Client story Med-Tech Firm Gains an Advanced Cloud Storage Solution to Support Innovation
By Insight Editor / 22 Apr 2020 / Topics: Converged & hyperconverged Migration Managed services
Facts at a glance
Client industry
Medical technology
Insight provided:
- Project initiation and discovery
- Cloud storage solution design
- Implementation of NetApp and Cisco solutions
- Flash converged system with backup support
Insight services:
- Consulting services
- Professional services
- Migration services
- OneCall support services
Outcomes:
Download the client story
- Large cost savings
- Increased network speeds by more than 2X
- Prepared for storage growth forecast of 30%
- Better alignment with global cloud strategy
- Reduced data center footprint from 8 racks to 2
The client
Focused on redefining the medical technology industry and reinventing its standard offerings, the client is a med-tech firm founded more than 50 years ago, dedicated to industry innovation, driven by the passion of their dedicated staff. They’re world leaders in manufacturing and delivering advanced medical technology, with their products used by consumers all over the globe. Their products are the most progressive solutions available, built to exceptionally high standards of comfort, performance and personal use. In addition to owning 24 facilities and operating in more than 100 markets worldwide, the client also leads a state-of-the-art research center and maintains its own nonprofit organization to support the community surrounding its headquarters.
The challenge: An aging, costly and inefficient storage solution needed to be replaced to support the expansion of their global presence
The client’s storage solution was almost a decade old, built using legacy Dell EMC™ gear such as Isilon™, VMAX™ and XtremIO™. The infrastructure was reaching the end of its maintenance capabilities and was running low on storage capacity, particularly with Isilon and XtremIO. The client had resorted to splitting workloads across platforms as a stopgap solution that would allow them to access capacity wherever they could find it. While the client had scaled their operations and output to meet consumer demand, their storage solution had been left on the proverbial backburner.
On a strategic level, the client was working toward the goal of better connecting their global sites and unifying their satellite offices, each of which had separate support teams and infrastructure stacks. They were planning to use Microsoft® Azure® to achieve this globalized approach and infrastructure in their main data center, which was already going through a refresh to integrate with Azure. As the client prepared for 30% growth of their storage needs, it was evident that what they had was not going to support those goals. Additionally, the client was looking to reduce the costs associated with supporting their disparate infrastructure stacks and eliminate silos as a way to foster continual company-wide innovation.
The client was working on an accelerated timeline, and as such, had concerns about mitigating risks to business continuity during the migration period. And with no Disaster Recovery (DR) site, the client was also facing the reality that even with backups, they stood the risk of data loss if anything went wrong during migration.
The solution: Upgrade the client’s storage with a scalable solution that supports facilities across the globe
Insight was already working with the client on a separate project when they discovered the client had needs beyond block storage for their data center. After learning about their cloud initiatives, the Insight team began working on a storage solution that would allow the company to take advantage of an infrastructure or architecture that allowed them to integrate with the public cloud.
We presented NetApp® HCI as an ideal solution, as it offers exceptional integration with Azure (the cloud the client had chosen to adopt). The solution included Cisco Nexus® 9300 switches, allowing them to advance from a 10GB to 25GB infrastructure. The client was also fitted with a NetApp AFF A300 flash converged system with 19 nodes including compute and storage. Approximately 50% of the client’s storage needs went to the traditional block side, while the other 50% went to their cloud-enabled Hyperconverged Infrastructure (HCI), with some workloads relegated to the public cloud depending on the client’s needs and plans for the future.
From inception through migration, the project took three months to install and ship, with another 6–9 months for the client to fully transition from their old storage system. Throughout the project timeline, the Insight team offered Consulting and Professional Services associated with our all-encompassing approach to client support. We have also been providing OneCall™ Support Services around this solution. With an eye for minimizing downtime and increasing productivity, our industry experts specialize in hardware support and software technical issues to become a one-stop shop for IT technical needs.
The benefits: Stronger, more efficient and secure cloud storage that supports the firm’s growth
As the client continues to work with their new cloud storage solution, the Insight team is working with them to launch a DR site to further assist with their needs, in addition to creating a public cloud DR environment. While the HCI handles 50% of their virtual workloads (with the other 50% remaining on their converged infrastructure), the Insight team is focused on the growth occurring in their HCI utilization and are encouraging planning for expansion.
The client is benefitting from increased network speeds, with improved efficiencies and the ability to free up internal resources for strategic projects. The client has also experienced a reduced data center footprint, lowering their load from eight racks of gear to two racks, which has resulted in power and cooling cost savings and more physical space in their data center. As they expand as a company, their storage infrastructure will now be ready to cost-effectively scale with them.
