Dell Premier Partner Upgrade Options helps UK manufacturer stay on top through virtualization

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Technology is playing a bigger part than ever in manufacturing today. Robots and computers increasingly control production systems and determine what comes out of the ‘factory gate’. But it’s also true to say that IT is more and more intertwined with the business processes that enable manufacturers to work closely with customers and develop new markets.

H+H UK Limited is a case in point. The IT behind its business processes was seen as vital. The company – a leading manufacturer of aircrete products for the construction industry – regularly invested in its infrastructure to help employees deliver greater levels of customer service and seize new business opportunities. Indeed, its commitment to IT meant it had to update its infrastructure roughly every five years to cope with growth as well as wear and tear. And here lay the problem – it was becoming increasingly expensive to meet this commitment.

The answer came by way of Dell Premier Partner Upgrade Options. In many ways it was a simple solution, based on the tried-and-tested technique of virtualization. The basic idea was to virtualize the company’s servers and storage, making it easy to scale long term and avoiding the five-year expansion cycle. But there was more to it than that. Upgrade Options put a lot of effort into planning how a virtualized Dell solution – specifically Dell EqualLogic storage – would work. And it gave H+H UK Limited the kind of customer service that inspired confidence in the solution.

What H+H UK Limited really liked about Upgrade Options was their methodical approach. It meant that the project was divided into clearly defined stages, with each stage being reviewed before moving onto the next. All the work paid off because H+H UK Limited gained a virtualized infrastructure that delivered real business value. Here are some of the highlights:  

  • Customers receive uninterrupted service with resilient infrastructure
  • IT team deploys new services in hours rather than weeks
  • Firm lowers costs by 20 per cent and consolidates servers by 80 per cent
  • Company reduces power and cooling requirements in the data centre
  • Responsive support service provides quick access to expertise

H+H UK Limited came away from the engagement confident about three things. First, it had the IT to support employees more effectively and increase the efficiency of its business processes. Second, the support of Upgrade Options had been fundamental to the project’s success. And third, it looked forward to doing business with the same partner in the future.

Case study

To help deliver an uninterrupted IT service to staff and customers, H+H UK Limited decided to virtualize its infrastructure and simplify IT management. It worked with Dell Partner Upgrade Options to consolidate its server infrastructure with VMware, while introducing a new backup and disaster recovery strategy based on Dell PowerEdge servers and Dell EqualLogic storage.

Read more about H+H UK Limited’s experience here.

Fast facts
— Services
— Global Support and Deployment Services
— Dell ProSupport with Next Business Day Onsite Service

Hardware

  • Dell EqualLogic PS4100X storage array
  • Dell PowerEdge R610/R710/R720 servers
  • Dell PowerConnect 6224 switches
  • Dell PowerVault LTO-5-140 tape drive

Software

  • VMware vSphere 5 

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About the Author: James Wright

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