With over five million customers since it launched in 1999, Virgin Mobile needs to implement a storage strategy that will allow it to enable growth for both future customers and new applications. To maintain its market position and customer base, Virgin Mobile is putting plans in place to ensure it can offer its subscribers access to the next generation of applications and content.
Following an internal review of its storage infrastructure, Virgin Mobile approached GlassHouse to provide an independent, full scale audit and outline key recommendations to help centralise and control its current and future storage needs.
GlassHouse will conduct a full-scale audit of Virgin Mobile’s IT storage infrastructure and map out a consolidation and growth plan, using GlassHouse’s storage management lifecycle (SML) framework. The second phase of the plan will entail a full scale redesign and implementation to ensure that Virgin Mobile is compliant with all pertinent compliance regulations.
Keith Bennett, Lead Infrastructure Architect at Virgin Mobile, said: “We want to ensure that Virgin Mobile’s strategic direction is supported by our infrastructure development.”
“When we approached the big vendors, we were frustrated as they pushed products dressed up as solutions. GlassHouse’s vendor independence meant they would look at the big picture and enable us to deliver measurable business benefits. Their SML has provided us with a framework to develop policies and procedures with the appropriate target thresholds and management metrics we need as well as reduce risk, and improve the overall manageability of our storage environment.”
“Virgin Mobile is one of the most innovative and recognisable brands in the UK,” said Jason Rabbetts, managing director, GlassHouse Technologies U.K. Ltd. “The fact they selected us is a vindication of our vision and our role as an intermediary in what can be a confusing and perplexing market. This is a trend that is growing as customers seek assistance to both visualise and implement critical storage solutions.”
About Virgin Mobile:
Virgin Mobile Holdings (UK) plc, the UK’s largest mobile virtual network operator, is majority owned by Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Group and uses T-Mobile’s network. Since its launch in November 1999, Virgin Mobile has attracted more than 5 million customers.
Virgin Mobile employs approximately 1,400 staff at three sites, Trowbridge, London and Daventry, and has an outsourced customer service centre operated by approximately 200 staff in Middlesbrough.
Virgin Mobile is in `The Sunday Times 100 Best Companies to Work For’ 2005 list and is part of the FTSE4Good Index.
About GlassHouse Technologies, Inc.
GlassHouse is the leading provider of services that help organizations solve the business problems of enterprise storage. From strategy through implementation, operations and customer support, GlassHouse partners with clients to achieve predictability and anageability in storage operations, enabling cost control, risk mitigation and increased service levels. GlassHouse clients include Biogen Idec, Inc. (NASDAQ:
BIIB), Hartz Mountain Industries, Inc., Pitney-Bowes, Inc. (NYSE: PBI) and The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America.