HOW IT WORKS
STORAGE HARDWARE
- iQ2880T system with 6.75TB
FC disk as production
storage
- J2880 expansion with 15TB SATA
disk for data archive and
snapshots / backup
- Full suite of iQstor data
management and protection
software
SERVER HARDWARE
- 2x Dell PowerEdge 2950 with Quad core Xeon and 48 GB memory
SOLUTION SOFTWARE
- Full compatibility with Microsoft
applications and major savings on
software license
- Microsoft Windows Server 2008
R2 with Hyper-V
- SCVMM R2 for Hyper-V
management
- Commvault Simpana 8 backup
and data management suite
SERVICE AND INTEGRATION
- SJ-Solutions professional
services team (iQstor partner)
- Proxsys (Microsoft Gold Partner)
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CHALLENGING REQUIREMENTS
4Gas has multiple projects running simultaneously in various countries in the world. In order to support the operations, 4Gas needed a high availability of service, centralized storage for business data, accessibility of data from any place, any time, any device in a secure way, and the ability to expand service to various projects and outside parties.
As with all enterprises, the storage needs were increasing exponentially. With IT administrative expertise at a premium, exponential growth in storage needs was placing a large burden on the budget of the 4Gas group. Further compounding this burden was the low utilization of available storage and many unnecessary complexities that increased storage TCO. Correcting this situation would provide an enormous return on investment for the IT department. 4Gas found a better way to manage the costs, utilization, and complexities of storing information with the help of SJ-Solutions and iQstor
VIRTUALIZED INFRASTRUCTURE
When it came time to streamline theirinfrastructure, 4Gas chose SJ-Solutions to provide expertise for their server virtualization and storage consolidation project. Proxsys assisted in configuring the Hyper-V R2 cluster and setup of SCVMM R2. The Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 operating system provided needed overall reliability, performance, and support for a broad range of professional hardware and software solutions.
“We did not have centralized storage, but storage in every physical server which gave limitations on expanding or doing virtualization. By purchasing the iQ2880T storage system, we were able to reduce the number of physical servers by 80% and offer high availability.” |
said Hugo van der Laan, IT manager of 4Gas. “We use our SAN in combination with Windows Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V clusters. Currently we have 19 servers running divided over 2 cluster hosts. All servers have been virtualized. Using our new solution, we have flexibility in maintaining all our servers but also can easily expand storage capacity. This will save us a lot of administrative work and energy.”
MORE VALUE, LESS COST
4Gas working with SJ-Solutions and Proxsys has successfully installed one of the first Hyper-V R2 solutions in the Netherlands and is considered to be one of the early adopters. They immediately experienced significant productivity improvement, cost savings, and higher data availability. The performance benefits alone have been significant.
“We chose the iQ2880T over the competition because of its enterprise storage functionality for mid-range companies, its price, performance and scalability, and its software suite offers exactly the feature we needed.” added Hugo van der Laan, “iQstor and SJ-Solutions are excellent partners for our storage and backup solution.”
Gas and energy providers are under increasing pressure to deliver ahead of schedule. Workflow efficiency and the ability to rapidly iterate through the phases of an LNG project are fundamental to success and contractual obligations. To help meet these challenges, iQstor and SJ- Solutions partnered together to provide a range of high-powered solutions based on the iQstor storage and the Windows Hyper-V R2 environment. Whether industries require centralized data management or disaster recovery sites, solutions built on iQstor storage systems enable customers to get the work done faster and more efficiently. |
