DÜSSELDORF, Germany – August 17, 2011 – DataCore Software, the industry’s premier provider of storage virtualization software, has enabled the German Workers’ Welfare Association AWO Düsseldorf to cost-effectively implement an efficient, scalable and highly-available storage infrastructure. Together with Citrix Server and Desktop Virtualization technologies, AWO Düsseldorf now realizes the flexibility, cost savings and productivity benefits of having a fully virtualized infrastructure. The implementation was done by IT service provider K-iS Systemhaus who developed the design and the business case to show the convincing advantage of deploying DataCore and Citrix software to virtualize all three dimensions of virtualization – desktops, servers and storage.
“Conventional SAN hardware without DataCore storage virtualization would not have offered us the necessary scalability and flexibility,” states the IT manager at AWO Düsseldorf. “With DataCore, we were able to resolve our roadblocks in regards to performance bottlenecks, easily providing capacity and reducing costs. We needed to cost-effectively build a redundant and therefore highly available storage environment within our budget constraints. DataCore Software convinced us with the flexibility and scalability of its software solution. It also gave us independence from hardware manufacturers so we have greater control going forward.”
AWO Düsseldorf provides care and social services for children, young people and families. The organization offers a number of opportunities for vocational training for children and young adults as well as operating facilities for elderly and disabled persons. About 1,200 employees in 90 facilities are working for AWO Düsseldorf where over 750 computer terminals and desktops are in use. Over time, the decentralized IT infrastructure grew and became more and more inflexible and problematic, which in effect prohibited AWO Düsseldorf from being capable of providing needed IT services.
Challenge: Benefits of Consolidation, Resource Pooling and Centralization
Server consolidation and centralized access services were provided through Citrix. As AWO planned the renewal of its entire systems, the IT management realized it should not limit its next steps to just renewing the hardware. The organization was looking for a strategic solution to make the IT infrastructure more flexible and to ensure that it serves as a better fit for future requirements. It was determined that different services, such as financial accounting, document management, facility management, as well as documentation of care and medication should be provided centrally to improve the future efficiency and controlling functionality of the system. The growth strategy of AWO Düsseldorf and the increasing demands on failover and data security were other reasons for a substantial transformation.
Solution: DataCore and Citrix = Virtual Infrastructure
The initial implementation was carried out in less than eight hours by DataCore and Citrix certified Gold Partner K-IS-systems. The DataCore software solution was installed on conventional Dell servers – each with 8 GB RAM – to allow DataCore caching to ensure AWO Düsseldorf could meet the needed I/O speeds and throughput for their high performance database application. The DataCore storage virtualization servers supporting multiple terabytes were connected redundantly to a Dell PowerVault MD3000 with SAS disks via two iSCSI connections.
Citrix XenServer 5.5 Platinum Edition was installed on two Dell R710 servers with 48 GB RAM. The combined DataCore and Citrix infrastructure can be extended on-the-fly with other disks and disk systems or servers for more virtual machines.
A complete case study of the implementation is available on the DataCore website. Click here for the full case study: AWO Düsseldorf Case Study.
About DataCore Software
DataCore Software is the industry’s premier provider of storage virtualization software. Its software-as infrastructure platform solves the big problem stalling virtualization initiatives by eliminating the storage-related barriers that make virtualization too difficult and too expensive. For additional information, visit the DataCore website at www.datacore.com or call (877) 780-5111.
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