Kelley Blue Book Named a Winner in SNW's Spring 2010 'Best Practices' Awards Program

KBB Recognized for Excellence in Virtualization and Cloud Computing

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Jun 07, 2010, 05:00 ET

IRVINE, Calif., June 7 /PRNewswire/ -- Kelley Blue Book, www.kbb.com, the leading provider of new and used car information, today announces its recent win in SNW's Spring 2010 "Best Practices" Awards Program, in the Virtualization and Cloud Computing category.

Kelley Blue Book's rapid technological expansion required the development of a more scalable and flexible storage networking solution. With the help of systems integrator Trace3, the company implemented a powerful core infrastructure with VMware software and NetApp storage. By implementing de-duplication software from NetApp, storage utilization decreased by over 70 percent and enabled the company to add more virtual machines per volume than ever before. By increasing the size of storage aggregates and defining different tiers of disk resources, Kelley Blue Book boosted performance by 400 percent.

"With the software and storage technology Kelley Blue Book has implemented our engineers can expand and configure storage and provision virtual environments quickly, without requiring a redesign or lengthy provisioning times," said Grant Leathers, director of enterprise infrastructure for Kelley Blue Book. "In addition to this we have simplified maintenance, increased utilization, improved performance and postponed storage acquisition costs."

SNW's "Best Practices" Award Program identifies and acknowledges excellence among users of storage IT solutions and approaches in the following categories: Best Practices in Green Computing, Energy Efficiency and the Data Center; Best Practices in Planning Designing and Building a Next Generation Storage and Server Infrastructure; Best Practices in Storage Resiliency, Data Protection and Recovery; Best Practices in Technology Innovation and Promise; Best Practices in Virtualization and Cloud Computing.

"Data and storage networking initiatives are more challenging and crucial than ever before and is still one of the most important pillars of the IT infrastructure," said Ellen Daly, senior vice president of events for IDG Enterprise. "The organizations and professionals judged to be winners in SNW's Spring 2010 "Best Practices" Awards Program have not only met these challenges but are the best of the best when it comes to deploying the most strategic applications and using it to their advantage."

SNW's Spring 2010 "Best Practices" Awards Program is sponsored by Oracle.

About Kelley Blue Book (www.kbb.com)

Since 1926, Kelley Blue Book, The Trusted Resource®, has provided vehicle buyers and sellers with the new- and used-vehicle information they need to accomplish their goals with confidence. The company's top-rated website, www.kbb.com, provides the most up-to-date pricing and values, including the New Car Blue Book® Value, which reveals what people actually are paying for new cars. The company also reports vehicle pricing and values via products and services, including software products and the famous Blue Book® Official Guide. According to the C.A. Walker Research Solutions, Inc. - 2009 Spring Automotive Website Usefulness Study, kbb.com is the most useful automotive information website among new- and used-vehicle shoppers, and half of online vehicle shoppers visit kbb.com. Kelley Blue Book's kbb.com also is a W3 Gold Award winner, sanctioned by the International Academy of Visual Arts. Kbb.com is a leading provider of new car prices, used car Blue Book Values, car reviews, new cars for sale, used cars for sale, and car dealer locations.

About Computerworld

Computerworld is the leading source of technology news and information for IT influencers worldwide. Computerworld's award-winning Web site (http://www.computerworld.com), bi-weekly publication, focused conference series and custom research forms the hub of the world's largest (40+ edition) global IT media network. Computerworld leads the industry with an online audience of over 3 million unique, monthly visitors and a print audience of 1,059,000 readers each issue (IntelliQuest CIMS Spring 2009).

Computerworld's conferences, with their focus on technologies and solutions, provide a rare opportunity for attendees to gain insight into the way user companies execute their strategies in the enterprise. Whether it's the prestigious Computerworld Honors Program, Computerworld's exclusive Premier 100 IT Leaders Conference or vertical industry events such as SNW, Business Intelligence & Analytics Perspectives, or SaaScon, Computerworld's conferences provide the best environment for idea exchange among IT executives and IT solutions providers.

Computerworld is published by International Data Group (IDG), the world's leading technology media, research and event company. Company information is available at http://www.idg.com.

About IDG Enterprise

IDG Enterprise, an International Data Group (IDG) company, brings together unique editorial brands (CIO, Computerworld, CSO, DEMO, InfoWorld, IT World, Network World and The Industry Standard) to serve the information needs of our technology and security-focused audiences. As a digital-centric media company we serve our reader and advertiser audiences with award-winning content and community, driving conversation and conversion, across our entire portfolio of awarding-winning, websites, events, magazines, products and services. In addition, the CIO Executive Council, a peer advisory service, brings together the nation's top CIOs, as well as provides community and leadership development tools for their staffs.

Company information is available at www.idgenterprise.com.

About the SNIA

The Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA) is a not-for-profit global organization, made up of some 400 member companies spanning virtually the entire storage industry. SNIA's mission is to lead the storage industry worldwide in developing and promoting standards, technologies, and educational services to empower organizations in the management of information. To this end, the SNIA is uniquely committed to delivering standards, education, and services that will propel open storage networking solutions into the broader market. For additional information, visit the SNIA Web site at www.snia.org.

SOURCE Kelley Blue Book