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Planet Beach

Planet Beach is a globally franchised tanning spa delivering, tanning and skin rejuvenation services for a unique tanning spa experience. Planet Beach has more than 100 employees at their corporate headquarters and more than 350 franchises across the United States, Canada and Australia. Planet Beach currently manages a network of Windows servers and network infrastructure with plans to expand in the near future to accommodate growth.

QUICK FACTS
For Planet Beach International, the Klir Analytics solution delivered:

• Remote view into entire out-of-state network
• IT analytics tools that bring visibility to performance, utilization and network circuit configuration
• Rapid deployment and ease of use
• Customizable reports with reliable data to demonstrate performance management
• Cost-effective solution that saved both time and money
• Reliable expert support

CHALLENGE
For Clervie Stinson, Planet Beach's sole network administrator, security was a big challenge as was visibility into the network. He needed a way to better secure and manage those systems.

"One of the big ongoing issues I was faced with, was the security of our network. In the past, we had no detection system in place to check for abnormalities in any of our devices. This was extremely frustrating and stressful."

In 2005 Planet Beach also came face to face with a natural disaster, which increased Stinson's challenges dramatically.

The Planet Beach headquarters is located in New Orleans. When tropical storm Cindy hit right before Hurricane Katrina, it wiped out their entire network for four days. Realizing their network was in jeopardy, Planet Beach quickly moved their servers to a data center protection agency in Indiana.

At this point, Planet Beach needed a network management solution that would allow them to manage their network remotely. Planet Beach began searching for the appropriate solution to meet their needs.

SOLUTION
After watching a demo, Planet Beach chose Klir Analytics to bring visibility into their network performance. "When we were presented with Klir's solution, it was impressive," said Clervie Stinson, the Planet Beach Network Administrator. "It was the obvious choice for us - we knew we didn't need to look any further."

Klir Analytics is the first IT analytics solution offered as a managed service via a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) delivery model. The SaaS model ensures rapid deployment, reduces the burden on IT staff and provides enterprise-class reliability at a fraction of the cost of traditional enterprise solutions.

"I couldn't be more pleased with Klir. Klir brings me the comprehensive data I need to help us facilitate reliable performance management," said Stinson.

RESULTS
Planet Beach was thrilled with Klir's quick and easy deployment, and found that using the Klir interface to monitor the performance of their network was simple and straightforward.

Stinson was impressed with the customer service he's experienced working with the Klir support team during the first four months of using the Klir solution. "Whenever I have a problem or questions I just pick up the phone and get great support with quick responses and solutions," he said.

Another critical component of the solution for Planet Beach was the ability to easily configure and compile reports for management. "Reports of this kind didn't exist in our company before Klir."

Equally as critical, the Klir solution helped Planet Beach to avoid a computer virus catastrophe. "With Klir, I'm able to set up alerts that give me immediate feedback if there's a problem with any of our servers," Stinson said. After receiving a Klir alert, Stinson called his Klir support team who quickly discovered a virus in the Planet Beach network. "Without Klir, the virus would have continued corrupting our system." Stinson, said. "We could have lost all our servers which would have cost hundred of thousands of dollars to replace. It's really frightening to think about the extent of the loss if Klir hadn't alerted me to the problem."

Additionally, the Klir solution allowed Planet Beach to save both time and money by helping them avoid individual monitoring of each server in their network. "Logging in to each server, monitor them, checking the event viewer and the overall status was a time consuming task that was required numerous times throughout each day. With Klir, I can focus on other vital areas of Planet Beach business. All in all, the cost saving is not really scalable - it's priceless." said Stinson. For Planet Beach, that was the Klir advantage