- Build a robust infrastructure to support its
24 x 7 environment
- Improve the enterprise resource utilization
and reduce the server sprawl
- Reduce development and deployment time for
servers
- Standardize the hardware infrastructure and
reduce administration overheads
- Optimized management of the virtual Infrastructure
- VMware ESX Server
- VMware Virtual SMP
- VMware VirtualCenter
- VMware P2V Assistant
- VMware VMotion
- An virtual infrastructure that provides the
mainframe class reliability thus assuring maximum
system uptime
- A consolidation of 20:1 per ESX server reduced
the increasing server requirement
- Faster provisioning of new systems
- A centralized console to manage the entire
virtual infrastructure
- Improved Productivity with higher reliability
GE Capital International Services
(GECIS) is a world-class remote processing operation
that services its clients from around the world
through its IT-enabled services. GECIS operates
on a high technology platform to offer diverse
IT enabled services with a quality, service and
cost advantage to its customers worldwide. In
less than a decade, GECIS is the largest shared
Services environment in India. Starting with simple
data processing, GECIS has constantly moved up
the value chain over the last five years migrating
more and more complex processes from diverse businesses
across GE. Its approach is governed by speed,
simplicity and service, and a constant quest for
Six Sigma Quality. GECIS is now a global company
headquartered in India with operations in the
Americas, Asia and Eastern Europe.
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GECIS has over 200 servers, each catering to variety
of back office operation services. Each server apart
from being diverse in its environment needed a protected
system with full redundancy for its 24 x 7 availability.
As a result, GECIS data center was housing more physical
servers for every project and this was only growing.
Apart from the increasing costs in procuring and maintaining
the hardware, the administration of these physical systems
was becoming an area of concern.
The solution concerns were as follows:
- Consolidation of physical servers.
- Provide support for enterprise hardware and various
operating platforms.
- Provide maximum resource utilization.
- Quick server deployment and maximum availability.
- Centralized management of the Infrastructure.
GECIS chose VMware virtualization products, VMware
ESX Server, VMware Virtual SMP, VMware VirtualCenter
and P2V Assistant to achieve the server consolidation
project. Ontrack’s Professional Services Group
on behalf of VMware helped GECIS address all its concerns
and successfully executed the Server consolidation project.
The VMware Server Consolidation project encompasses
the VMware virtualization products designed to build
a virtual infrastructure that assures reliability and
performance of mainframe computing. Using the revolutionary
Vmotion technology, server outages and upgrades can
be performed without the need of application servers
to be taken offline. Exploiting the true benefits of
the Intel’s hyper-threading techonology, the Virtual
Infrastructure offers maximum resource and scalability
options.
Two 4-way HP Proliant DL580 systems connected to an
existing Hitachi SAN offered the hardware infrastructure.
VMware ESX Server and Virtual SMP product together offered
as the base component to build the Virtual Infrastructure.
GECIS was able to consolidate more than 20 virtual servers
per physical ESX system and decrease the server sprawl.
Each virtual machine had its own protected environment
that comprised of its OS type and application role running
over it. New servers can be deployed in minutes and
made available to meet the urgent needs.
VMware VirtualCenter Server provided a central console
to manage the entire Virtual Infrastructure. The console
provided performance statistics for ESX servers across
the enterprise and spanning it’s WAN locations.
Using the revolutionary Vmotion technology, virtual
machines were migrated from one physical ESX server
to another without the end user feeling the change.
Deployment of VMware virtualization products has helped
GECIS immensely in addressing their immediate and long-term
concerns. It allows GECIS to reduce their server sprawl
and maximizing their ROI over their hardware. A coexistence
of multiple operating system environments guarantees
the expected service levels.
VMware VirtualCenter provided the central management
of all the Virtual Infrastructure thus reducing the
server administration concerns. |
