Global Service Provider Moves to FlexPod with ePlus Enhanced Maintenance Support for Improved Data Security and Enhanced Efficiencies
Meets new data security policies and benefits from enhanced storage efficiency and scalability, a simplified environment, and an elevated support experience.
Business Challenges
Challenge 1
The company’s existing storage infrastructure solution was not addressing new IT security policy requirements for at-rest encryption.
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Challenge 2
Business growth and planning for upcoming projects were putting a constraint on the IT organization’s ability to provide the required additional storage, compute, and networking infrastructure (for which the existing legacy platform could not provide capacity).
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Challenge 3
They experienced inconsistent support when using multiple providers, resulting in operational risk and potential lost revenue.
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Challenge 4
The customer sought to remain with NetApp storage to avoid retooling data management workflows to another platform. However, their existing NetApp partner failed to provide added value and technical guidance.
Challenge 5
They wanted to move away from paying for ongoing storage maintenance through OpEx.
Why ePlus?
- ePlus has demonstrated expertise designing and implementing creative technical solutions to help customers achieve their business goals.
- As a current technical advisor to manage the customer’s remote site buildouts through custom software development, ePlus has a thorough understanding of the existing IT environment and business requirements.
- Able to look beyond a storage refresh, ePlus provided technical guidance for a fully-integrated converged infrastructure stack (storage, compute, and networking) along with a higher-touch maintenance support model across multiple OEMs.
- ePlus maintains strong, long-standing partnerships with NetApp and Cisco.
Solution
NetApp FlexPod and ePlus Enhanced Maintenance Support, including:
- Discovery sessions to identify business and technical requirements around the encryption solution, as well as refreshes of storage, compute, and networking to deploy at several locations
- Design sessions to build a converged stack that met or exceeded requirements and provided options for additional future expansion at each individual location
- Deployment and testing in concert with the customer along with automation experts to assist with new hardware migration
- Extensive custom application integration between FlexPod components and customer applications
- FlexPod consists of NetApp all-flash storage equipment with encryption at-rest enabled as well as Cisco network switches and Cisco UCS server infrastructure
- ePlus Enhanced Maintenance Support across NetApp and Cisco solutions, including support for Cisco Lifecycle Support Services
Business Outcomes
With the new storage infrastructure in place, the organization has improved data security and alignment with the new security policy requiring encryption of data at rest.
- They are able to reduce the operational workload required to support and maintain their infrastructure—and in turn reduce the risk of unplanned downtime—through a standardized converged infrastructure, consistent simplified toolset, and single service provider.
- The new solution reduces their data center footprint through increased use of all-flash storage and NetApp storage efficiencies, reducing energy and cooling costs.
- The FlexPod solution simplifies and standardizes the environment across multiple campuses to drive efficiencies and lower operational costs with enhanced scalability to better meet demand of upcoming projects. In addition, the customer avoided the extra cost of retooling data management workflows to another platform.
- They will reduce OpEx spend on maintenance over the next five years by integrating maintenance into new CapEx purchases.
- The organization has a simplified and elevated support experience with ePlus Enhanced Maintenance Support, with anticipated faster mean time to resolution across multiple OEMs, expedited connection to solution experts, and a predictable cost to plan for expansions or new deployment.
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