CASE STUDY with secure remote access to business applications , such as email , customer relationship management ( CRM ) and finance systems . But the organization ’ s recent growth and rapid expansion meant that its server and storage infrastructure was struggling to keep pace .
Ben Rosenberg , ICT Manager at Maxima , explains : “ Our existing IT infrastructure was both reaching its end of life and approaching capacity , so performance wasn ’ t what it used to be , and the ability to scale with growth was diminishing . We decided to look for a new , future-ready infrastructure that would scale in line with our business growth .”
Together with long-term technology partner Subnet , Maxima set about evaluating potential solutions .
“ We ’ ve worked with Subnet for more than 10 years , so we trust their advice and guidance ,” said Ben Rosenberg . “ The Lenovo and Nutanix solution stood out to us , as we have worked with Lenovo hardware in the past and know it to be very reliable , and we were eager to gain the scalability benefits of the latest advances in hyperconverged technology .”
Once the solution was deployed , the results were noticeable almost immediately . The new Lenovo infrastructure underpins everything from the organization ’ s Citrix environment to its file server and other key production systems .
Equipped with Intel Xeon Scalable processors , the Lenovo systems have delivered a significant boost in performance , particularly for the VDI environment .
WE DECIDED TO LOOK FOR A NEW , FUTURE-READY INFRASTRUCTURE THAT
WOULD SCALE IN LINE WITH OUR
BUSINESS GROWTH .
The Lenovo and Nutanix solution was ideal for managing the scalable growth that Maxima would need across its increasing number of branches .
Lenovo and Nutanix have been collaborating since 2014 to help businesses simplify their IT and shrink their operating expenditure .
The ThinkAgile HX Series from Lenovo consolidates compute , storage and virtualization software into a resource pool , easily managed in scale-out clusters through a single interface .
While Nutanix supports through one-click planning , provisioning , insights and firmware updates to achieve faster , simpler IT operations . This brings significant time and cost savings to customers like Maxima .
Working with a team from Subnet , Maxima implemented three Lenovo ThinkAgile HX1320 appliances , preintegrated with Nutanix Enterprise Cloud OS , as the foundation for its core back-office operations .
They also included Citrix management systems , and three Lenovo ThinkSystem SR650 servers to support the Citrix user platform .
Maxima also deployed three additional Lenovo ThinkSystem servers at a secondary site in a highavailability configuration , enabling seamless Business Continuity in the event of an outage at the primary site .
Chatterton remarks : “ Users ’ desktops load faster , applications run more quickly and videos stream seamlessly – it ’ s a vast improvement . The fact that files and systems are now available instantly means that staff can work more productively .”
Crucially , with the Lenovo infrastructure in place , Maxima can support the growth of its DES program and other vital employment , recruitment and training services with no impact on the end-user experience .
“ The beauty of the Lenovo and Nutanix hyperconverged infrastructure is that whenever we need more capacity , it ’ s a simply a matter of adding more nodes ,” notes Rosenberg . “ Knowing that we can quickly and easily scale to meet increased demand puts us in a strong position to drive future growth .”
Chatterton concludes : “ With Lenovo infrastructure underpinning our operations , we have the robust , secure and scalable foundation to grow our services across Australia – enabling us to connect more disadvantaged people with employment opportunities .”
As Maxima rapidly grows and continues to deliver excellence in services around apprenticeships , traineeships , Disability Employment Services and workplace health , the company now has the IT scalability , flexibility and performance to enable its team to meet their vision for a better Australia . p
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