According to Gartner, the benefits to organizations for adding big data to their information management and analytics infrastructure will force a more rapid cycle of replacing existing solutions.(1) Additionally, the recent economic downturn has increased the pressure on organizations to focus on better decision making.(2)
Global market research firm The NPD Group, Inc.; civil, commercial and industrial contractor PCL Constructors, Inc.; and India-based entertainment company Viacom18 Media Pvt. Ltd all faced challenges accessing big data and performing business intelligence, which hindered innovation and stalled future growth potential. For these organizations, deriving actionable business value from data through advanced analytics was a slow process, due to bandwidth limitations of aged networks.
Data center transformation increases scalability
Based in Port Washington, N.Y., NPD Group provides global information and advisory services to help clients make better business decisions, track markets, understand their end consumers and drive profitable growth. Big data is the foundation of NPD Group’s research, which is focused on retail tracking and consumer sentiment. Reliable access to timely data through advanced analytics is essential for NPD Group to remain competitive.
As client demand for real-time, complex analysis increased, NPD Group recognized the need for greater networking bandwidth to support the massive influx of information that is consistently aggregated for clients. To solve these challenges, NPD Group replaced its entire data center network infrastructure with next-generation solutions from HP, taking only six months from design to full implementation.
“Big data is the backbone of our business, however, it wasn’t until the analytics demands of our clients rose that we realized we needed a system with more performance and better scalability,” said Avi Halutz, chief information officer, NPD Group. “The HP FlexNetwork architecture solutions, and excellent service fulfillment, have enabled us to process multiple terabytes of information on a daily basis, while the core switches are easier to configure and link to our existing infrastructure than those of competitors.”
NPD Group deployed the HP 12508 Switch Series, HP 5900 Switch Series and HP 5120 Switch Series for their capability to scale seamlessly, enabling increased network bandwidth across NPD’s data center. NPD also chose the HP 6600 Router Series to boost network service delivery, while simplifying network management with HP Intelligent Management Center (IMC), a single-pane-of-glass application.
NPD Group also deployed HP StoreOnce D2D for disk-based data protection, and selected HP Foundation Care from HP Technology Services for implementation and reactive support of the enterprise network.
To improve security for its new data center, NPD Group added the HP TippingPoint NX 5200 Next Generation Intrusion Prevention System (NGIPS) and HP TippingPoint Security Management System (SMS). These solutions enable network security operations teams to locate and stop threats quickly and accurately, without slowing network traffic.
Building a network infrastructure supports growth
PCL Constructors of Alberta, Canada, understood the necessity to keep pace with its growing organization and recognized the demand for a faster network to migrate a half petabyte of business-critical information from one location to another. To solve this challenge, PCL replaced its slow, outdated data center network with HP technology to build an infrastructure that supports new applications and services for its users.
PCL is making increased demands on its IT Infrastructure—from custom applications such as business intelligence components to developing building information modeling (BIM) concepts by creating a virtual construction of a facility. PCL is meeting those demands with technology from HP that enables it to move large amounts of data around its network quickly and effectively.
“Our legacy infrastructure wasn’t able to keep up with the ongoing demands of our 90-person IT staff, nor could they properly leverage the platform for data and applications,” said Colin Roberts, manager, Infrastructure Services, PCL Constructors Inc. “We looked at the market leaders for networking and chose to go with HP networking solutions as it was the best fit for our requirements. With this new platform, our network stability and scalability is unmatched. We value the strong business and technology partnership we have with HP and look forward to new technology innovations HP will bring us in the future.”
HP partner Compugen Inc., headquartered in Ontario, Canada, helped PCL implement a 10GbE environment with HP 12518 Switch Series and integrated HP Intelligent Resilient Framework (IRF) virtualization technology, which delivered high performance and availability, as well as flexible deployment options for new services. PCL also deployed the HP 5500 Switch Series for robust switching capabilities at the access layer of its campus network, which accommodates the most demanding applications and provides resilient and secure connectivity.
PCL selected HP Technology Services’ consulting and support services to provide the technical expertise and resources needed to streamline its networking infrastructure and realize the business value of its technology investments.
Managing high-definition digital content
Viacom18, a joint venture between Viacom and the Network18 Group, provides entertainment across multiple channels including television, film and digital media. It currently operates six general entertainment channels including MTV and Comedy Central, as well as Viacom18 Motion Pictures, which produces Hindi films. With more than 700 employees, Viacom18 consolidated its three existing offices in Mumbai and moved its headquarters into a new, state-of-the-art, seven-story building.
This new, larger office required a high-speed, reliable network infrastructure to manage communication with other offices in Bangalore and New Delhi, while enabling on-demand access to information and high-definition digital content for employees. To meet this need, Viacom18 selected HP FlexNetwork architecture to provide high performance and scalability across the network with high bandwidth capabilities and simplified management.
“Scalability is important to help support future business growth as we experience increasing amounts of high-definition digital content on the network,” said Yogesh Butala, manager for information systems, Viacom18. “HP FlexNetwork architecture provides us with the high performance and simplified management necessary to support multimedia content across our network, while also supporting the possibility for future expansion.”
This comprehensive solution includes the following HP FlexNetwork solutions:
· HP FlexFabric data center improves business agility and efficiency by dynamically scaling capacity to meet rapidly changing application demands. The HP FlexFabric solution deployed at the center of the network is the HP 7500 chassis. The HP 7500 chassis features cost-effective wire-speed 10 Gigabit Ethernet ports provide the throughput and bandwidth necessary to support the mission-critical data and high-speed communications.
· HP FlexCampus networking solutions connect wired and wireless networks to enhance the performance of rich media content. The HP FlexCampus solution deployed at the periphery of the network is the HP 5120 El Switch Series which offers high availability, simplified management, and comprehensive security control policies.
· The HP FlexManagement solution, based on the HP Intelligent Management Center (IMC), provides Viacom18 with a comprehensive view and management of their virtual and physical networks from a single console. Through integrated management capabilities the company will lower total cost of ownership by 20 percent (1). Viacom18’s HP IMC deployment includes Wireless Service Manager (WSM), User Behavior Analysis (UBA) and Network Traffic Analyzer (NTA) modules.
HP Technology Services provides 24x7 Care Pack support for all products Viacom18 has deployed.
HP at Interop Tokyo 2013
HP will demonstrate the new data center products and services in the HP FlexNetwork architecture at Interop Tokyo, held June 12-14 at Makuhari Messe International Conference Hall, in booth 4C10. Mike Banic, vice president of global marketing, HP Networking, will deliver a keynote address at 10:30 a.m. on Thursday, June 13.
Additional information about HP Networking solutions is available at www.hp.com/networking.
HP’s premier client events take place in June: HP Discover, June 11-13 in Las Vegas; HP World Tour, June 24-25 in Beijing.
About HP
HP creates new possibilities for technology to have a meaningful impact on people, businesses, governments and society. The world’s largest technology company, HP brings together a portfolio that spans printing, personal computing, software, services and IT infrastructure to solve customer problems. More information about HP (NYSE: HPQ) is available at http://www.hp.com.
(1) Gartner, “Big Data Drives Rapid Changes in Infrastructure and $232 Billion in IT Spending Through 2016,” ID: G00245237, Oct. 12, 2012.
(2) Gartner, “Hype Cycle for Business Intelligence, 2012,” ID: G00235187, Aug. 13, 2013.
