Premiere Networks Replaces EMC Avamar with Druva and Improves Recovery Time by 50 Percent, Cuts Management Time by 80 Percent

Leading radio syndication company brings the power of the cloud to 245 million listeners after eliminating costly on-premises hardware

SUNNYVALE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Druva, Inc., the leader in Cloud Data Protection and Management, today announced that Premiere Networks, the largest radio syndicator in the US, has selected Druva to backup and protect the recordings of some of today’s most listened to radio shows, ensuring millions of listeners receive the programs they expect every day. Launched in parallel with a broader corporate cloud strategy, Druva’s innovative SaaS platform has enabled Premiere Networks to meet stringent internal data policies, improve RTO and RPO by more than 50 percent, and eliminate the need for regular repairs, blackout windows and software upgrades previously necessary with on-premises EMC Avamar hardware.

Premiere Networks reaches more than 245 million Americans each month with more than 100 syndicated programs, including “On Air with Ryan Seacrest” and “The Steve Harvey Morning Show.” Many of these radio shows are recorded weekly, creating large files that are challenging to compress, store and share with more than 7,000 affiliates across the country. Managing and protecting this data across two major facilities was tedious, resulting in ballooning annual costs coupled with frequent, time-intensive hardware repairs and upgrades. Since adopting Druva, Premiere Networks has been able to leverage Druva’s consumption-based pricing, industry-leading reliability, and robust automation capabilities to reduce management and oversight by more than 80 percent per week while improving coordination between thousands of radio stations across the country.

“After using Avamar for three years, we were hit with yearly increases of $100,000 from Dell EMC for hardware and software maintenance,” said Ruben Oganesyan, director of IT, Premiere Networks. “Alongside the improved recovery times, we’ve lowered our total cost of ownership and reduced the time my team needs to spend on backup thanks to Druva’s automated upgrades, patching and management. Because we don't have to think about backup hardware or software, our small IT team can now use time much more strategically.”

As part of a broader corporate cloud strategy launched by its parent company, iHeartMedia, to minimize escalating costs, eliminate the need for onsite disaster recovery hardware and support broader cloud workload migration, Premiere Networks required a single solution that could manage and protect more than 200 virtual machines and several Windows and Linux servers. The results with Druva were immediately apparent, even during the proof-of-concept, where the IT team was able to backup and restore SQL databases to remote offices 30 percent faster compared to on-premises Avamar grids. This performance was improved even further once the team implemented Druva CloudCache. Additionally, with Druva’s built-in global deduplication architecture, Premiere Networks has been able to significantly decrease its backup storage needs.

“The sheer size and scale of the cloud, combined with its robust security capabilities, competitive pricing, and continuous innovation, has created a technology that is capable of transforming any business, sector or industry,” said Matt Lindeman, Chief Customer Officer, Druva. “Radio has been a mainstay of entertainment for decades, and as it has evolved from analog to digital, leveraging the latest technology has become critical to delivering high-quality content every day. Now, Premiere Networks can rest assured their passionate audiences will never have to miss their favorite programs, and can instead focus on further improving the experience for millions.”

Additional information

• Read more about Premiere Networks’ success with Druva
• Hear from Premiere Networks’ IT team about their experience
• Learn how Druva is helping businesses protect remote workers and their data

About Druva

Druva delivers Data Protection and Management for the cloud era. Druva Cloud Platform is built on AWS and offered as-a-Service; customers drive down costs by up to 50 percent by freeing themselves from the burden of unnecessary hardware, capacity planning, and software management. Druva is trusted worldwide by over 4,000 companies at the forefront of embracing the cloud. Druva is a privately held company headquartered in Sunnyvale, California and is funded by Sequoia Capital, Viking Global Investors, Tenaya Capital, Riverwood Capital and Nexus Partners. Visit Druva and follow us @druvainc.