CAMPBELL, CA -- (Marketwired) -- Aug 21, 2014 -- Panzura, the leading global provider of locking file and cloud storage systems, today announced that top engineering, planning and allied services firm Hanson Professional Services Inc., has enabled global CAD and BIM (Building Information Management) collaboration and reduced its operational costs through infrastructure consolidation by implementing Panzura technology. Hanson was able to significantly decrease storage costs and empower its distributed teams across multiple locations with the ability to collaborate on BIM/CAD models as though they were working in the same office.

Previously, Hanson faced rebuilding file servers at a total cost of $1M for all of its 25 nationwide offices. With Panzura, not only did Hanson stamp out this challenge, but the company also:

• Reduced time to restore files by 90 percent
• Eliminated the need for tape backup, resulting in $33,000 annual savings plus additional $2,000 per month in tape media
• Condensed personnel needed to manage the backup and file sharing process by 50 percent
• Experienced savings of 56 percent in media needed for backup tapes from $1,800 per month to $800 per month for cloud storage
• Significantly improved collaboration between skilled professionals in disparate locations -- team members in each office running Panzura now see one set of data stored in one central cloud storage system

Having its stored data backup in the cloud enabled Hanson to only add capacity as needed. Panzura also provided an automatic backup and recovery solution that was compatible with Hansons's highly technical and data-intensive Architecture Engineering and Construction applications. Reliable data recovery and version controls prevented hours of specialized and technical modifications from being overwritten.

"With Panzura's data storage in the cloud, we only manage and pay for what we're using," said Hanson IT Manager Bob Stidham. "What's more, we've been able to act as a team across offices better than ever. Now that we have one cloud for storage and collaboration, we no longer faces issues with what we call 'islands of data,' meaning employees in different offices working on the same project now all see the same file. Panzura has completely transformed how we work."

Panzura's patented global file locking technology is the only solution that solves cross-site BIM collaboration issues and has become crucial for internal and external collaboration needs with AEC applications. This unique file locking capability reduces application sync time of users in distributed sites from 20 minutes to 10 seconds, truly enabling all users to work as if they were in the same room.

"We are ecstatic to see the results Hanson has experienced since implementing our patented global file locking technology," said Randy Chou, co-founder and CEO of Panzura. "While the cost savings are clear, the ability to collaborate across offices using latency-sensitive applications is crucial for AEC firms like Hanson. We are so proud to have joined forces with Hanson to transform the way they store data and collaborate across offices."

About Panzura
Panzura is the catalyst in the transformation of cloud storage into high-performance enterprise file systems. Panzura's revolutionary global locking file system seamlessly combines the flexibility, performance and productivity benefits of distributed storage with the manageability, security and economics of centralized storage.

With Panzura, the cloud -- public or private -- not only serves as every tier of storage, it becomes the fabric that enables globally distributed teams rapid file access and easy collaboration. Panzura delivers one file system across hundreds of offices that allows users to work together as if they were in the same room. For more information, visit www.panzura.com.