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NETAPP PRODUCTS
NetApp SnapMirror, SnapVault,
SnapCenter
NetApp A300 Series
NetApp FAS8020 and FAS2554
NetApp OnCommand Unified
Manager
NetApp Active IQ
ENVIRONMENT
Commvault
Veeam
Customer Profile+-
Oulun Datacenter Oy
A Gold partner in the NetApp Service Provider Partner program, Oulun DataCenter was originally founded in 1992, and the current name has been used since 2013. The service provider employs 10 people, most of whom have both a technical and a sales-oriented role.As the town of Oulu is based high up north in Finland, Oulun DataCenter is able to provide very energy-efficient datacenter services with only minimal cooling requirements.
The company offers customers a full range of services, giving them full control of the services they would like to consume, from data hosting to technical consultancy and training to full professional outsourcing. As a trusted advisor with local reach and support, Oulun DataCenter enables customers to operate globally.
The Challenge+-
Oulun DataCenter was looking to simplify operations and use the same platforms for all its operations and needs. The old equipment was up for renewal and a new platform supporting both NAS and Tier 1 SAN workloads was required. The company consistently welcomes new customers, each with very different needs, and hence there was a need for a future-ready scale-up, scale-out platform supporting multiple protocols for connectivity flexibility.
The Solution+-
Oulun DataCenter turned to
NetApp to implement a highperformance,
all-flash NetApp
A300 Series. In addition, the
existing storage in the NetApp
FAS8020 and FAS2554 systems
was expanded. The company is
an advocate of the “NetApp Data
Fabric” vision, which enables
customers to place their data
anywhere, i.e. on-premises, at the
service provider’s premises or in
the public cloud.
Jesse Pietilä, Solution Architect,
confirms: “NetApp delivered
as promised and made it easier
for us to plan ahead for future
storage investments. We now
have everything under the same
umbrella.
Business Benefits+-
With the new, future-proof and
scalable set-up, Oulun DataCenter
benefits from a unified platform
offering the same tools, while
offering complete multi-tenancy
support, data isolation, and security.
The NetApp A300 Series offers
consistent low-latency performance
for customers requiring fast
throughput, while the NetApp
FAS storage offers cost-efficient,
scalable storage. This way, different
customer requirements can be
accommodated. In the highavailability
environment, Oulun
DataCenter benefits from an
always-on system and has thus
achieved true Non-Disruptive Operations – downtime, including
forklift upgrades and migration,
have become a thing of the past.
The company’s customer landscape
is very different – some customers
want to be able to manage their
storage environment themselves,
others prefer to outsource their
data management processes
to Oulun DataCenter – but the
datacenter can accommodate any
customer requirement.
Through the NetApp Data Fabric
methodology, data can be placed
anywhere, in the private cloud or
the public cloud, depending on
requirements. Customers have
full control and visibility over the
placement of their data.
NetApp OnCommand Unified
Manager is actively used, as is
NetApp Active IQ (previously AutoSupport) for visibility and
predictability. This enables Oulun
DataCenter to know when disks
have to be replaced or when
performance bottlenecks may occur.
The datacenter also uses NetApp
SnapMirror and NetApp SnapVault
technologies actively, combined
with Commvault and Veeam
software solutions, and customers
are using the NetApp storage as a
backup destination.
NetApp data efficiency
technologies, including compression,
compaction and deduplication,
have proven very successful. Jesse
confirms: “We mostly host virtual
machines holding very similar data.
NetApp efficiency technologies
really can do magic, saving a lot of
disk space. Currently we are looking
at a deduplication ratio of 20:1,
depending on volume.”
THE FUTURE VISION
With the NetApp Data Fabric fully
operational, Oulun DataCenter is
ready to tap into new markets
and scale with customers’ data
requirements. The service provider
is prepared for the General Data
Privacy Regulation (GDPR).
For the future, the service provider
is looking to further optimize its
environment, expanding capacity
but turning more towards flash
across clusters, while benefitting
from centralized management.
Oulun DataCenter is looking to
combine all clusters for them
to be managed through a
single pane of glass, allowing
for moving customer volumes
across aggregates. In addition,
the company is planning to make
full use of its NetApp SnapCenter
deployment.
Jesse concludes: “NetApp
solutions certainly work for us as
a service provider and it gives us
the flexibility to address different
customer needs.”
Environment+-
- Unified platform
- Different tiers for different customer needs
- Non-disruptive operations
- Future-ready and scalable environment
- Multi-protocol, multi-tenant
- Significant storage savings through efficiency features