Since its establishment in 1935, the Australian Associated Press (AAP) has grown into a comprehensive, independent news service, supporting Australia's media landscape with high-quality, unbiased reporting. As the digital era advanced, AAP faced growing IT demands, driven by diverse data types and evolving media consumption habits. The need for a robust, unified infrastructure became apparent, and Hitachi Vantara Unified Storage emerged as the ideal solution to handle AAP’s critical data requirements.
AAP’s legacy infrastructure had limitations, primarily due to isolated data centers and an increased volume of unstructured data. With a mission to provide timely, reliable news, AAP found that its outdated systems were unable to keep pace with the needs of its multimedia services, data analytics, and new, rich media formats.
To complicate matters, AAP’s acquisition of Media Research Group, a media analysis company with its own data center, added yet another isolated data system to manage. These data silos hindered productivity, created high operational costs, and introduced complexities in data management. The organization’s aging hardware struggled with increased capacity demands, posing risks to the performance and reliability of mission-critical applications.
Streamlining Ops Across Data Centers
After a competitive evaluation of infrastructure solutions from major providers including EMC, Dell, IBM, and Hitachi Vantara, AAP selected Hitachi Vantara as the ideal partner. Hitachi Unified Storage provided a unified platform that streamlined AAP’s operations across its data centers in Sydney and Melbourne.
Peter Woods, then-IT Director at AAP, explains in this customer profile, “We needed a reliable partner who understood the complexities of media data management. Hitachi Vantara offered not only a robust infrastructure solution but a vision for continuous innovation that matched our needs.” Through careful collaboration, AAP and Hitachi Vantara implemented a solution that ensured data redundancy and simplified management across all data centers. Hitachi Unified Storage functions as a midrange storage solution that allows AAP to consolidate and manage block, file, and object data, all on a central platform.
Using Hitachi TrueCopy Extended Distance software, AAP established real-time asynchronous replication between its geographically dispersed sites. This setup enhanced business continuity, allowing secure data transfers and enabling quick recovery from potential site failures.
Supporting Structured and Unstructured Data
The Hitachi Vantara solution effectively eliminated AAP’s data silos, providing the organization with a single, unified system that supports both structured and unstructured data growth. With centralized data management and redundancy across data centers, AAP now enjoys enhanced operational efficiency and resilience. The setup has significantly improved application availability and performance, allowing AAP to meet the dynamic needs of modern media delivery without the need for excessive IT overhead.
“Since implementation, we’ve received positive feedback throughout the business, and our infrastructure operates seamlessly,” says Woods. The Hitachi Vantara solution supports critical applications while reducing the need for frequent system interventions, ensuring a stable platform for AAP’s expanding range of services.
Looking Ahead
With the Hitachi Vantara solution, AAP is well-positioned to handle future growth in unstructured data and meet the demands of evolving media consumption. The modular design of Hitachi Vantara’s architecture allows AAP to expand infrastructure as needed, supported by a unified management system.
Woods adds that by partnering with Hitachi Vantara, AAP is set to lead in data-driven media services, reinforcing its role as a premier source of news for the Australian market.
Read the complete case study.
Image Credit: Hitachi Vantara