Case Study: Server and Desktop Virtualization
A manufacturing company saw their software needs expanding and
hardware investment requiring an upgrade they could not bear.
CONNECT proposed
both server and desktop virtualization, a solution the company had
never considered. CONNECT leveraged the client's
existing hardware investment, extended its longevity, and reduced
there total cost of ownership (TCO) and maximized their return on
investment (ROI). The virtual desktop solution benefits
include:
- fewer servers to manage and maintain, saving warranty and
support costs
- less rack space to cool, cutting air conditioning costs
- reduced Helpdesk load through centralized desktop
management
- improved application response using "zero client"
technology
- up to 70% reduction in IT-related electricity costs, in the
country's most expensive electricity market- a great move for the
client, and a green payback for the environment
Case Study: Remote Hosting
Hurricane Katrina was one of the strongest storms our country
has experienced in the past 100 years. During the storm, CONNECT Computer customer TBS
Adjusting, an insurance adjuster specializing in the international
shipping industry, was forced to evacuate its highrise office
building in downtown New Orleans. They were then unable to return
to their offices after the floods wrought by Katrina. "Katrina came
a half a breath away of putting us out of business," says TBS
President Bruce Tillman.
Tillman, who is based in Connecticut,
asked CONNECT to restore
their backup data to a new server in our CT data center. But tapes
had to be obtained from offsite locations, then overnighted
to CONNECT where we had
to set up compatible tape systems. Only then could we restore all
the data and import it into the new systems to meet their ongoing
needs - so it took a full week. With the company's physical
infrastructure in New Orleans and hosting in Connecticut, everyone
could connect remotely all the time. If anything should ever happen
to CONNECT's server, it
would be redundant and mirrored at another data center.
More than Just Surviving: Thriving with
Remote Hosting
Because Katrina caused tremendous communications problems,
including cell phone tower damage, the company realized it needed a
system for potential future evacuations to keep them operational no
matter where they were. Even with a solid disaster recovery plan,
typically it takes 4-8 hours to flip over the data to the disaster
recovery site. But it takes even longer to flip it back once people
are using and manipulating data. For TBS, that would mean a future
evacuation of the city could result in two full days of
downtime!
CONNECT introduced TBS to
using the Citrix system. By hosting in a datacenter, TBS
"skipped the flip" problem with its disaster recovery system. They
began running apps from the cloud, meaning that all users needed to
do was save their work, log out, drive to an evacuation site, and
then log back in should there be an evacuation. No resyncing of
data was needed. It was a permanent solution to always being up and
surviving the storm.
Not Just Disaster Recovery: Efficiency
Improvements
Additional benefits TBS capitalized on with remote hosting
included the ability to easily dispatch workers to any location,
national or international, and having them run applications just as
if they were sitting at their desk in New Orleans - without any
additional technology investment. The efficiencies of day to
day business operations with hosting have also been a boon for TBS.
As long as staff have smart phones or laptops and internet
access, they are accessible and available to assist customers.
Cost/Benefit Analysis
Not only did TBS accomplish its business continuity goals, but
the company also saved money as their servers had been due to be
replaced anyway before the hosting was arranged. They even saved on
subscription licensing, and gained more mobility for their business
by not having on-location servers.
Thanks to remote hosting solutions, TBS Adjusting is now ready
for just about anything mother nature (or anyone else) has to throw
at their home town of New Orleans or other locations in Florida and
Connecticut. It will be business as usual, from anywhere, at any
time.