By Xu Hui
IT is the boss. I say that because IT has the power to change the work environment. Consider the effects of the cloud, big data analytics, and virtualized desktops and you will understand what I mean. A technology enabling these developments is flash-based storage. Because without the ability to transfer data fast, these developments wouldn’t get off the ground.
For businesses like ours, flash storage has historically presented challenges. It was expensive and often proprietary. But thankfully that’s changing and flash is now both a viable option and available on open, standards-based platforms.
Faster data, greater business performance
We discovered just how much flash had changed when we talked to Dell. We needed to upgrade our EAS system and wanted to move off of a UNIX-based Oracle infrastructure. Dell gave us the option of a flash-based DellStorage SC8000 array and loaded it up with 400 gigabytes of single-layer cell flash and 1.6 terabytes of multi-layer cell flash. Immediately, we saw a 100 to 200 percent increase in data speeds.
Alongside the storage, we also installed Dell PowerEdge R920 and R720 to support a Citrix XenDesktop virtualized desktop. In one go, we’d significantly ramped up the speed of our core EAS system and given staff a more efficient and flexible way of working. On top of that, we were running on an open platform, so no more vendor lock-in and associated high costs.
The right place for the opportunities ahead
I say the benefits from this Dell platform are just going to get bigger. We’re certainly future-ready because we have a platform that can support all the advances in IT, like the cloud and big data analytics. And furthermore, we’re out of the proprietary solution trap. In fact, we’re more ready than ever to support our company and to drive the business forwards.
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