Meridian Knowledge Solutions, LLC

Company: Meridian Knowledge Solutions, LLC
Industry: Software
Carpathia Services: Colocation

Why Carpathia?

• Carpathia provided buying power and flexibility Meridian could not get by going directly to the data center provider.
• Meridian liked the security and convenience of having access to Carpathia’s on-site team for ad-hoc support, in addition to Carpathia’s 24x7x365 customer portal.
• Carpathia has alternate facilities around the world, and Meridian was interested in reviewing those for expansion and disaster-recovery efforts in the coming fiscal year.

Background
Meridian’s flagship software, Meridian Global Learning Management System (LMS), integrates learning content management, social media, workforce analytics, knowledge management and competency modeling in one learning management system. Used by more than 6.5 million people, its award-winning software aims to deliver learning, distribute knowledge and sharpen business skills. Meridian’s 270 public- and private-sector clients include highly secure government implementations, as well as nationwide retail establishments and professional associations.

Challenge
Meridian experienced growth in its hosting business and as a result, had outgrown its prior data center. The company also faced more stringent requirements from its growing customer base and as a result, needed to develop more robust service offerings to include higher availability, stricter SLAs, redundancy, and failover capabilities.

Approach
Although Meridian’s internal IT & Hosting teams were initially hesitant to work with a reseller, they quickly realized Carpathia provided buying power and flexibility they could not get by going direct to the data center provider. Additionally, Meridian liked the security and convenience of having access to Carpathia’s on-site team for ad-hoc support, in addition to Carpathia’s 24x7x365 customer portal. Beyond that, Carpathia also has alternate facilities around the world, and Meridian was interested in reviewing those for expansion and disaster-recovery efforts in the coming fiscal year.

Solution
Carpathia worked with the Meridian team to analyze and figure out exactly how much space and power its equipment inventory would require. Meridian was provided extremely aggressive economics, a ramped billing schedule that gave them time to migrate without paying for two facilities and professional services help for both the physical data center move and the initial configuration, test and turn up. Because Meridian has been so happy with Carpathia’s services, the two companies are currently working on several new initiatives, including disaster recovery in Phoenix, and a private cloud solution.