Advanced HPC’s technical expertise, commoditized solutions and fast implementation helped SanApptX achieve hundredfold growth, while competing with some of the largest cloud-based enterprises in the world.
Operating several companies under a single holding organization, Dallas-based SanApptX is a wholesale cloud infrastructure reseller that provides storage and Software as a Service (SaaS) solutions that optimize efficiency, agility and resiliency.
The company’s cloud-based storage infrastructure supports over 500 customers, more than 300,000 websites and some of the biggest names in enterprise business—including the likes of GoDaddy, Fitbit, Photobucket and QuickBooks. They all count on SanApptX facilities to host their online applications, enabling them to cut overall storage costs, secure data against downtime and disaster, and scale on a single platform in line with their unique business needs.
The Challenge
SanApptX began in 2012 as a small startup—a cloud storage company run by four people working out of a garage in South Dallas. The company’s top priority was growth, but it needed to make the right moves to avoid costly missteps. Critical to their strategy was finding a source for their storage solutions, preferably a partner that could offer the technology, guidance and the expertise to help the company kick-start their growth.
They could have chosen a big Tier 1 partner, like Dell, HP or IBM. But they also hoped to build a relationship with a company that could offer a single point of contact, VIP attention and around-the-clock technical support—things are rarely available from the “big guys” without a huge price tag.
They found everything they wanted in Advanced HPC.
“We wanted a partner that would put in that effort and could give us that single point of contact, so if we had a problem, we could easily escalate and resolve it,” said Yasser Elgebaly, CTO. “We also needed VIP attention because we were a startup and needed some guidance. Fortunately, they aligned with us from the very beginning, so both our companies rode the growth curve together. If we hadn’t found Advanced HPC, we would have been lost.”
The Solution
Advanced HPC jumped in to supply SanApptX with commoditized hardware geared for enterprise performance. Because Advanced HPC is not locked into sourcing from any one vendor, they helped SanApptX compare hardware solutions from more than 25 vendors and also steered them to the right solutions for their cloud operation.
To build out its cloud architecture and technology data center, SanApptX ultimately chose servers, racks, storage and solutions from Quanta and Dell. Because the solutions would be used in a cloud environment, they had to be running around the clock with zero downtime.
“Advanced HPC gave us the consulting, the financing, the support, guidance and R&D based on their own engineering expertise—all for free,” said Elgebaly. “At that point, we were talking to their engineers day and night. They gave us ideas and explained what options were better than others, including all the reasons and metrics to support their case. Had I gone to Dell for this type of R&D or on-call, round-the-clock technical service, it probably would have cost a million dollars. We skipped a lot of problems and a lot of expense that we might have otherwise encountered, simply by working with Advanced HPC.”
The cost of the equipment itself was another important factor. With Advanced HPC, for example, SanApptX can buy a rack that normally costs $1.2 million for about $300,000—representing nearly 70% in savings.
“This level of affordability helped us grow as a small startup and still keeps us competitive today,” said Elgebaly. “When we were small, the big billion-dollar cloud companies like Amazon, Google and Rackspace had the power to take any small company like ours out of business. Thankfully, Advanced HPC provided the technical R&D ability to help us save up to 70% and do a faster implementation, so we could offer our customers a turnkey two-week operation instead of one that takes two months. After that, it was pretty much a homerun for us. Partnering with Advanced HPC has been one of our very best investments.”
Today, SanApptX is a $100 million company employing 250 people—a true success story of how a company with humble beginnings skyrocketed to achieve hundredfold growth in just five years. Thanks to a strong strategic partnership with Advanced HPC, the sky’s the limit for this company’s future.