Customer Case Study
Cisco Unified Computing Systems - Customer Case Study
Sony Business Solutions Corporation
Transforming the infrastructure for providing high-quality and reasonable private cloud services
Supporting increased resources for virtual environment to improve flexibility and efficiency
Solutions Deployed
Cisco Unified Computing System (UCS)
Cisco Nexus Series Data Center Switch
Cisco ASR Series Aggregation Services Router
NetApp Storage System
FlexPod
Challenges and Issues Before
Deployment
-The current system has been constructed
through scaling up, making it difficult to add
or allocate resources for additional users or
depending on situations
-An environment to enable efficient operation
of systems and networks is necessary for
running multiple data centers in the future
Result of Deployment
-Operational flexibility and efficiency has been
significantly improved
-Network configuration and operation
management on the server side has been
streamlined, establishing a foundation for
supporting future enhancements without
trouble
With a variety of “bit-drive” brand IT services for businesses, Sony Business
Solutions has been upgrading its private cloud services which are one of
its brand lineups to maintain high reliability and reasonable cost to support
future needs. Sony Business Solutions was looking for a server product
with high flexibility and efficiency for providing easy-to-use services to its
customers. The company studied possible solutions and compared them to
an enhancement of the existing system; as a result, Cisco’s server solution,
“Cisco Unified Computing System” has been chosen.
Driver for Deployment―a need for a high performance platform as a
foundation for new services
The company was looking for ways to maintain its quality of services without increasing cost
while supporting future developments and technical issues and has chosen a Cisco server, Cisco
Uni¬fied Computing System (“Cisco UCS”) as a core solution and has also enhanced networking
around it. FlexPod configuration with NetApp has been chosen as storage for significantly
improving flexibility and efficiency.
Why Cisco―highly appreciated technology and capability of Cisco for
addressing future technical challenges
Major reasons why Cisco was chosen:
- Cisco UCS is a high quality and very reliable server solution as a virtual environment platform
- More simplified equipment/network configuration compared to an enhancement to the existing
system, making the configuration and administration easier
- Cisco Nexus series can reduce burden of tasks such as network configuration for a virtual
environment and VLAN construction
- Easy to address future challenges including interoperability with the existing Cisco products
and related solutions
Deployment Process―accelerated decision-making and deployment to
immediately meet customer needs
The whole project was fast; the study started end of 2010 and finalized the configuration in
April 2011. The earthquake disaster during this period did not slow down the schedule and
deployment, verification and construction proceeded without delay.
1 © 2012 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
“T
This ne
ew system
usin
ng Cisc
co serverss/
netw
workks and the
Fle
exPod
d config
guratio
on
with
h the
e NetA
App sto
ora
age
mee
etss ourr customer
chang
gin
ng demands
while main
nta
ain
nin
ng hig
gh
quality core
e servic
ces with
h
eassona
able
e cost.””
re
— Mr. Yasutaka Ogasawara
New Business Planning, Value
Creation Division,Sony Business
Solutions Corporation
Result of Deployment―achieved a simplified and highly efficient system for
easier future support
- With Cisco UCS, a large amount of physical cables has been eliminated, making the system
simple and the construction and maintenance significantly less complicated
- A centralized administration with the Cisco UCS Manager makes updating and other tasks
dramatically more efficient
- Higher flexibility in supporting customer needs with the use of IP-connected storage
- A foundation has been established with technology and capability of Cisco to address
anticipated technical issues such as virtualization of data centers and reaching the VLAN limits
Future Development―providing a unique and differentiated set of services
based on Cisco’s technology and capability
- VPN services have been already provided using router functionalities. Utilization of WAAS
solutions and optimized data center operations through “FabricPath” functionalities of Cisco Nexus
series are also currently under study.
- Enhancing interoperability among FlexPod components including the NetApp storage system
for higher effectiveness and better service delivery
Bac
ckground
d of De
eployme
ent:
“W
With Cisc
co UCS, a la
arg
ge
amountt off servver cable
es
have be
een
n elim
mina
ate
ed,
makkin
ng the
e constructiion
and mainttenance
sig
gnifica
anttlyy le
ess
complic
cate
ed.””
