IT infrastructure modernization is critical to support the speed of business today. Companies can’t afford performance-related delays in high-demand environments, and without changes to their core digital infrastructure, the reliability of applications and services suffers, customers and employees are impacted, and operational costs skyrocket. Legacy inefficient infrastructure is not sustainable operationally, financially, or environmentally.
Hitachi Vantara is able to support the growing demands of digital business with its portfolio of products that combine unfailing performance, staunch security, and operational efficiency. But how is Hitachi Vantara confident its solutions work? Read on to learn how the company revamped its own co-location facility in Denver, CO with impressive results.
Internal Initiative Optimizes Data Center Performance
Like its customers, Hitachi Vantara wanted to build an environmentally sustainable, flexible IT infrastructure that would support future growth. The upgrade had to maintain high performance, increase density, and optimize resource utilization in the data center, which largely supports Hitachi Vantara’s internal Oracle ERP system.
Driven by operational efficiency and sustainability goals, Hitachi Vantara aimed to optimize power usage, ensure 100% availability, support demanding workloads, and then efficiently scale as its compute, storage, and network requirements grow. Some resources were moved to public cloud, while other apps were kept on-premises.
Hitachi Vantara’s data center optimization team analyzed power consumption, evaluated consolidation opportunities, and determined where on-premises were required to ensure security and data protection. They examined the physical layout of the data center so they could strategically place cabinets, racks, and servers to promote airflow and reduce heat. Existing computing and data storage resources were replaced with modern, high-performance solutions.
Reducing Data Center Footprint by 59 Percent
Hitachi Vantara dramatically reduced its storage footprint, replacing 30 racks of Hitachi Vantara VSP G1000 and Hitachi Vantara HUS AMS storage platforms with only two racks of Hitachi Vantara VSP 5600. Server infrastructure decreased substantially as well. The team replaced 145 Hitachi Vantara CB2500 and CB500 Blade Chassis servers with 86 Hitachi Vantara Advanced Server DS 120 and Advanced Server DS 220.
The new design uses a hybrid infrastructure approach to guarantee 100 percent data availability, supported by strong, reliable computing power and zero downtime. Hitachi Vantara maintains control over the data flow and keeps critical systems on-premises.
With less equipment and more strategic physical positioning, the data center only 74 cabinets, fewer than half of the 180 cabinets in the old design. The company slashed the data center footprint by 59 percent. Hitachi Vantara also has seen a 50 percent cost savings in power, infrastructure and support needs. Simplifying and consolidating firewalls alone cut costs by 75 percent.
The hybrid infrastructure solution provides more power, reduces complexity, and improves efficiency. The Denver site will be a model for other locations and customer sites. Its sustainable design aligns with Hitachi Vantara’s goal of reaching carbon neutrality across its operating sites by 2030.
Read the full case study on how Hitachi Vantara unlocked environmental sustainability.
Image credit: Hitachi Vantara