Case Study
Okaz Organization for
Press and Publication sets
Objective
Create a disaster control centre
Approach
Comprehensive solution from HPE which
enables Okaz Organization for Press and
Publication to continue its business from
the disaster control centre
IT Matters
• Use the flagship 3PAR system which
is considered to be the fastest solution
available on the market
• If the head oice experiences a
problem the system will automatically
transfer business data to the recovery
building using a fail-over process
• Provide 12 new Gen9 servers with
comprehensive computing abilities
and fast processing units
Business Matters
• Sta will be able to continue their work
without noticeable interruption
• Data will be maintained in the event
of any damage to the original copies
• An optimum service will be oered for
reading the newspapers published
up disaster recovery centre
HPE helps leading media company deal
with disasters and protect its data
Challenge
Threat of disasters
Okaz Organization for Press and Publication
is a leading media company in Saudi Arabia
and the Gulf. It publishes a group of
newspapers including Okaz, one of
the most widely read newspapers in
Saudi Arabia; the Saudi Gazette, an
English-language newspaper, and the
daily sports-focused newspaper, Al-Nadi.
The company also has an online section,
Okaz Digital Electronic Publishing, which
includes the Ain Al-Youm online newspaper
and store, as well as a channel on YouTube
and Okaz Production Oice.
To ensure a resilient IT and business
environment, Okaz Organization for Press
and Publication decided to set up a separate
centre to deal with natural or technological
disasters which could impact its head oice.
Khaled Al Harbi, IT manager for Okaz
Organization for Press and Publication
says: “Our goal is to use state-of-the-art
technology to provide the best service to
our readers. We also strive to stay ahead
of our competitors by being pioneers of
modern technology.
“We decided to set up a dedicated centre
to counteract any disasters that might aect
our head oice and that would enable us
to continue running the business without
a long interruption.”
Case study
Okaz Organization for
Press and Publication
“Thanks to this project we will be able to quickly continue working in the
event of the head oice experiencing any kind of disaster. Sta will be
able to reach the recovery centre in under an hour, which will allow various
departments, including editing, distribution and advertising, to continue
working without noticeable disruption.”
– Khaled Al Harbi, IT manager, Okaz Organization for Press and Publication
Industry
Media and publishing
“We also wanted the centre to hold a backup
of the organisation’s data which will soon
include a full digital archive of all the issues
going back around fifty years, representing
the heritage of Okaz Organization for Press
and Publication.”
The company decided to site the disaster
control building in King Abdullah Economic
City because of the city’s importance as
the leading economic area in Saudi Arabia
as well as its proximity to the company’s
headquarters in Jeddah. Al Harbi explains:
“Sta will be able to reach the disaster
control centre in King Abdullah Economic
City to continue the business in no more
than an hour.
“The disaster control centre houses a
miniature version of the head oice.
A number of employees work there
permanently, including an oice manager,
an advertising manager and a distribution
manager. There will also be an IT team
on-site in both oices. We wanted to use
the best possible technology to ensure the
success of this project so we chose Hewlett
Packard Enterprise to implement it.”
Solution
Best technology available
Explaining the reasons for their choice,
Al Harbi says: “HPE has oered solutions
to Okaz Organization for Press and
Publication for ten years and we have
an excellent relationship with them. We
are impressed by their unique after-sales
services and their support team was very
helpful during the negotiations and after
signing the agreement. HPE oered a lot
of choices and solutions which helped
us to select what we needed and HPE
Technology Services stood out from the
competition because of the speed of their
bid submission, the speed of implementation
and the high quality of the products,
programs and support.”
If the head oice should experience any
problems, the system will automatically
failover the business data to the disaster
recovery building without alerting the
end-users. Twelve new HPE BL460 Gen9
servers will provide high-speed computing
performance and 24 virtual machines will
be created.
Case study
Okaz Organization for
Press and Publication
Industry
Media and publishing
Customer at a glance
Hardware
• HPE BL460 Gen9 servers
• HPE 3PAR 8200 StoreServ System
• HPE MSA P2000 G3 Modular
Smart Array storage system
Software
• HPE OneView
• VMware v6.0
• Microsoft® Windows® server
2003 – 2008 – 2012
• Microsoft Exchange server
HPE services
• HPE Proactive Care Support
These machines incorporate automatic
replication systems and capabilities
to deal with data storage errors and
virtual machines. This is in addition
to the HPE OneView platform for
monitoring and reporting.
Okaz Organization for Press and
Publication also selected the Proactive
Care Support service through which
HPE provides enhanced services to
ensure the high availability of a healthy,
reliable infrastructure.
One of the fastest storage solutions
currently available on the market, the
HPE 3PAR StoreServ Storage system, has
also been approved. The head oice has
been updated to use HPE 3PAR as well as
the HPE MSA P2000 G3 Modular Smart
Array storage system. These will enable the
data to be copied without any intervention
from the servers because the machines
communicate directly with each other
to carry out tasks. HPE 3PAR also oers
numerous features including the
cancellation of redundant data.
The project has taken six months from the
date of submitting the purchase order to the
final testing stage.
Benefit
Business continuity within one hour
This project helps Okaz Organization for
Press and Publication provide a better
service to its readers by enabling business
continuity should the company’s head oice
experience a catastrophe. In addition, the
project ensures the safety of the publishing
house’s rich data archive.
Al Harbi comments: “This project helps
us provide a better service to our readers,
both those who buy the printed newspapers
and those who use our online service via
Okaz Digital.
“Thanks to this project sta will be able
to reach the recovery centre in no more
than one hour. This will enable various
departments including editing, distribution
and advertising, to continue working without
noticeable disruption as the newspaper can
be edited and its pdf files can be prepared
for printing anywhere.”
The new centre will also include a complete
backup copy of the archives going back
around 50 years to protect the data should
anything happen to the main copy.
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4AA6-5305EEW, June 2016
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