InsIght Case study

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The ChallengeDisparate networking and IT infrastructure posed a highly restrictive barrier for a large global defense company. While needing to adhere to governmental and organizational compliance and security, client was challenged with seamless collaboration, communication and identity management.

Decentralization led to massive overspending without proper visibility and standardization; isolated users and business units were replicating technologies on their own. Additionally, due to disparity and multiple business units, it was difficult to manage IT expenses and costs to maximize buying, procurement and vendor relationships. This was affecting overall company growth and the streamlining of operations.

The goal was to bring together all operations across the organization to standardize and centralize IT infrastructure and operations.

The SolutionAt the onset of the project, Insight’s Technical Architects met with the decision makers to identify the business initiatives, drivers and goals. Insight’s solutions team then engineered a leading edge solution to centralize IT operations hosted in four geographically separate data center locations across the globe with MPLS interconnectivity for all sites. Utilizing its practice-based methodology – Assess, Design, Implement, Operate – the Insight team created not only a scalable solution but also one with real world testing, validation and verification of use and function.

Insight first had to understand the business security constraints and requirements to design the identity management solution. Insight leveraged Microsoft’s Active Directory (LDAP), version Windows 2008 R2. Various forests and domains were implemented to verify the isolation requirements for the various sensitive business tiers. Next:

•TheentirecorporateinfrastructureleveragedMicrosoft’sDNS,DHCP,DFSandWINSto provide essential core services.

•Theoperatingsystemwasimplementedonthe64bitx86-architecture,installedonHP’s5thgenerationProLiantC-classblades(7xxxand3xxxseries).

•Tomaximizeefficienciesandserverutilization,VMwarevSpherevirtualizationwasimplemented on NetApp fiber attached SANs to provision over 200 virtual guests to service the various server’s requirements and workloads.

Defense Technology Leader Enables Agile IT

at a glanCeClient ProfileGlobal Electronics and Defense company engaged in the development, delivery and support of leading edge aerospace and defense systems in theair,onlandandatsea.Clienthassignificant presence on five continents comprising four divisions with over 14,000+employees.

ChallengeThrough acquisition, client found itself with a sizeable disparate and decentralized IT infrastructure, which was costly, uncoordinated and unmanaged, and prevented the client from rapid revenue growth and enablement.

solutionThe Insight team designed a highly scalable IT infrastructure and operations model to service all of the client’s standardization needs, which includedITProcurement,DataCenter,Networking, Enterprise Software, Servers and Storage, Deployment and Implementation solutions and services across all four divisions.

ResultThe client is realizing higher employee productivity, increased systems availability, reduced operational and maintenance costs, and is garnering higher financial and governmental compliance, making client a more agile competitor in the defense vertical.

AbouT InSIghT

Insight is a technology solutions provider serving global and local clientsin170countries.Today,thousands of clients, including more than 80 percent of the Global Fortune500,relyonInsighttoacquire, implement and manage technology solutions to empower their business. Insight provides software and licensing services globally. In addition, we offer a comprehensive portfolio which also includes networking, hardware and value added services for our clients in North America and the U.K. We are aggressively expanding our global capabilities by introducing new offerings, including hardware and services, to meet emerging needs for our clients worldwide. Insight is rankedNo.484onthe2009 Fortune500.

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•ThefiberfabricandtheEthernetconnectivityweredesignedtooperateoffmultiple,redundantCiscocoreswitches(65xxseries).

•InternalfirewallsweredesignedusingthefirewallmodulesontheCiscosolutionandusingaFLEXnetworktopology.AllconnectivitywasvirtualizedusingCiscoandHPVirtualConnectbladesolutions;thisallowedthemaximizationofthebandwidththroughputandsignificantly minimized the actual cabling needs.

•Toprovidecollaborationandmessagingservices,SharePointandExchangewereimplemented on NetApp storage, leveraging NetApp solutions to de-dupe, replicate, snap and recover as the business requirements desired.

•ExternalconnectivitywasdesignedtoleverageJuniperedgeroutersolutionsandWebsensefiltering solutions to maintain client required protection and monitoring.

The overall solution for the four data centers allowed a standardized design and configuration solution with ease of scale, manageability and support, while reducing the complexity and diversity of the infrastructure design.

The ResultAfter the design was complete, Insight’s team implemented the total solution within eight weeks. To achieve the rapid configuration to spec and delivery, the project team relied on Insight’s Advanced Integration Lab to fully load and power all the racks of customer equipment. This crucial step allowed cross validation and testing of all of the moving pieces, and confirmed functionality prior to onsite implementation. After implementation and configuration was complete, Insight’s field service engineers and consultants rolled out the fully designed environment to the onsite locations, allowing client to achieve immediate uptime of the four data centers in a fully functioning mode within a week of hardware delivery to the data center sites.

In less than six months – from concept to delivery and power-up – the client had an efficient, turnkey solution with a net new highly available and scalable centralized data center infrastructure with no disruptions or outages during business operating hours.

This state-of-the-art infrastructure will cost-effectively scale and adapt as the clients business grows. In addition, centralized management and collaboration enhance the productivity of employees across the globe. This solution will continue to add business value far into the future through lowered operational and maintenance costs, simple scalability and enhanced employee productivity.

Insight and the Insight logo are registered trademarks of Insight Direct USA, Inc. All other trademarks, registered trademarks, photos, logos andillustrationsarethepropertyoftheirrespectiveowners.©2010,InsightDirectUSA,Inc.Allrightsreserved.Updated3.10