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See how WorkflowOne minimized VAX maintenance costs by one-tenth and transformed their data center without changing their trusted legacy software.
WorkflowOne’s merger demanded restructuring upgrading outdated, resource-draining VAX hardware. Due to potential challenges, full system replacement wasn’t a practical option.
With the help of a partner, Quayle Consulting, they found Stromasys and began the initial discussions. Stromasys engineers led the design, planning, and deployment of Charon-VAX.
WorkflowOne’s acquisition of the Relizon Company in late 2005 created one of North America’s largest end-to-end supply chain and logistics powerhouses. The plan was to launch new, innovative IT services and software that could support and manage the entire business document life cycle.
However, the merger also imposed the daunting task of restructuring a company with over 5,000 employees and 32,000 customers across the United States. To accomplish those goals, WorkflowOne needed to add more servers to their data center.
They wanted a solution that would lower maintenance costs and increase the speed and performance of their existing hardware. The data center’s UPS (uninterruptible power supply) was at 95% capacity, and, because of the size of their existing VAX hardware space was at a premium.
The VAX equipment was business critical and in continuous use. Replacing the entire system would be both expensive and labor intensive. More than 50 employees would have to be retrained to operate the new equipment.
After researching the problem, WorkflowOne discovered that the old VAXes accounted for the lion’s share of the load placed on the UPS. The system consisted of two 3-CPU VAX 7630s and a 5-CPU VAX 7850 in a clustered configuration, as well as 800 GB of data on ancient disk drives.
Data center operations manager Mark Gillespie asked Stanley Quayle of Quayle Consulting to suggest a solution to their VAX troubles. As a Stromasys partner, Quayle Consulting offers cross-platform virtualization solutions for Digital’s VAX, Alpha, and PDP models.
Via telephone and email, Quayle Consulting supported the IT team at WorkflowOne during a proof-of-concept that demonstrated how Stromasys’s CHARON-VAX software could easily virtualize their entire VAX cluster.
WorkflowOne selected a new HP Proliant server and external disk array (pictured below) running Microsoft Windows Server. Quayle Consulting was on site to provide support during the production cutover to the CHARON-VAX system. There were a few minor issues, but after several adjustments, the system was up and running, with the virtualized VAX online.
However, the merger also imposed the daunting task of restructuring a company with over 5,000 employees and 32,000 customers across the United States. To accomplish those goals, WorkflowOne needed to add more servers to their data center.
They wanted a solution that would lower maintenance costs and increase the speed and performance of their existing hardware. The data center’s UPS (uninterruptible power supply) was at 95% capacity, and, because of the size of their existing VAX hardware space was at a premium.
The VAX equipment was business critical and in continuous use. Replacing the entire system would be both expensive and labor intensive. More than 50 employees would have to be retrained to operate the new equipment.
WorkflowOne achieved their objective, which was to save power, increase space, and lower cooling costs, while gaining better hardware performance and speed. After the CHARON-VAX solution was implemented, power consumption dropped dramatically, from 9,360 W
to 600 W.
Heat dissipation fell from 31,937 BTU/h to 2,038 BTU/h. Space was no longer an issue, as the original 48 sq. ft. (about 4.5 m2) required to house the equipment was reduced to four 9-inch rack units.
The savings in annual maintenance fees covered the cost of the CHARON-VAX license, the new hardware, and the installation services. WorkflowOne has since purchased a second CHARON-VAX license key, so that in the event of a disaster they can recover the system almost anywhere, without the VAX hardware.
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Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry.
Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry.