Best Deployment : Simplifying Data Centers

Companies whose core competency does not lie in building a data center are
opting to outsource the task instead. This is precisely what Overseas
Infrastructure Alliance did too by partnering with Netmagic Solutions

Connectivity within a network helps the flow of information across multiple
locations. In the current working environment it is difficult to sustain one's
business without a managed infrastructure. The need to have a well connected
network has led to the emergence of data centers, where organizations of all hue
and sizes are looking at ways and means through which they can ensure quick
accessibility to information with robust security systems built in.

But with this mushrooming of data centers, their very tenor is becoming
increasingly complex. It has become equally burdensome for most companies to
build one. Also, the task of maintaining individual data centers comes with a
very high price tag that can increase simultaneously as the organization
expands.

Therefore, companies whose core competency does not lie in building a data
center are opting to outsource the task instead. With all the factors in mind,
Overseas Infrastructure Alliance (OIA) approached third-party services vendors
and selected Netmagic Solutions to avail a state-of-the-art data center equipped
with its own team of technical specialists.

Moving to a third party

OIA is a project development and management company with offices in India and
Africa. Focussed at building infrastructure across the globe it analyses,
explores, develops and delivers infrastructure projects across all industrial
sectors.

While the company did have a robust IT team, it did not have the bandwidth to
build a data center that would accelerate with its growing needs, internally.
This is why it decided to look at third service providers who could do this job
for them and free them to focus on their core business strategies.

Though it reached out to various service providers about its need, it finally
settled on Netmagic Solutions. "As compared to other data center and hosting
service vendors, Netmagic's approach to business was more professional and well
managed. We felt that the solutions offered to us and price quoted by Netmagic
were convincing and we decided to get the data center solution deployed through
them," informed Umesh Bagul, IT Department Head of Overseas Infrastructure
Alliance.

In November 2008, OIA tied-up with Netmagic as its hosting partner. The
decision was taken after six months deliberation, evaluation and testing. "The
decision to become hosting partner for IA was taken after evaluation and
scrutiny of the approach to deploy the solution, availability of competence and
the technical expertise," said Sharad Sanghi, MD and CEO, Netmagic Solutions.

The Deal That Was Sealed

The end-to-end solution offered by Netmagic included redundant or backup
power supplies, data communications connections, environmental controls (air
conditioning, smoke detectors, fire suppressors, etc.), hosted servers, rack
space, security services (Cisco firewalls and switches), system landscape,
domain controller and networking equipment. Netmagic also provided the best-fit
package and factored in a three to five year plan for the growing enterprise to
accommodate scalability and expansion.

"Netmagic suggested the implementation and use of the latest technology and
presented the pros and cons of renting a partial versus a complete U server
rack. After considering the available options, Overseas Infrastructure alliance
arrived at the decision to implement the space-saving IBM Bladecenter H chassis,
which is a dense chassis with 14 server bays that allows up to 112 quad-core
processors to be packed into an industry-standard rack. This allows for more
flexible, better utilized and potentially lower-cost IT infrastructure with a
common management construct," commented Bagul.

"With the availability of integrated IT infrastructure and deployment,
provisioning and management of servers was simplified. The high-speed bridge
module bays allowed for input-output consolidation and virtualization across
multiple chassis making it easier to scale as OIA's needs change," mentioned
Sanghi.

SAF Over SAP

Netmagic recommended service availability forum (SAF) over SAP deployment for
the small segment enterprise with ambitious expansion plans. The logic it
offered was that SAP maintenance costs vary with organization and the inherent
rigidity of the SAP tools require considerable amount of customization leading
to higher costs. Return on investments (ROIs) could also vary depending on
whether there are a sufficient number of users and sufficient frequency of use.

On the other hand, SAF, which has a modular architecture built on open
standard hardware and software, allows for greater reuse and a much quicker
turnaround for new product introduction. "The SAF driver provides good
optimization and comparable performance with SAP drivers and was deemed the best
fit for OIA," informed Sanghi.

Challenges

However, deploying a data center for any customer involves many challenges.
One of the major challenges that Netmagic had to face was availability with OIA
of all the resources, security and a non-stop performance of the operation.

"Infrastructure acts as a major challenge. The physical infrastructure of the
site was designed for maintaining operation for eight to ten years whereas our
technology keeps on changing with the trend. So we had to deploy solution that
is efficient at the available resources," remarked Sanghi. Besides, some of the
basic issues that surfaced were consistent power supply and also ensuring that
the project is deployed by the expert and qualified manpower.

Another challenge that Netmagic had to face was the slow economy and limited
budget allocation. "When we deployed the project, our customer was looking at
limiting the expense and wanted the best of the services. Therefore, we had to
look for cost efficient solution that is not too expensive for the customers and
gives best performance," Sanghi mentioned.

The Output

Thus, Netmagic effectively factored for the current size of the company
(38—40 users) while building the framework for future growth and increase in
team strength. The extent of Netmagic's involvement and managed services is such
that all that the end user is expected to do is log into an application to
oversee the entire network.

After the deployment of the data center, OIA was able to avail optimum
performing hosting services that guarantees reliable infrastructure, Internet
bandwidth, 24/7 support, and sound technical expertise. The customer was assured
of reliable infrastructure, server hosting services and dependable manpower.

Today, OIA is happy to be aligned with Netmagic Solutions, especially the
uptime that the latter has been able to ensure. Netmagic on the other hand has
gotten one more satisfied customer to talk about.

Amrita Tejasvi

amritat@cybermedia.co.in