Hosting company in Germany delivers high level of customer service with Microsoft-based cloud computing

Benefits

• BusinessgainsidealcloudcomputingsolutionwithHyper-V

• Strongcollaborationenablesquickdeployment

• GreatvirtualizationwithserverI/Operformance

• Excellentcustomerservicewith20percentfasteriSCSIstorage

• MaximumuptimeusingDellsupportservicesandFast-TrackDispatch

• Backup,recoveryandarchiving• Cloudcomputing• Management• Standardisation• Virtualization

“ We chose a Dell EqualLogic PS6000E solution because it gave us 20 per cent greater throughput than competing devices, and it was simple to manage.” Jörg Ehrhart, Chief Executive Officer, IPX Server

Customerprofile

Company: IPX Server

Industry: Hosting Solutions

Country: Germany

Employees: 12

Website: www.ipx-server.de

BusinessneedIPX Server wanted to offer cloud computing services, but its infrastructure didn’t have adequate performance.

SolutionThe company deployed Dell™ PowerEdge™ servers running Microsoft® Hyper-V™ and Dell EqualLogic storage area networks.

Despite its success, IPX Server wanted to redevelop its hosting business to increase efficiencies and deliver cloud computing services. This type of end-to-end offering — which includes servers, applications, firewall protection and data storage — is gaining ground among SMEs, which see major benefits in outsourcing large parts of their IT infrastructures to third parties. Jörg Ehrhart, Chief Executive Officer of IPX Server, says: “SMEs already see that hosting services are cost-effective. We estimated that we could give them the same high level of performance through a virtualized cloud platform for half the price of traditional services. This was thanks to the cost efficiencies that were possible by optimising the infrastructure’s capacity.”

However, the existing environment at IPX Server couldn’t support the company’s aims. Historically, personnel built the servers on which customers’ applications ran and data was stored. While the machines were reliable, they were expensive to manage and support, and didn’t have the I/O performance needed for virtualization. In short, it was impossible for IPX Server to deliver a robust cloud computing service to customers at an attractive price by remaining with the current strategy.

Successfulpathtocloudcomputingservices

The company launched its cloud services while still offering traditional hosting solutions with the support of Dell and Microsoft. IPX Server chose not to build its cloud offering on Linux, which is popular among hosters in Germany, but distinguish itself by providing the service using Windows

Server® 2008 R2 with Hyper-V™. “We liked the fact that Hyper-V provides a stable, well-supported virtualization solution out of the box,” says Ehrhart. It was a great opportunity to promote the technology, so Microsoft wanted the environment to deliver its full potential, and advised IPX Server to work with Dell. Ehrhart says: “It was clear from our first conversations with Dell why it received Microsoft’s recommendation. We worked with an

IPX Server – based in Nuremberg, in Germany – delivers

hosting services for small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

Part of the IP Partner Group, the company provides customers

with dedicated servers on which they can run their own

applications. This well-established hosting model has been a

hit among the company’s target audience and has attracted

more than 1,200 SME clients.

Technology at work

Services

Dell ProSupport for IT – Next Business Day On-Site

Service

– Fast-Track Dispatch

Hardware

Dell™ PowerEdge™ T710 servers with Intel® Xeon® Processors 5520

Dell PowerEdge T110 servers with Intel Processors

Dell EqualLogic PS6000E storage area network

Software

Windows Server® 2008 R2 with Hyper-V™

Microsoft® Dynamic Data Center Toolkit for Hosters

Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 R2

Microsoft System Center Operations Manager 2007 R2

Auto-Snapshot Manager/Microsoft Edition for Hyper-V

“ It was clear from our first conversations with Dell why it received Microsoft’s recommendation. We worked with an IT solutions provider that could tailor a solution to our exact needs.” Jörg Ehrhart, Chief Executive Officer, IPX Server

IT solutions provider that could tailor a solution to our exact needs.”

Quickcompletionofnewenvironmentdesign

“By the end of our first meeting with Dell, we had the design for an infrastructure that offered the right level of performance and reliability to provide cloud services,” says Ehrhart. “We saw that Dell had a lot of experience of the hosting industry and offered the systems and support to deliver an end-to-end solution.” A technical team from Dell then worked closely with consultants from Microsoft to refine the initial plan. “The finished design was well thought out,” comments Ehrhart. “We gained a highly efficient cloud system, thanks to the excellent integration among the Dell solution, Hyper-V and our Microsoft management systems.”

