IO has been awarded a contract by Choice Hotels International, Inc., one of the largest lodging companies in the world with 6,200 hotels in more than 30 countries and territories.
IO will provide Choice Hotels with Data Center as a Service (DCaaS™) delivered out of the IO.Phoenix data center. This approach allows Choice Hotels to house all of their mission-critical systems, such as the total global distribution platform and reservations at IO without having to invest resources in maintaining its own data center.
"We have a longstanding commitment to invest in forward-thinking technology and high-caliber facilities that support our business as it continues to expand," said Patti Goodrich, vice president of enterprise infrastructure for Choice Hotels. "With IO's Data Center 2.0 technology platform and their exceptional experience in delivering modular data center innovation, we are able to maximize our capabilities, decrease the risk of downtime in the future, and quickly deploy new capacity as needed for growth."
IO.Phoenix is the largest commercially available data center in the United States to achieve Tier III Design Certification from the Uptime Institute, a key selection factor for Choice Hotels. The organization now has access to a highly secure, 24x7, enterprise class data center at a fraction of the price of a traditional data center. Choice Hotels can use IO DCaaS to support cloud computing, high-availability applications, business continuity/disaster recovery, data center consolidation and other strategic technology initiatives within their organization.
"We considered expanding our own data center and found it wouldn't be nearly as cost-effective or reliable," added Goodrich. "With IO, we benefit from the economic, material and operational benefits that we could not otherwise realize. After we consolidate all of our systems with IO, we can put our primary data center building up for sale."
"IO DCaaS provides the completely resilient solution, always-on access that Choice Hotel requires to support their busy operation," said Rick Crutchley, senior vice president, DCaaS Sales for IO. "Our Data Center 2.0 technology also meets the ever increasing needs of Choice Hotels by supporting the ability to add data center capacity where and when it's needed to meet the growing demands of their business."