Isilon has announced that Aerial Services has deployed Isilon scale-out storage to power its aerial mapping and geospatial services workflow. Using the Isilon X-Series, ASI has unified its image processing and analysis onto a single, shared storage resource, simplifying data management to accelerate project delivery, while reducing operating costs. With Isilon, ASI has been able to transition to an all-digital workflow featuring two Leica Airborne Digital Sensor (ADS-80) cameras, expanding the geospatial solution providers' service capabilities and its bandwidth to accommodate new business.

"When we moved to an all-digital workflow, our previous NAS system just couldn't keep pace, so we had to make a change," said Mike Tully, CEO, Aerial Services. "By moving to Isilon and a 10 Gigabit Ethernet network, we now have drastically improved performance and simplified management. Storage limitations are now virtually a non-issue when our workload ramps up seasonally."

ASI provides aerial mapping, photography and geospatial solutions to government, utilities, engineers, and other geospatial service providers. Prior to using Isilon, ASI's move to an all-digital workflow strained the capabilities of its traditional NAS array, limiting ASI's return on investment from its new digital cameras. With five aircraft flying aerial mapping missions around the clock, ASI needed a high performance storage system that could keep pace with its processing and analysis workflow without significant expense.

By deploying Isilon's X-Series, combined with the Isilon Performance Accelerator for 10 Gigabit Ethernet front-end connectivity, ASI has consolidated its entire workflow onto a single storage resource to improve data performance and reduce management.  With Isilon scale-out storage, ASI can complete more projects in less time and at less cost, driving increased operating leverage across its organization.

"The time- and data-sensitive nature of geospatial-related workloads requires easily scalable, high-performance storage resources to keep up with demand," said Sam Grocott, vice president of marketing, Isilon Systems. "By combining Isilon scale-out storage with an all-digital, high-speed workflow, ASI is helping establish best practices for maximizing the value of mission-critical information and return on IT investment."