Panzura for Manufacturing

As data volumes escalate and data islands proliferate across the organization, the need for a complete data management approach becomes more pressing.

For many firms though, data is being produced so quickly that simply storing it all is straining resources. Making copies of that data – for backup, redundancy, and offsite storage to meet internal and external mandates can 5x the original data volume. The pressure on IT teams to manage these enormous and sensitive data loads, and on finance teams to budget for storage, is immense.

Inability for people to work together across locations at a speed that allows them to be productive, makes it difficult for firms to fully tap the potential of their talent pool, hampering growth.

Protecting all data from exposure, damage or deletion in the face of increasing cyber threats adds yet another layer of complexity.

Bring product to market faster while controlling storage costs

• Consolidate data into a single, deduplicated view across the organization
• Empower real time, high performance collaboration on SolidWorks and other CAD files
• Avoid overwrites with immediate file locking that automatically works everywhere
• Boost performance with file changes that are immediately visible to every user
• Protect data against damage and deletion with ransomware resilience

In this solution brief, we’ll outline how Panzura helps manufacturing firms solve immediate data and productivity problems with a cloud data management solution that will support them into the future.

Consolidating Distributed Data

Data distributed across multiple storage devices, and often across multiple locations, is prone to a significant amount of duplication as similar and sometimes almost identical files occupy storage space. Myriad similar copies of the same file cause confusion among users about which version they should rely on as the authoritative copy, making compliance difficult.

While cloud storage presents with a cost-effective pricing structure, simply lifting and shifting that data into the cloud replaces one set of data islands with another. Performance problems working with cloud-stored data, coupled with storage inefficiencies and lack of visibility, can quickly render a cloud move ineffective.

Panzura’s global file system CloudFS consolidates distributed data into a single, authoritative data set that is visible, and accessible, across the organization.

With Panzura, we’ve been able to realise a number of key benefits. For example, our speed to market, and being able to maintain an agile infrastructure and keep pace with the business as they’re developing new products. The Panzura solution was really a game changer for us. Essentially what we’ve done is create a global organization that is now virtually working in the same room. Milwaukee Tool

Minimizing Duplication

CloudFS deduplicates redundant data before moving it to your chosen cloud or object store, allowing you to realize a significant reduction in your overall data footprint. CloudFS maintains this globally deduplicated data set at all times, checking for redundancies every time it moves data into your cloud storage.

Accessing Data in Real Time

With CloudFS, all users in your organization work from the authoritative data set stored in your cloud or object store. No changes in workflows, or user behaviors are required – users interact with files in the same way they always have, and CloudFS provides them with a local-feeling file experience. That means that files open and save as quickly as they always did when stored locally.

Maintaining Immediate File Consistency

CloudFS is the fastest global file system on the planet, making file edits immediately visible everywhere, regardless of the number of locations you have, or how far apart they are. This real time file consistency, across every location in the global file network, means that users can rely on working the authoritative file, complete with any changes, at all times.

Empowering Collaboration Using CAD Files

CloudFS enables cross-site collaboration on large files in a way nobody else can. Instantaneous, automatic file locking locks down a file for editing the moment it’s opened. It’s the file experience users have when they’re sitting right next to each other, even if they’re a world apart.

Enabling High Performance Remote Work CloudFS works seamlessly with cloud VDI solutions to the deliver the ultimate high performance file experience for all users, even if they’re working remotely without a high speed internet connection.

Keeping Data Protected

CloudFS provides built in protection against accidental data deletion, or damage caused by malware or ransomware attacks, with a resilient data architecture. Data managed by CloudFS is stored in an immutable – Write Once, Read Many – format so that once it’s in your object storage, it cannot be changed. New data created by file edits or new file creation are stored as new data blocks. No data is ever overwritten.

Restoring Damaged or Lost Data

Read-only system snapshots are taken on a scheduled basis, and these record the file system at that point in time. Additionally, snapshots are taken at every location in the CloudFS every 60 seconds. These provide the ability to restore any file to any point in time as required.

In the event of any file damage – whether caused accidentally or as part of a wider encryption attack such as a ransomware event – individual files, folders or the entire file system can be restored to a pristine state with no data loss, and minimal disruption.

Ensuring Data Compliance

Streamlining data management through intelligent deduplication and the introduction of a single authoritative data source allows IT teams to more easily control where data is stored, who has access, and to monitor that access. FIPS 140-2 certification ensures data is securely encrypted in flight and at rest, making it unable to be read, in the event that it is intercepted.

Empowering High Availability

CloudFS gives you the level of high availability you need to maintain a productive workforce. Every location in a global file system always has read access to data from every other location. Data is stored securely in the cloud and each location can read that data. In the event of a disaster in one location, every other location already has access to the data for immediate recovery.

Panzura Lets You Work With Your Data, The Way That Works For You

Every part of Panzura’s data management solution has been specifically and intentionally designed to let you manage, protect and work with the most challenging file types in the manufacturing industry. With unmatched performance collaborating across sites, CloudFS lets you deliver better, faster project outcomes.