Client story U.S. Manufacturer Recreates a Managed IBM Environment Post-Restructuring
By Insight Editor / 12 Sep 2020 / Topics: Cloud Data center Disaster Recovery (DR) Migration
Facts at a glance
Client industry
Manufacturing
Insight provided:
- Infrastructure Strategy Workshop
- Virtualization optimization assessment
- Solution design, planning and implementation
- Migration of entire environment, including Active Directory
- Ongoing support and managed services for IBM Power Systems and disaster recovery
Insight services:
- Migration Services
- Residency Services
- Insight IBM Cloud (IaaS)
- Insight Disaster Recovery and High Availability
Outcomes:
Download the client story
- Quick assessment, solution design and implementation
- Full build of a managed solution for production and DR environments
- High availability and reliable system performance
- Expert monitoring and management of IBM Power Systems and workloads
- DR that meets recovery objectives and cost requirements
The client
The client is a manufacturing company that creates products for use in commercial and residential construction. They’ve provided materials for museums, distribution centers, stadiums, office buildings and much more. The company boasts a large team of specialized engineers and six manufacturing facilities in the U.S.
The challenge: Rebuild IT organization after corporate restructuring
Up until recently, the client operated as a binational business. However, the private equity firm that owns the company opted to split the U.S. and foreign group into two separate entities in order to divest the foreign group. The U.S. entity, our client, was left needing to build an entirely new IT department — all IT assets were being maintained and kept by the foreign entity.
Much of the company’s platform was built around the IBM® AIX® platform, as well as Active Directory®. Prior to the restructuring, the company relied upon two sites: a production environment and a geographically separate Disaster Recovery (DR) site, the latter of which was running on legacy equipment upwards of a decade old.
The solution: Comprehensive IBM and infrastructure services for a new, completely managed IT environment
One of the biggest concerns was that the newly formed U.S. entity would need to internally source IT talent and infrastructure. Not only would this be a big departure from how they were used to operating, it would require substantial investments of time and resources.
When Insight first engaged with the client, we began by fulfilling on-premises IBM hardware needs. This evolved into strategic discussions and a customized set of assessments to evaluate their infrastructure, data architecture, storage and network requirements. Post-assessment, our team recommended an on-premises solution design that the client could either have built out or delivered as a service through Insight.
The latter option was selected, as it allowed for the least lift by the client. Assessments revealed that they had some older Operating Systems (OSs) that weren’t supported on newer hardware, which would pose a challenge as they were looking to invest in IBM Power Systems for their CAD drawing, Progress® (OpenEdge®), and Oracle® databases. By going with Insight, their older OSs can run on the latest, fully managed IBM Power Systems, with backups for all respective data.
Thus, the client is receiving both Insight IBM Cloud (IaaS) and Insight Disaster Recovery and High Availability services going forward. Insight will help the client migrate approximately 40 TB of data, while ensuring manufacturing facilities remain functional.
Insight is currently in the process of migrating and building out a new Active Directory environment. At some point in the future, Insight will also offload maintenance and support for the client’s virtualization infrastructure.
The benefits: Seamless cutover to future-proof IT with no major investment required
It can be incredibly destabilizing to go through restructuring — unexpected challenges often arise.
Fortunately for this company, Insight was able to formulate a tailored approach from assessment through ongoing services delivery to meet all their needs and fill immediate gaps in their IT department. As they look ahead, they can count on Insight to help keep their systems optimized and high performance, no matter what.
With the Insight IBM Cloud (IaaS) service, the client can increase service availability and avoid CapEx. They benefit from constant monitoring and management of their IBM systems and workloads and the reliability of Insight’s Tier 3 data centers, which are SSAE 18 SOC 2 Type II certified and PCI-DSS compliant with N+1 power systems.
Insight Disaster Recovery and High Availability services have effectively replaced the company’s legacy DR site, helping them maintain business continuity and availability per their recovery requirements, all in the Insight cloud. Real-time replication and annual testing give them newfound peace of mind.
