Case study

The peninsula school

A Space for Growth and Development

With over 1,400 students and more than 300 staff, the school finds its storage capacity needs grow rapidly. The school introduced a VMware solution in 2007, but has recently been facing problems with storage capacity and overall performance. The Peninsula School is a private co-educational school in Victoria that educates students from kindergarten to Year 12.

The Challenge
With dated network storage systems reaching the end of their lifecycle, lease and capacity, The Peninsula School had to upgrade or replace its infrastructure. Craig Wines, Director of IT, was charged with investigating the most efficient and costeffective solutions. After investigating how similar organisations were using the latest technologies and applications, and getting an idea of the upgrades required, Wines and his team sought specialists to assist.

The Solution
VMware and EMC partner Cloud Solutions Group (CSG), proposed an upgrade that combined a VMware server refresh with upgraded storage capabilities. In late 2011, The Peninsula School underwent the upgrade and overhaul of their previous storage environment. The operation was seamless, says Wines, of the on-premise implementation. The engineers came to us and built the new storage device next to our old one. There was absolutely no down time, which was an essential requirement for us. CSGs solution delivered a tiered storage component and deduplication function that allowed for improved performance and more economical storage of shared files. This facilitated a longer lifecycle for the schools applications and infrastructure as well as the most cost effective use of power and data storage.

When asked about why the school selected CSG as its service provider, Wines cited a strong relationship and service integrity. We are really happy with the services that CSG continues to provide, he says. With Josh [CSG Managing Director, Josh Rubens], we know the relationship is two-way and the flexibility of his organisation means that their service and support is fully extended at any point. The solutions provided by CSG exist as a part of a larger strategy formulated by Wines and CSG. CSG understands our environment and works with us to get to the most efficient stages

Case study
that are available in terms of technology, says Wines, who looks forward to a continued long term partnership between the organisations.

The peninsula school

Key Benefits
Decreased storage costs Created storage space by preventing file duplication Enhanced utilisation of computing resources Reduced overnight backup times Recorded no unplanned downtime since installation

The Future
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Technology Used
CommVault Simpana 9 EMC VNX5300 SAN with FAST Cache and FAST Tiering HP 10 Gb core switches VMware vSphere 5.0

Solution Areas
On-premise and virtualisation Storage refresh and optimisation

About Cloud Solutions Group

Cloud Solutions Groups successful implementation of Citrix XenApp, Twinstrata CloudArray and VMware vSphere is part of a large repertoire of on premise and cloud solutions that they are uniquely positioned to provide for dynamic business. The innovative Australian IT company specialises in helping its customers, like Terra Firma, achieve their business goals by providing expert independent advice and proven technical solutions. Its founders are industry veterans and have more than 50 years combined experience in the IT industry. As a specialist systems integrator, Cloud Solutions Group has strong strategic partnerships with the best IT vendors and cloud providers, but our vendor independence means that we work for your best interests and to your specific requirements. We implement cost-minded and future-oriented strategies and form strong ongoing partnerships with all of our clients.

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