Objective
To deploy a robust storage solution to
protect AUT’s rapidly expanding valuable
intellectual property data bank
Approach
Conducted an open tender for a high tier
storage solution to replace ageing and
unreliable storage infrastructure
Case Study
AUT tackles expanding data
problems with new storage
infrastructure solution
AUT deploys HPE 3PAR StoreServ storage to
protect valuable intellectual property
IT Matters
• Ensured backup could now be
completed before the start of
teaching day
• Allowed IT team first time oversight of
valuable data across random platforms
• Allowed IT team to deliver higher value
services to students
Business Matters
• Facilitated better Business Intelligence
(BI) and analytic capability
• Achieved 75% savings in power, cooling
and rack requirements
• Protected and retained previously at
risk valuable intellectual property
Auckland University of
Technology, New Zealand’s
fastest growing university,
was experiencing annual
data growth of almost
50%. It’s ageing storage
technology was unreliable
with dierent technologies on
multiple platforms. Outdated
functionality was putting the
retention of AUT’s valuable
intellectual property at risk.
The HPE 3PAR, StoreOnce
and BladeSystem storage
and server solution overcame
the “nightmare” scenario.
Challenge
Spectacular growth places heightened
focus on critical IT capability
The technology solution put in place by the
Auckland University of Technology (AUT)
in the early 2000s was fit for purpose.
But as New Zealand’s fastest growing
university underwent considerable change,
the IT focus became a much more critical
part of the organisation. Roy Cullum,
director, ICT Infrastructure Services,
says: “We are a multimillion dollar business
which understandably leads to more focus
on IT because, although IT is an enabler
for students, it is also a cost.”
Storage volume at AUT was growing
between 40 and 50% annually as a
result of students, lecturers and
administrators creating documents.
That data, the university’s valuable
intellectual property, had to be protected
by copying, backing up and archiving
to tape.
Case study
Auckland University
of Technology,
New Zealand
“We were facing a nightmare scenario. It became almost a whole industry
around saving, keeping and protecting data. The storage backup
solution was ‘flaky’ and unreliable, needing heavy user intervention.
It was very much ‘hit and miss’ whether nightly backups could be
completed. The problems were centred on multiple platforms, some with
functionality that was out of date, some costing a significant amount in
maintenance support, and some just unreliable.”
— Roy Cullum, director, ICT Infrastructure Services
Industry
Education
Page 2
Cullum recalls: “We were facing a nightmare
scenario where it became almost a whole
industry around saving, keeping and
protecting that data. The storage backup
solution was ‘flaky’ and unreliable,
needing heavy user intervention. It was
very much ‘hit and miss’ as to whether
nightly backups could be completed.
The problems were centred on multiple
platforms, some with functionality that
was out of date, some costing a significant
amount in maintenance support,
some unreliable, and then there were
dierent technologies not talking to
each other.
“The risk was high because some equipment
would not be supported by vendors due to
its age. Matters were made worse because
the support from one major multinational
supplier was abysmal. The outcome for
us was a very manual process with far too
much technical involvement needed from
expensive technical resources.”
User dissatisfaction was growing as the
slow legacy backup architecture did not
allow for suicient disk retention. Cullum
says: “We had to resort to tape and a
frustratingly long time was taken to restore
deleted or corrupted user files. It was
stretching to hours, sometimes days,
to recover the data. Hardly an ideal situation
with every call meaning a problem or
something is broken and IT resources tied
up fixing stu just to keep things running.
That adds no value.”
Cullum recalls: “We had to get out of that
cycle. Our goal was a ‘set and forget’
environment. It gave us a reason to start
exploring the market. So in late 2013,
we issued an open tender for our top tier
of storage. Four vendors responded,
including Hewlett Packard Enterprise.”
Solution
More cost eective and technically
superior solution
“HPE was a new experience for us.
We’d never used them before. HPE products
were definitely more cost eective and
seemed technically superior. Our decision
was to give HPE. Our first engagement was
to deploy HPE StoreOnce 4900 backup
hardware. This immediately freed up our IT
team to tackle higher value tasks as well as
delivering a much better user experience.”
Cullum notes, as the relationship matured,
AUT spoke to HPE about other issues it
was experiencing in the storage space.
The existing primary high performance data
platform was struggling with the increasing
importance and reliance the university
was placing on Business Intelligence
(BI) and analytics. User complaints were
mounting about poor application and data
performance and having to sit through one
second latency delays. The cause was due
to the loads being placed on the existing
array for which it was not designed nor
could cope.
