LA's Center Theatre Group Makes a Smart Investment in a Greener, More Resilient Data Center
Consolidates servers, implements disaster-recovery infrastructure
Los Angeles, CA (Vocus/PRWEB ) June 2, 2009 -- Center Theatre Group (CTG), the pre-eminent non-profit theatre company in Los Angeles, has made a commitment to -- and an investment in -- its information technology (IT) infrastructure that will make it more energy-efficient, better able to respond to planned and unplanned system outages, and ready to handle growth over the coming years.
The company's data center, located in their main offices in the Music Center Annex Building, had slowly filled with older, standalone servers that were inefficient, expensive to maintain, and provided poor performance. Furthermore, their disaster-recovery (DR) plan was outdated, and didn't take into account how critical their computing infrastructure is to running their business.
When Chief Information Officer David Alton joined CTG in 2008, he was tasked with updating the company's infrastructure to increase business resiliency, reduce administration expenses, and provide for future growth -- all within a budget that's equivalent to only about one percent of CTG's revenues. "Our server room was completely out of space. And a lot of our servers were showing their age, to the point that we couldn't justify the high maintenance costs. I laid out a grand strategy for server consolidation that would free up space, reduce our operating costs, and provide plenty of scalability for growth. But being a non-profit, we're not like other, big companies with huge IT budgets. Our revenues are derived from donations and ticket sales, and we have to run a lean operation. 'Doing more with less' isn't just something we do since the economy has slowed. It's a way of life around here."
The slowing economy made their challenge even more acute. According to David Alton, "We spoke to several companies about consolidating our servers and implementing a DR strategy, but they all came back with estimates that were way too high. It was looking like we'd have to implement in stages rather than doing everything at once." That's when Sirius Computer Solutions went to work to find a solution that would achieve CTG's goals without breaking its budget. "I had worked with Sirius at my last position, and knew how good their account teams and technical specialists are, and how determined they could be to put together a solution that would satisfy our needs while staying within our budget."
The solution that Sirius came back with was based on IBM® BladeCenter® blade servers, IBM N series storage, and VMware® virtualization technology. "The BladeCenter and VMware solution let us consolidate 16 of our old servers onto only three blades! We're retiring 13 of the old servers." One of those that remain, an IBM System x™ model 3650, will be joined by a brand-new 3650 at CTG's new DR site, across the street at the Ahmanson Theatre. Alton says that, because of the nature of their business, "We don't have to have a high-availability system that can switch-over at a moment's notice in the event of an emergency. But this solution provides a fast, easy and affordable way to get operations up and running in case of an outage."
The complete solution includes three IBM BladeCenter HS21 blades in a single H chassis, VMware virtualization software, six Cisco® 3750 switches, an IBM N3600 network-attached storage system with SnapMirror® and SnapManager® software, and the new System x3650 server. Just as importantly, Sirius worked with IBM and Cisco to make sure the total solution came in at significantly less than the figure that was originally estimated.
To make sure the solution would be even easier to budget and pay for, Sirius worked with IBM Global Financing to structure a three-year, full-payout (FPO) lease that would reduce CTG's investment to affordable monthly payments. At the end of the lease, CTG will be able to purchase the equipment for only $1, eliminating the need to find any more capital to complete the acquisition.
Now Center Theatre Group has plenty of room to grow their IT infrastructure as their business grows. They have a DR site that will allow them to get their operations up quickly and easily in the event of an outage. And they're realizing almost 35 percent savings in power and cooling by consolidating their old servers onto a handful of blades.
According to David Alton, "A lot of people think that a down economy isn't the right time to invest in technology. I was able to convince our directors that this was the perfect time to invest. By implementing a smart, cost-effective solution for updating our infrastructure right now, we'll be in a much stronger position when the economy improves. And all the pieces are in place to support incremental IT growth in the future."
But Alton understands that he couldn't have done it all without the aggressive support of Sirius and its business partners. "If it weren't for Sirius, we couldn't have done this deal. Their team stepped in and really worked with IBM, Cisco and IBM Global Financing to get the costs where we needed them to be. I feel really lucky to have their team on my side."
About Center Theatre Group: Center Theatre Group is one of the nation's leading arts and cultural organizations, and Los Angeles' preeminent non-profit theatre company. CTG produces award-winning theatre year-round in the Ahmanson Theatre and the Mark Taper Forum at the Los Angeles Music Center, and in the Kirk Douglas Theatre in Culver City. More information can be found at www.centertheatregroup.org.
Contact Information: Dave Alton, Chief Information Officer, Center Theatre Group
Phone: 213-972-7539; E-mail: dalton (at) centertheatregroup (dot) org
About Sirius: Sirius is a national IT solution provider and IBM Premier Business Partner that is dedicated to helping clients implement advanced infrastructure solutions that provide a competitive advantage and a positive return on their investment. For more information about Sirius, visit www.siriuscom.com.
Contact Information: Susan Griffin, Director of Corporate Communications, Sirius Computer Solutions
Phone: 503-430-6311; E-mail: sgriffin (at) siriuscom (dot) com
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