Vohkus, an IBM Business Partner, offers risk management consultancy for ongoing growth and cut costs
An international risk management consultancy company working in highly regulated industries wanted to optimize its storage. The company operates data centers in four countries and had been using infrastructure from the same vendor for a decade. However, as vendor support came to an end, the reliability, performance and capacity of its data centers began to decline. Any downtime or data loss could result in operational disruption, as well as potential for reputational risk and contractual penalties.
The consultancy wanted to solve its immediate issues and consolidate its sprawling infrastructure. So, it set out to look for an advisor that would be able to optimize the footprint, boost operational resilience, support ongoing international growth and cut costs.
The consultancy approached Vohkus, an IBM Business Partner®, to be its trusted advisor. With their deep technical and consulting skills, Vohkus helps companies implement strategic technologies, assisting them at every stage—from planning to day-to-day management.
Dave Johnson, Head of Product Sales Specialists at Vohkus, says, “As we are vendor-agnostic, we can focus on technology that will meet each customer’s specific needs; in this case, IBM Storage Platform solutions. Our partnership with IBM really helped us seal the deal. We pitched close collaboration, while the other bidders offered what was seen as a fractured approach.”
Working with IBM, Vohkus designed a new infrastructure for the consultancy–built around an IBM FlashSystem® 7300 storage in each location, with a pair of dedicated IBM® Storage Networking SAN64B-6 switches. All of which are managed through IBM Storage Insights Pro and IBM Spectrum® Control platforms.
Andrew Gillan, Enterprise Sales Specialist at Vohkus, comments, “IBM FlashSystem 7300 offers the capacity, performance and cost-efficiency required by the consultancy. But what made this solution truly stand out was the easy management and the built-in cyber resilience of the fourth-generation IBM FlashCore® Modules.”
IBM FlashCore Modules (FCM4) are a family of high-performance, solid-state drives in a standard 2.5-inch form factor. FCM4 provides integrated, near real-time, AI-enhanced threat detection for added defense against ransomware. Additionally, the storage’s safeguarded copy function offers immutable, air-gapped data snapshots. In the event of data compromise or disrupted operations, the consultancy can recover from a known good point in time, typically within just 60 seconds.
Vohkus’ successful first deployment to the consultancy’s data center will act as a model to be repeated for the other three deployments in the other countries. Their international reach and skilled project management, combined with the support of IBM, make it possible to deliver the project as one smooth transition.
With at least a 2:1 data reduction ratio and a 3:1 performance improvement ratio delivered by the IBM FlashSystem arrays, the consultancy can feel confident in maintaining critical operations while expanding its business. Additionally, with threat-detection and safeguarded copy functions from IBM FlashSystem, the consultancy is also better protected against downtime and loss of data, bolstering its operational resilience.
Gillan says, “Previously, our client had three separate technology platforms. They now enjoy simplified management of the entire landscape through IBM Storage Insights Pro and IBM Spectrum Control, increasing productivity and efficiency.” The solution has cut the storage footprint from 60 to just 6 rack units. This has also significantly reduced complexity, power and cooling, driving down total cost of ownership (TCO) and aligning with the consultancy’s environmental strategy.
Johnson concludes, “Our relationship with IBM has really grown during this project. As opportunities to go to market with IBM in other sectors arise, we’ll look forward to pooling our expertise so that we can help other clients together.”
Vohkus consults on, supplies, deploys, supports and manages all forms of business IT. From outsourced infrastructures to e-procurement and product support, they have a strong track record of driving down operating costs and creating more efficient ways of working.
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Examples presented as illustrative only. Actual results will vary based on client configurations and conditions and, therefore, generally expected results cannot be provided.