Cisco Cisco UCS B250 M1 Extended Memory Blade Server Guía De Información
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Challenge
The benefits of an innovative data center architecture are not restricted to large
enterprises, as IT services provider RUN discovered when choosing a replacement
data center platform. “We’re a relatively small company, and Cisco UCS was
less expensive than we expected,” says manager Peter Werth. “It’s definitely a
worthwhile purchase for a small business.”
enterprises, as IT services provider RUN discovered when choosing a replacement
data center platform. “We’re a relatively small company, and Cisco UCS was
less expensive than we expected,” says manager Peter Werth. “It’s definitely a
worthwhile purchase for a small business.”
RUN (Raising Unified Network) in northern Italy was set up in 2001 to deliver IT
services to two local banks, which are still the company’s joint owners. RUN recently
started expanding its customer base beyond the financial services industry, and
its customers now include agricultural cooperative societies, hotels, and local
government organizations as well as insurance companies and several banks.
services to two local banks, which are still the company’s joint owners. RUN recently
started expanding its customer base beyond the financial services industry, and
its customers now include agricultural cooperative societies, hotels, and local
government organizations as well as insurance companies and several banks.
Operating in the autonomous province of South Tyrol, RUN has a bilingual workforce
and website to serve the region’s 500,000-strong population, which comprises
speakers of German (the majority) and Italian (about a quarter). The company
competes successfully with national service providers in its leased line business,
offering a range of data connections with contact center support. IT services include
hardware sales, integration, and installation, together with consultancy and network
management and maintenance.
and website to serve the region’s 500,000-strong population, which comprises
speakers of German (the majority) and Italian (about a quarter). The company
competes successfully with national service providers in its leased line business,
offering a range of data connections with contact center support. IT services include
hardware sales, integration, and installation, together with consultancy and network
management and maintenance.
RUN’s strategy for business growth is focused on winning new customers from
outside the financial services industry, and introducing new services in response to
market demand. In order to support more customers and services, however, RUN
needed to review its approach to data center planning, design, and management.
outside the financial services industry, and introducing new services in response to
market demand. In order to support more customers and services, however, RUN
needed to review its approach to data center planning, design, and management.
“Capacity was one problem: we were running out of resources and needed to
purchase additional hardware,” says Werth. “Efficiency was another issue: we had too many servers for the services we were
running, with very low server utilization levels.”
running, with very low server utilization levels.”
RUN was operating two data centers in different locations, using NetApp MetroCluster protection software to create a mirrored
environment based on two physical servers at each site for full redundancy. In total, the company was running about 20 physical
servers and 60 virtualized machines, and there were dedicated servers for some services and customers, including the two
founding banks, although all customers shared the same networking infrastructure based on Cisco solutions.
environment based on two physical servers at each site for full redundancy. In total, the company was running about 20 physical
servers and 60 virtualized machines, and there were dedicated servers for some services and customers, including the two
founding banks, although all customers shared the same networking infrastructure based on Cisco solutions.
“We offer high-quality IT services at a competitive price and, in order to continue doing this, we needed to make some
economies of scale that would create a more efficient data center environment,” says Werth.
economies of scale that would create a more efficient data center environment,” says Werth.
Customer Case Study
© 2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public Information.
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Customer Name:
RUN AG
Industry:
IT
Location:
Bolzano, Italy
Number of Employees:
48
Challenge
• Optimize resources and increase efficiency
• Scale for growth
Solution
• Cisco Data Center Business Advantage
vision and architecture
• Single, cohesive data center environment
based on Cisco UCS
Results
• Engineers spend 10 percent less time on
resource management
• Adding new hardware takes 80 percent
less time than before
• Server utilization is increasing due to
extended memory