PQR designs and builds a future-proof storage environment
Candlemaker Bolsius had an urgent need for more storage capacity to accommodate the growing amount of company data. After a previous centralization and consolidation initiative that the company undertook based on advice from PQR using HP products, the Storage Area Network (SAN) has now been renewed once again with HP storage systems.
Bolsius
Candle manufacturer Bolsius has been in existence since 1871 and was founded by the Bolsius brothers, who crafted candles from beeswax in a traditional manner. In 1978, the family business was acquired by A.B.J. Kristen, who founded the Bolsius Group. This group carried out various acquisitions in the Netherlands, Germany, England, and Denmark. The headquarters of Bolsius is located in Schijndel. In addition, the company has branches in Boxmeer, Moerdijk, Roermond, Helmond, two in Germany, and three in Poland. At the Bolsius Group, approximately 1200 employees are employed.
Existing SAN burnt out.
Due to the growth in recent years and the acquisition of a German company in 2013, Bolsius had a greater need for data storage than what was available. Additionally, the performance and functionality of the existing SAN needed improvement. The original HP SAN, consisting of an HP EVA6100 and an HP EVA4100 storage system, was implemented by PQR almost five years ago and has now been depreciated. Technically, it was also no longer up-to-date. Marcel Donkers, ICT Manager at Bolsius International BV, stated: “In fact, there had been performance issues since 2011. On the advice of PQR, HP replaced the HP EVA4100 storage system with a second EVA6100 system in 2011. There was a significant performance decline due to the implementation of the snapshot and snapclone program necessary for business continuity. PQR then mediated and ensured that HP provided the additional EVA6100 storage system temporarily, and then implemented it together with Bolsius. The management of Bolsius was very pleased with this, and for this reason, the combination of PQR and HP was initially considered for this project.”
Buy & Try with a realistic amount of data.
PQR began by conducting an investigation into the existing situation. ‘After the baseline assessment, PQR created a technical design based on HP storage products,’ said Donkers. ‘We developed a new architecture on the existing environment with an HP 3PAR 7400 SAN, along with additional software for data tiering and integration and management for virtual servers.’ Donkers continued: ‘Of course, the HP 3PAR systems were later compared to other providers in the process. It was crucial for us that the new technology could be tested for performance with Bolsius’ existing amount of data. The service from the PQR and HP organizations, the clear proposal, the performance and disaster recovery test results during the Buy & Try, and the future possibilities with the HP 3PAR 7400 storage systems were decisive factors in choosing the combination of PQR and HP once again.
Foundation for ‘IT als enabler’
Since july 2013 Bolsius works with the new SAN-omgeving. Over the coming years, Bolsius will have a scalable and highly available platform that aligns with user requirements both functionally and in terms of performance. The costs of the new platform are in line with previous investments, with Bolsius now gaining more capacity and performance for the same investment. Donkers: “In our production companies and supporting disciplines, we operate ‘lean and mean’, meaning we do everything as efficiently as possible. This makes us creative. We don’t experiment with IT and intentionally don’t lead the way in introducing new technology. However, we do want to use IT in the right way. In the past, we lacked the foundation for this, but we have now ensured this through centralization and consolidation. We developed, designed, and built our entire IT infrastructure together with PQR. And now we have also renewed it! With this foundation, we can move to the next level, where IT becomes a true enabler. Working on the foundation is interesting, but you must realize that you are only dealing with maintenance. We are now also looking at the possibilities that the cloud can offer us in the future, but in the coming years, we will also focus on mobility, big data, and social, so that IT can better support our core processes in the future.”
Problem
- The growing amount of data necessitates a renewed SAN with more capacity, functionality, and better performance:
- The existing SAN is depreciated and outdated.
Solution
- Inventory through a baseline assessment of the existing situation, conducted by PQR.
- Technical design based on the baseline assessment:
- Replacement of existing storage systems with new HP 3PAR 7400 SAN.
Results
- Renewed storage environment capable of handling growing amounts of data.
- Better performance and more functionality:
- Solid foundation for the future.