The Power of Being There
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Case Study
Digital KVM solution is perfect prescription for healthcare partners data center upgrade
“It’s been one of the best purchases this company has ever made and has enabled us to do tons of cost saving features and initiatives. We’ve definitely cut data center space.”
Ben Patrick
Senior Database Administrator
Mercy Health Partners
A change in philosophy
The foundation for good health starts with selecting the best care from the best resources.
Mercy Health Partners (MHP), a member of Catholic Healthcare Partners (CHP), and a recognized leader in providing quality, cost-effective healthcare, further embraced that philosophy by examining their IS functions after acquiring another regional health system.
An initial checkup revealed that to provide better service for patients visiting the hospitals in the CHP network, there was a need to update their server philosophy.
CHP, based in Cincinnati, needed to combine their autonomous regional IS data center functions to provide a more effective and efficient application deployment. Of utmost interest was the consolidation from several regional data centers to the company’s two Ohio mega data centers located in Cincinnati and Youngstown.
“Our core challenge is to provide cost-effective application deployment to desktops,” explained Ben Patrick, senior database administrator for Mercy Health Partners. “We are spread across the country and every regional system on our network has its own copy of most of the applications. We had multiple copies of the same application, on multiple servers with multiple people managing that technology. The goal is to consolidate hardware to one of two facilities, and then come back and examine consolidating the same or similar applications to an effective solution.”
In addition to the consolidation of the two organizations, MHP was outgrowing its current data center and faced many issues with regular KVM (keyboard, video and mouse) switches.
Avocent DSR™ solutions offer local and remote access in one KVM switch. They are scalable, flash-upgradeable and require only 1U of valuable rack space.
Create new space
“We had major space requirements,” said
Patrick. “The KVM switches we had were outdated and were limited in their reach.
The cable wires were too short and it was an absolute octopus of wires running from here to there. It was way too complicated to be cleaned-up. Also, there was no way to get reliable remote access data to the servers from home or outside the office without being physically on-site at the data center.
Coupled with the major issue of vendor support and how to enable our vendors to have secure remote access, the old KVM switches just weren’t effective anymore.”
MHP turned to Avocent to help reduce the redundancy, move the servers from regional data centers to the centralized mega data centers and enable secure remote access functionality for vendors.
“We have two different places where Avocent systems are deployed,” said Patrick. “We do all our desktop testing and management across the DS1800 units in our build room.
In the data center itself we use the DSR4160 switches and have so far installed 20 of 35 for the Cincinnati mega data center.”
MHP’s server environment consists of approximately 150 Windows NT and
Windows 2000 servers, 13 Novell servers and
23 Unix servers. Through the consolidation sponsored by CHP, the Cincinnati mega center would house an additional 550 Windows
NT/2000 servers. Patrick noted that CHP selected the Avocent solution because it allows multiple users per switch, has true IP connectivity, is reliable, handles NT domain authentication, and allows remote access for administration of servers.
Improved security with Avocent KVM
“One of the problems we had with the traditional KVM was once someone had signed-in to the data center they could hop on any server they wanted – there was no security log,” he said. “With Avocent’s DSView TM software, we can lock down who can gain access to each server, when they can have access, and monitor any activity. It also improves the access to administrators working on the servers. Now, we can get to them from anywhere we need to.”
Patrick explained that because the Avocent solution authenticates against the NT domain, they were able to establish practices and procedures for vendor access that would allow either no access or limited access for vendors or other users.
“Under the vendor support model, we can watch who is in the system and it allows people who are watching others to do their work rather than just simply watch the vendors,” he noted. “At the same time, someone can jump in and help out without fighting for mouse control like on application-based remote viewers. Our analysts can be more efficient in their work because they are at their desk rather than in the data center where no one can reach them. This solution allows us to get our everyday business done.”
“Avocent switches are the most expandable, non-cost based expansion option out there.
It’s scalable, reliable and customizable. It’s managed to fit the needs of what we are really looking for in a product. The built-in administrative tools that came out in the last release are phenomenal – remote deployment of the firmware upgrade, the administrative
Web view as well as SNMP. There’s no other switch out there that does it,” Patrick concluded.
Optimistic about the future
Patrick was also impressed with Avocent’s commitment to research and development, and providing quality products that improve data center functionality.
“The biggest features that appealed to us were product enhancements, quality control and dedication to the product. The fact that
Avocent was doing a lot of R&D on the product was very important to us. We knew that anyone investing in that much R&D would continue to enhance and improve their products. It shows that end-user comments can have influence on future enhancements.”
About Avocent
Avocent is the leading worldwide supplier of
KVM switching and connectivity solutions that provide IT managers with access and control of multiple servers and network data center devices. Avocent was formed in July
2000 by the merger of leading industry innovators Cybex Computer Products
Corporation and Apex Inc. Avocent’s KVM solutions are distributed by the world’s largest server manufacturers and installed in
Fortune 100 companies around the world.
Headquartered in Huntsville, Ala., Avocent has locations in Redmond, Wash.; Sunrise,
Fla.; Chelmsford, Mass.; Austin, Texas;
Shannon, Ireland; London; Steinhagen,
Germany; Tokyo; China and Singapore. Visit www.avocent.com
for more information about Avocent products. Patrick recognized the importance of buying a switch that can be upgraded without doing a full switch replacement. And, he appreciated the ability to be in one building and have the servers in another. He also acknowledged that they were able to do the consolidation because the Avocent technologies allowed regional administration while maintaining a centralized data center.
“It’s been one of the best purchases this company has made and has enabled us to do tons of cost saving features and initiatives,” he said. “We’ve definitely cut data center space. With the migration of the other center to ours, the total cost effective footprint has been expanded with the release of more monitors, keyboards, and space around the data center to manage those servers. It has allowed for other initiatives to go on as well that wouldn’t have taken place without Avocent.
4991 Corporate Drive, Huntsville, AL 35805
TEL
866.286.2368
FAX
256.430.4030
www.avocent.com
Avocent, the Avocent logo, The Power of Being There, KVM OVER IP, DSR and DSView are trademarks or registered trademarks of Avocent Corporation or its affiliates. All other marks are the property of their respective owners. Copyright © 2003 Avocent Corp.
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