Case study
Auckland University
of Technology,
New Zealand
Industry
Education
Page 3
HPE Technology Services consulted
with AUT and advised on the optimum
deployment of platforms and integrating
them with backup software. The complete
HPE end-to-end primary, secondary and
backup infrastructure included HPE 3PAR
7400 All-Flash Array (AFA), 3PAR StoreServ
8200, StoreOnce 4900, c7000 BladeSystem
chassis, Virtual Connect FlexFabric,
ProLiant BL460c Gen 9 servers,
consulting and support services.
Benefit
Delivering high performance to
scattered student population
“The standardised HPE BladeSystem
architecture is a holistic single architecture
tool set and it freed up our IT team to focus
on higher value tasks like applications
delivery as opposed to simply keeping the
lights on and tinkering at the back end.”
The HPE storage solution was delivering
high performance to the widely scattered
student body totalling nearly 28000 and the
volume of complaints slumped. One example
of introducing new services was the migration
of all student email to Microsoft® Oice 365.
“When emails were on in-house storage,
we could only give 200 MB of storage but
now students can have a terabyte and easily
share information. Meanwhile the university
can populate their calendars on the run
with critical information such as
curriculum changes.”
AUT do not own a dedicated data centre.
It took a strategic decision to go to a
commercially hosted data centre with
Datacom housing the HPE storage solution.
The HPE solution is delivering operational
savings such as reduction in the data centre
footprint and lowered power, cooling and
rack requirements amounting to a 75%
cost saving over a five year period. “We are
achieving lower leasing costs and ensuring a
robust Data Recovery (DR) environment to
guarantee data integrity.”
Solving the university’s “shadow”
IT problem
Cullum explains how the HPE 3PAR
StoreServ Storage solutions solved what
he described as AUT’s ‘shadow’ IT problem.
“There are lots of schools and organisations
within the university that run their own
IT systems. This is a risk for any university
where a lot of data being created is of
high value intellectual property. This is
key research data which may lie on some
random system and the great risk is that the
university’s IT team doesn’t have an oversight
across these platforms. Moving them to the
new HPE 3PAR bulk store facility eliminates
that risk.”
Case study
Auckland University
Industry
Education
of Technology,
New Zealand
Customer at a glance
Application
Storage and server infrastructure
Hardware
• HPE 3PAR 7400 AFA
• HPE 3PAR StoreServ 8200
• HPE StoreOnce 4900
• HPE c7000 BladeSystem Chassis
• HPE Virtual Connect FlexFabric
• HPE ProLiant BL460c Gen 9 servers
HPE services
• HPE Consulting Services
• HPE Support Services
• HPE Integration and
Deployment Services
“We needed serious help back in 2013 and Hewlett
Packard Enterprise delivered it. It became a trusted
partner and we now do 95% of our storage business
with HPE.”
— Roy Cullum, AUT director, ICT Infrastructure Services
He says the move has been positive with no
negative feedback. “It really allows our team
to fully explore their BI and analytic capability
and they are hammering the array and it still
lets them run all the queries they want.”
Cullum reflects on how: “in the nightmare
days, backups would not complete by the
6am backup window and used to run into
the daytime. This caused extra network traic
which impacted ‘business as usual’ system
performance. Since the HPE deployment,
all backups are completed by 6am.
We also used to only hold 15 days of data
online. Now we hold 46 days on line which
makes data recovery going back to 46 days
quicker and easier.”
Cullum sums up: “We needed help back in
2013 and HPE delivered it. HPE Services
gave us that critical confidence and reduced
risk. That meant we could focus on delivering
value to our students and also protect their
intellectual property. The HPE partnership
covered consulting, integration and support
services enabling us to make the most of
the IT solution.”
He recalls how HPE understood AUT’s
business requirements in terms of outcomes
and then designed and implemented an
appropriate technology that both met and
exceeded the university’s requirements.
“We purchased HPE storage platforms
plus installation and 5 year Proactive
24/7 support services. Support has been
absolutely brilliant and when there were some
configuration issues HPE has acknowledged
that and stood by us until the issue is a thing
of the past.
“The company continues to display great
positive account management coming back
quickly with forward looking ideas and
solutions. When they release any new front
line product HPE shows us how we can
migrate to the new dimension from where we
currently are. Their relationship with us went
from strength to strength and they became
a trusted partner. We now do 95% of our
storage business with HPE.”
Learn more at
hpe.com/storage
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© Copyright 2016 Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP. The information contained herein is subject to change without
notice. The only warranties for Hewlett Packard Enterprise products and services are set forth in the express warranty statements
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Hewlett Packard Enterprise shall not be liable for technical or editorial errors or omissions contained herein.
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4AA6-7329EEW, September 2016
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