Using IBM blade servers as an enabler

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VIRTUAL WITHERNSEA CUTS SERVER ROOM POWER CONSUMPTION, COOLING, COSTS AND SPACE

July 2008, Hull-based secondary school and sixth-form college, Withernsea High School, has cut its 27 power hungry Dell servers to just three, consolidated two server rooms into one, switched off all costly and high energy server room air conditioning and reduced overall server room power consumption by 65-70 per cent.

Powering its complete school IT network – accessible by 1000 pupils, teachers and staff - Withernsea High School is now operating IBM’s eServer BladeCenter H Chassis with six blades which use significantly less power and require less cooling and physical space than the School’s previous solution.

VMware virtualisation software operating on four blades enables the School to boost its server count by 20 virtual servers.

Design, delivery, implementation and configuration of the complete server solution was undertaken through value-add reseller, Insight UK and value-add distributor, Interface Solutions International Ltd.

“Insight’s in-depth understanding of our requirements is reflected in its innovative BladeCenter solution which enables us to continue operating our entire school network but at lower cost, using significantly less power, with less cooling requirement and taking up less physical server room space,” says Rob Hardy, Network Manager, Withernsea High School. “Kit delivery, implementation and configuration of the BladeCenter solution by Interface was quick – just three days – ensuring the entire project was complete before pupils returned from a half-term holiday. Informal telephone support by both companies ensures the solution continues to operate without major problems.”

“Withernsea High School is a pioneer of the green IT agenda in education establishments,” says Paul Bolt, Insight UK. “The School has made a financial investment in a new innovative environmentally friendly server solution in order to benefit the School and reduce its effects on the environment now and in the future.”

“The implementation is based around commercially available, industry-leading, tried and tested products, which makes implementations quick, simple to operate and simple to manage,” says Rob Tomlin, Sales Director, Interface. “The benefits of the implementation for the School and the environment are clear.”

Consolidation or virtualization of the server infrastructure on to a unified platform can make sense not only from an energy standpoint, but also the hardware support contract costs, the ‘goldstock’ etc, the parts you need to pay for to be kept on site. At the same time, being able to reduce the number of components, the fans, the number of power supplies (not to mention the patching/switches) can illustrate blades as an energy efficient and effective infrastructure solution. An interesting article, and it’s great to see someone benefiting from blade technology, using the technology to deliver their objectives.