SEATTLE, WA -- (Marketwire) -- 03/31/11 -- Skytap, the leading provider of self-service cloud automation solutions, today announced that Hargis Engineers, a leading mechanical, electrical and telecommunications consulting firm, selected the Skytap Cloud as a cornerstone of the firm's business continuity plan. Using Skytap, Hargis launched a back-up solution for its mission critical applications in under 30 days and within budget, and now has immediate access to cloud resources that mirror its internal IT environment. As a result of its move to the cloud, Hargis has achieved an estimated cost savings of $100,000 per year and proven it can reliably meet client expectations in the event of a major disaster.

As a leading consulting engineering firm, Hargis has over 100 employees serving hundreds of high profile clients worldwide including Microsoft, Nordstrom and Target. These customers expect the highest quality of service which relies on around-the-clock availability of Hargis' IT resources. Many of these clients also require insight into Hargis' network infrastructure to assess its reliability as part of their due diligence. While Hargis had never experienced a significant outage, they needed to have a warm back-up solution in place to prevent downtime in the face of a major disaster, and to satisfy its customers' requirements. In addition to the soft cost of maintaining client trust, Hargis estimated that each day of downtime would cost the company $70,000. In the case of a serious disaster, Hargis could experience up to two weeks of unplanned outages, which would amount to nearly $700,000 in losses.

"Skytap was the only cloud solution that allowed us to be up and running immediately in the event of a disaster, providing Hargis with a bullet-proof safety net in the event of an outage," said Chris Sheldon, principal at Hargis Engineers, Inc. "We have been impressed with the reliability of Skytap's solution, its ease of use and the responsiveness of the company to our specific needs. Our customers can rest assured that we have a business continuity plan backed by a highly scalable solution that can be activated with 100 percent reliability."

Given the nature of the firm's work and complexity of its software environment, Hargis required a solution that could immediately provision "ready to use" cloud environments and run its existing multiple AutoCAD, Revit and Microstation applications without any changes. The solution needed to support several different types of applications and have the ability to quickly update the application images as new versions are released throughout the year. The Skytap Cloud presented an off-premise and cost-effective way to implement a back-up solution without requiring additional investments in data center resources or IT staff.

"Companies offering high value or business critical services to their customers should include the cloud as part of their business continuity plans," said Sundar Raghavan, chief product and marketing officer at Skytap. "By providing seamless access to applications in the cloud, Skytap enables Hargis Engineers to deliver a higher level of service to their customers than before."

About Skytap, Inc.
Skytap is the leading provider of self-service cloud automation solutions for dynamic workloads. Skytap enables users to run enterprise applications unchanged in the cloud, collaborate securely with global teams, and gain unparalleled business productivity. Additionally, IT organizations can gain visibility and control over cloud projects, align capacity with demand, and reduce costs by 70% or more. Enterprises can securely connect Skytap to their data centers and create virtual private clouds. Skytap is ideal for any dynamic workload including application development, testing, virtual training, application migration and sales demonstration projects. To buy or learn more, visit www.skytap.com.

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