Nation.
With CloudFS, goop now has access to features like audit logging and active directory authentication. The team is able to aggressively cache the video team’s files, so they don’t become bogged down with poor speeds and can work more efficiently.
CloudFS also provides goop with the flexibility of having both a physical and virtual appliance at its fingertips. Being able to use Panzura's SMB share and NFS share gives employees the ability to access data, whether they’re using a Mac, Windows, or Linux server.
Panzura consolidates all the company’s data into one location, giving goop just one authoritative data source to manage. Moreover, goop gets a single consolidated file environment that can be accessed across the enterprise and be plugged into third party analytics engines.
Benefits: Consolidated files that can be shared efficiently, and audit logging
Since goop implemented Panzura CloudFS, they have realized a number of improvements in their business processes.
One example is the ability to more efficiently share photo assets. This helps streamline goop’s machine learning initiatives, which allow them to more efficiently search within their asset library. Thanks to Panzura, the company can make sure they have a clear audit trail and security policies around different sets of data.
This empowers goop employees to determine how they secure and share their data, while showing who has modified data in any way. Furthermore, goop now benefits from instant scalability, greater ease of use, and increased speed.