— Mr. Yoshiro Katsumi
Network Technology, Value Creation
Division,Sony Business Solutions
Corporation
The company decided to rationalize the system to meet changing customer needs
Higher flexibility and efficiency through scaling-out
Mr. Yasutaka Ogasawara, New Business Planning, Value Creation Division says about the system
transformation,
“When we first started providing services, most of the customers outsourced information system
such as for emailing and DNS. Their needs have gradually changed, resulting in a diversified set of
operations such as securing file servers and data and outsourcing backbone business systems. To
meet these changing demands, we needed to secure server and network resources more than we
had initially designed for.”
“It was hard to allocate appropriate resources to meet additional customers or depending on a
varied situation.” says Mr. Yoshiro Katsumi, Network Technology, Value Creation Division, about
challenges the company had with the traditional system, “We also needed a flat environment
where systems and networks could be operated across multiple data centers when available data
center resources became scarce. Virtualizing data centers was quite difficult with the existing
system and we were looking for a future-proof solution.”
Dep
ployyment Proce
edures:
Accelerated study and construction in consideration of the market trend
Cisco solutions were chosen from a future standpoint
Specific requirements were documented by February 2011. While finalizing the system
configuration, there was the Great East Japan Earthquake which didn’t, however, delay the
schedule, according to Mr. Ogasawara.
“In addition to meeting changes in the market, we had to make a decision fast in the wake of the
earthquake disaster that increased demands for outsourcing among customers. The period from
the earthquake disaster to the decision in April was very short but the speed was critical.”
According to Mr. Katsumi, the company’s decision of using Cisco servers and networks was based
on not only interoperability with the existing Cisco products but high expectation for future-proof
solutions.
2 © 2012 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
“We already have our VPN services based on Cisco router functionalities. We realized “FabricPath”
functionalities of the Cisco Nexus series would be useful for virtualizing data centers; choosing
Cisco was mainly because we focused more on the future possibilities rather than being shortsighted on the immediate benefits. Network configuration in a virtualized environment and building
VLANs are really complicated tasks. Currently, we are identifying a customer-specific environment
by VLAN, so we will be reaching a limit soon or later. Being able to provide an effective solution for
this kind of issues in daily operations and future challenges is a key factor in choosing Cisco.”
VPN Router
Cisco ASR 1000
DataCenter
Switchies
Cisco Nexus 5540
IP Network
inside Date Center
fabric
interconnects
Cisco UCS 6120
Blade+ Chassis
+ Fabric Extenders
IPsec
VPN
VPN Router
DataCenter
Switchies
fabric
interconnects
Cisco UCS
B Series
NetApp
Storage system
Cisco ASR 1000
Cisco Nexus 5540
Cisco UCS 6120
FlexPod Configuration
顧客
Truly apprec
ciated benefitss of the sim
mple
e an
nd hig
ghlyy-effficie
ent Cisco
o UCS
Implemented the advanced system to be able to address future challenges
With Cisco UCS, a large amount of server cables have been eliminated, making the construction
and maintenance significantly less complicated Mr. Katsumi admits that through the actual
deployment, he has realized true benefits of the simple and highly-efficient Cisco UCS.
He says higher flexibility has been achieved in supporting customer needs with the use of IPconnected storage. Mr. Ogasawara is happy with this foundation built for meeting diversifying
needs with agility while maintaining the high-quality and reasonable cost.
“We have realized this advanced system using Cisco servers/networks and the FlexPod
configuration with the NetApp storage while maintaining high quality core services for valued
customer assets. We would like to turn advantages brought by Cisco’s functionality and technology
into our unique and differentiated solutions.”
3 © 2012 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
Sony Business Solutions Corporation
1-7-1kounan Minato-ku TOKYO JAPAN Zip-code108-0075
http://www.bit-drive.ne.jp/
This customer story is based on information provided by Sony Business Solutions Corporation. and describes
how that particular organization benefits from the deployment of Cisco products. Many factors may have
contributed to the results and benefits described; Cisco does not guarantee comparable results elsewhere.
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0810-1201-03A-F-JP Date:February 2012