Calling on Consolidation

Virtualized Dell servers help cut power costs for hosted POS service provider

SUCCESS STORY: DATA GUARD SYSTEMS

CHALLENGE
Reduce power consumption per server at Data Guard Systems so growth can continue without a million dollar revamp of utility services

SOLUTION
Consolidate 45 backup database servers onto 4 Dell™ PowerEdge™ servers with dual-core Intel® Xeon® processors running VMware® ESX Server® software; consolidate storage from distributed storage devices onto a Dell/EMC CX500 storage area network (SAN); utilize Dell Services to design, implement, and support the company's new solution

BENEFIT
Reduced power consumption helps Data Guard Systems continue to grow; utility costs are reduced by as much as US$10,000 per month¹, paying back the cost of the new infrastructure in less than a year1; administrative productivity is improved through a simpler infrastructure; a more cost-effective approach to disaster recovery is possible with the ability to easily move applications among servers; Dell assessment, design, and implementation services help Data Guard realize the benefits of a virtualized server environment, including dramatic consolidation

CALLING ON CONSOLIDATION
Virtualized Dell servers help cut power costs for hosted POS service provider

In today's world, you are never out of range of a cell phone store. Like the mom-and-pop grocery shop of old, today's cellular phone retailers can be found on nearly every street corner. But selling cellular is not as simple as vending vegetables. Cellular store owners must navigate a complicated sales process that includes managing contracts, equipment, rebates, activations, and more. But because most cell phone stores are owned by independent contractors, these owners generally lack the financial means and IT expertise to implement the costly enterprise applications needed to support such a complex sales process.

That's where Data Guard Systems comes in. The company addresses the challenges facing cellular retail store owners through a comprehensive hosted online point-of-sale (POS) system. "When one of our users rings up a purchase for a customer at the point of sale," says Tim Maliyil, president of Data Guard Systems, "they're using our software." Data Guard Systems offers cellular retailers everything they need to manage cell phone sales, including account activation, commissions, inventory management, and customer relationship management. And because Data Guard Systems hosts the solution, retail stores have no POS IT worries at all. "We offer small business owners a service they could never afford to build on their own," says Maliyil.

Data Guard Systems must be at the top of its game 24/7

With a customer base of over 3,000 retailers across the United States — many of whom require access to data 24 hours a day — it is essential that the Data Guard Systems service be always available. "If the POS system were to run slowly, our customers would essentially consider it down," explains Maliyil. "That's how demanding the point-of-sale environment is."

Rapid growth puts a drain on power

As the result of tremendous growth since its founding five years ago, the company's IT infrastructure was showing signs of strain. "New customers meant new servers and more storage. By the end of 2005, we had 45 primary database servers and 45 backup database servers," explains Maliyil. These were a combination of Dell PowerEdge servers running the Microsoft® Windows® operating system and Microsoft® SQL Server 2000 database software.

The company also had additional PowerEdge 2850 servers for applications and several Dell PowerEdge 1850 Web servers. Commenting on the configuration, Maliyil says, "We needed that server redundancy to ensure always-there availability, but we were about to run out of power. Who would have thought that power would become a limiting factor to our growth? And with three data centers, the growth problems we had in one center were multiplied by three." After investigation, Maliyil learned that adding power capacity to the data center would cost millions of dollars. There had to be a more elegant way to solve the problem. That's when Maliyil called Dell.