Increasedpeaceofmindthankstocloudcomputingexpertise

IPX Server could focus resources on running its existing operation while Dell began to build the environment. “We achieved our cloud computing goals, safe in the knowledge that we were working with experts,” says Ehrhart. A Dell project manager oversaw the construction of the cloud services test environment and the replacement of the existing servers in the traditional hosting infrastructure. The Dell team collaborated with Microsoft, which installed the software, at each stage of the deployment. “There wasn’t any downtime during the implementation,” says Ehrhart. “This was due to the excellent collaboration between Dell and Microsoft.”

Customerensuresgreatcloudcomputingperformance

“We overcame the challenge of finding the right I/O performance for the cloud services environment by choosing Dell PowerEdge servers,” comments Ehrhart. This was crucial because customers had to be sure their applications were well supported in the cloud environment. “We decided to standardise our cloud services platform on virtualized Dell PowerEdge T710 servers with Intel Xeon Processors 5520, says Ehrhart. “There was more virtual server capacity in the servers than anything we had seen in the past. The embedded hypervisors, expanded memory and exceptional I/O delivered a compelling solution.”

The company also chose to standardise non-virtualized hosting services on Dell™ PowerEdge™ T110 servers with Intel® Processors. According to Ehrhart, the advantages of these machines were apparent. “Our SME customers gain compact, high-performance servers that meet their data needs,” he says. “Furthermore, the servers are simple to manage using the Dell OpenManage Base Management Controller (BMC).” The solution provides IT personnel with remote access to servers. “With the BMC, we can maximise the performance of the machines, controlling powering and remotely resetting systems when required,” says Ehrhart.

Reliablesolutionmaximisesmanagementefficiency

“We have created a technically sound solution that highlights how Dell and Microsoft understand the needs of hosters,” comments Ehrhart. The following technology is at the heart of the cloud services infrastructure:

“ We gained a highly efficient cloud system, thanks to the excellent integration among the Dell solution, Hyper-V and our Microsoft management systems.” Jörg Ehrhart, Chief Executive Officer, IPX Server

20%faster iSCSI storage

• Windows Server 2008 R2 with Hyper-V

• Microsoft® Dynamics Data Center Toolkit for Hosters

• Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 R2

• Microsoft System Center Operations Manager 2007 R2

IPX Server can administer the cloud services infrastructure efficiently using a single interface. Thanks to Dell PowerEdge servers running the Dynamics Data Center Toolkit for Hosters, personnel can quickly set up virtual environments that are easy to scale and manage. The toolkit provides step-by-step instructions for building a scalable, virtualized infrastructure and provides advice for hosting partners in marketing and selling managed services and solutions. Ehrhart adds: “With the Microsoft management solutions in place, we can proactively control our cloud services to maximise uptime.”

Greatflexibilityand20percentfasterDelliSCSIstorage

“Microsoft recommended iSCSI-based solutions for Hyper-V environments, so we looked around for the best available system,” says Ehrhart. “We chose a Dell EqualLogic PS6000E solution because it gave us 20 per cent greater throughput than competing devices, and it was simple to manage.” In addition, personnel can quickly increase capacity in the cloud environment because the Dell EqualLogic storage area network (SAN) is fully integrated with Hyper-V to deliver virtualized storage. With this system, administrators can instantly create virtual pools of storage, which are simpler to manage and easy to

scale. They no longer estimate how much storage each server will need because they can dynamically increase the virtualized pools on demand. This eliminates the risk of over provisioning

— helping to increase rates of storage utilisation and maximise resources.

IPX Server employs the same SAN solution for backups, using Auto-Snapshot Manager/Microsoft Edition for Hyper-V. “To deliver cloud services effectively, a hoster needs to react quickly to any situation. It’s important that online backups are fast and we can restore virtual machines in moments if required,” Ehrhart adds.

In-houseexpertisebackedbyresponsivesupport

IPX Server can tackle any service issue that arises, thus ensuring that its hosting and cloud services meet the needs of customers. To maximise performance, the company has Dell ProSupport for IT with Next Business Day On-site Service and Fast-Track Dispatch to optimise reliability. With Fast-Track Dispatch, Dell certified the internal IT team, so they can troubleshoot issues, and dispatch parts and labour directly without going through Dell. In addition, Fast-Track Dispatch ensures that the company gets 24/7 access to Dell Expert Centres for more complex support and in-depth information on Dell solutions. “We have greater control over our technical support and can use our internal expertise through Fast-Track Dispatch,” says Ehrhart. “I expect that we’ll maintain the environment, but it’s good to know that Dell will be there if we need support.”

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“There wasn’t any downtime during the implementation. This was due to the excellent collaboration between Dell and Microsoft.” Jörg Ehrhart, Chief Executive Officer, IPX Server

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