Vanguard�s enterprise data center is one of the most sophisticated in the world, comprising OS/390, Windows NT, UNIX, and OS/400 platforms; networks, databases, applications, and its state-of-the-art Web environment. �The ability to collect all the information that results from client contacts, regardless of platform, and have it in an enterprise storage infrastructure, is critical to us,� he says.

Vanguard implemented a single storage infrastructure that supports the entire business with a standardized means of protecting, sharing, and managing all information. Working with EMC, Vanguard also improved its capability to rapidly recover its entire enterprise in a separate data center 30 miles from its corporate offices in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania.

�We�ve earned tremendous client loyalty, which is critical to our success,� says DiStefano. Client loyalty has, in fact, helped The Vanguard Group become a leader in the mutual fund industry, with more than $540 billion in assets under its management. For the last 15 years, Vanguard has grown at better than 25 percent per year.

�On top of handling more accounts, more clients, and much more activity, we�ve got to roll out new products, new services, and new capabilities every year,� says DiStefano. "The Internet will only accelerate growth, change, and the demand for instant availability of up-to-date information, putting more responsibility on IT.�

�IT needs to remain well-connected to the business and to our clients� needs,� says DiStefano, �and to accomplish that we need to take the utmost care of information. That�s where EMC has really come through for us.