TM
Company
Microsoft Technology Center
Location
Paris - Issy les Moulineaux
Type of Business
Software publishing - Prototyping enterprise solutions
Web site www.microsoft.com/france/apropos/ microsoft-technology-center/
Solutions
• Avocent MergePoint® Infrastructure
Explorer software
Business Benefits
• Unique tool for the administration and monitoring of various solutions, ensuring the dynamic management of the data center
• High degree of flexibility to respond to prototyping needs which vary greatly from one customer to the next
• Compliant with data center management best practice
• Speeds up reinstallation and reduces risk when a data center is relocated
As the world leader in enterprise software solutions, members of the Microsoft management team believe it is their responsibility to offer business customers every opportunity to get the most out of the tools that are at the heart of their professional environment.
And so it was with this philosophy that Microsoft Technology Centers (MTCs) were created. These high-tech environments were developed in locations around the world to assist the Microsoft global customer base in designing and implementing personalized and secure solutions built using the latest technology from Microsoft and Microsoft partners.
Focusing on Western Europe, the MTC facility in Paris provides local enterprise customers a safe environment in which to create solutions, thereby minimizing upstream risks involved in the deployment of software solutions. The center offers the possibility of demonstrating and rapidly deploying data solutions.
Over the past five years, this oasis of expertise and innovation has welcomed and assisted several hundred customers and partners each year, helping them tackle new technological challenges.
“Not only do we help our customers to clarify their technical vision, but we also accompany them in making their project a success,” explains Bertrand Audras, the Technical Manager of the Paris MTC. “Of course we exchange ideas for the project and its architecture, but we also go as far as prototyping the solution, with tests on the actual load increases.”
On average, the Paris MTC handles 600 projects and 8,000 visitors each year.
Therefore, a secure environment, populated with the latest hardware, is essential in handling the more than 80 project prototypes resulting from these visits. In fact, the MTC’s data center includes nearly 150 servers, three storage arrays and a system of network and management equipment, representing the best of what is available in the current market. All MTCs, worldwide, rely on Avocent to manage and get the best from their data centers.
In fact, Avocent is a long-standing partner of Microsoft, working with the firm since the creation of the first MTC nearly 10 years ago.

TM
Over the last decade, the partnership has grown from strong to stronger as Microsoft has considerable requirements in terms of managing and monitoring its data centers.
In order to put models in place for customers, the MTC teams must deploy and manage ad hoc configurations. It is then a matter of using monitoring tools to track the progress of the prototype perfomance in terms of the load increase it represents.
“Avocent’s tools allow us to manage our entire data center efficiently,” says Audras. “Thanks to them, we can really industrialize our start-up solutions. Avocent lets us establish an implementation protocol, guaranteeing a constant, predefined level of quality in the solutions we deploy.”
Microsoft also takes advantage of the remote monitoring functions, offered by Avocent, to keep human access within the data center to an absolute minimum. This is advantageous since, according to
Audras, the human factor represents a potential security threat in an
IT system.
“In this regard, I particularly like the natural simplicity of Avocent’s solutions, especially MergePoint Infrastructure Explorer,” adds
Audras. “This unique tool allows us to manage and remotely monitor the various solutions which make up our data center (HP®, Dell®,
IBM®, etc.) and to simulate changes in the IT equipment used, thus dynamically managing our data center.”
The role played by Avocent took on a new dimension when the software giant chose to set up its new EMEA headquarters in Issy-les-
Moulineaux, on the outskirts of Paris. Once this decision was made, the fate of the Paris MTC was sealed; a new data center had to be installed and functional at Issy-les-Moulineaux by July 1, 2009. Once again, the MTC chose to rely on Avocent’s MergePoint Infrastructure
Explorer software when constructing the new data center and planning the relocation.
“The configuration of the new data center is quite different from the old one, due to the new physical layout of the space in which it will be installed but also because the old data center was built in successive stages using different technologies,” says Audras. “In fact, thanks to its resource management, optimization and planning features,
Avocent’s MergePoint Infrastructure Explorer allowed us to map out the future of the MTC.”
A data center must fit in with a certain number of physical constraints
(weight, surface area, volume, etc.) in order to be as efficient as possible in terms of performance, energy consumed and dissipated and upgradeability.
“MergePoint Infrastructure Explorer really helps us with all these aspects. It has allowed us to rationalize an existing system and plan a future system, whilst trying to maintain social responsibility through perfectly controlled overall energy use,” explains Audras.
Initial planning for the internal structure of the new data center began at the MTC in April, only three months before production was due to start at the Issy-les-Moulineaux site. Despite this, the on-site teams had no concerns.
“The Avocent solutions really speed up reinstallation and reduce risk,” says a very pleased Bertrand Audras. “You have to understand that, in terms of planning, MergePoint Infrastructure Explorer’s only real competitor is a piece of paper!”
Audras adds that even though the Paris data center is still modest compared to data centers elsewhere, the use of Avocent’s
MergePoint Infrastructure Explorer software has meant “a real quantum leap in terms of quality.”
“With this solution, report generation, site preparation, documentation, etc.,” says Audras, “are all automatic, while still being compliant with the best practices of the sector. The planning and reinstallation work is made much easier and the timing is very efficient.”
Additionally, Paris MTC staff members report that they have “always been able to count on the active support of the Avocent teams.”
“We are extremely satisfied with our ongoing collaboration with
Avocent and its teams,” Audras concludes. “And even though we will measure the success of our move by our capacity to truly engage with our customers from the beginning of July onwards, we are currently very confident.”
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