Building Confidence: Engineering Firm Relies on MicroAge for Complete Data Center Refresh
Over time, civil engineering fully encompasses communities—from constructing roads to homes, public venues to office buildings—its long-term impact reverberates in numerous ways. For this established civil engineering firm in the western United States, maintaining uncompromising project quality is integral to its ongoing success. Network security, storage, data archiving, and disaster recovery are equally integral components of its operations.
With an existing SAN that was aging and potentially costly in maintenance terms, the company IT Manager turned to MicroAge’s Daniel Archer to present better alternatives in terms of overall performance and technology spend. Client goals also included leveraging virtualization for easier data management and reduced server sprawl, as well as migrating from Microsoft Exchange 2003 to 2010.
The HP LeftHand P4000 SAN Solutions are optimized for database and email applications, as well as virtualized servers
Rather than merely propose an equipment menu, Daniel investigated the spectrum of the client’s infrastructure needs, developing a comprehensive data center refresh solution. Consulting closely with MicroAge Solution Engineer Darren Wishman as well as manufacturers and other technical resources, Daniel developed the Scope of Work to best address the data center environment with hardware configurations that maximized productivity and overall value. In working with MicroAge Solutions Expert Martha Banister to specifically address the essential virtualization piece, Daniel then finalized the comprehensive plan. As he says, “Apart from just specifying a SAN, the data center needed to be fully integrated at all levels: power, capacity, storage, backup, disaster recovery, email archiving, Exchange migration, and virtualization all had to be incorporated.”
Once the proposal was submitted, online demos of the management and functionality of both the SAN and the email archiving solutions were conducted. With the client’s approval, Daniel then orchestrated all equipment to rebuild the data center, which included: Eaton for uninterruptible power supply (UPS) and HP Lefthand P4500 Virtual SAN Appliance Software (VSA) for storage and partitioning, along with HP DL 360 servers for VM hosts.
Darci Gallagher, HP Partner Sales Rep comments, “MicroAge’s client dedication and solution expertise is exceptional. Due to Daniel’s in depth understanding of the client’s needs, he was able to help cement HP at the heart of this solution. It’s a tremendous value having MicroAge as an HP partner, given its unwavering tenacity to provide clients with the right solution every time.”
The data center solution also included Drobo, Tandberg and Veeam for backup storage; VMware for virtualization capability; and ArcMail for email archiving. “Drobo has strategic partnerships with VMware and Veeam and our automated storage arrays are ideal for both environments. Providing this client with such a comprehensive, turnkey solution is a great example of MicroAge’s commitment to solving client issues,” says Aaron Newby, Channel Sales Manager for Drobo.
Utilizing the MicroAge Partner direct procurement model, product arrived in rapid succession at the client site. In addition, Daniel engaged and oversaw a service partner to assist on site with the Exchange migration and disaster recovery aspects, and facilitated very attractive financing to manage the client’s overall technology expenditure. Once installation was complete, further HP and VMware training sessions were held for client IT staff.
To date, the solution has met milestones and provided an impressive degree of confidence and functionality in all aspects of network operations. From project management to installation, the solution represents the range and value of MicroAge’s approach, which, similar to the principles of professional civil engineering standards, will stand the test of time.
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