Kenmore Group
Papua New Guinea
A new way to standardise data across multiple divisions while saving energy
The Kenmore Group wanted to standardise their data centre and various on-site infrastructure. The aim was to improve the processing speed and data security across multiple business units. Of paramount importance was the need to have complete visibility and control from one central location. It was hoped that saving energy costs might one day deliver a pay-back situation.
The Situation
The Kenmore Group has over 1400 staff in PNG spread over 18 locations that are hard to service from a traditional IT perspective.
The Challenge
Energy costs for one server room was consistently over $3,000 AUD per month during summer, which was multiplied across the network.
The Outcome
12 months of data showed the cost of energy reduced from over $100 to $30 per day giving a confirmed pay-back period of three years.
Traditional vs next-generation server room
A server room was replaced with two Zella Pro micro data centres. All the existing IT equipment including UPS was transferred directly from existing server racks within the server room into the Zella Pros. The server room was monitored six months before the Zella DC units took over and six months after.
“There were huge savings on our power consumption. We conducted an analysis on one of our sites located out at a regional office in Papua New Guinea. The results were amazing and we noticed a huge difference in power consumption from the old infrastructure to the new Zella Pro configuration.”
Ferdinand M. Daroya
Chief Information Officer, Kenmore
Planning for a dynamic world
Maintaining a data centre in many locations in the developing world is hard work. While technology often gets created within ideal parameters, the real world is highly dynamic. Power supplies, temperature, altitude, humidity, installer capabilities and a myriad of external factors are constantly in flux from one location to the next across a network.
As with most organisations, IT infrastructure had been deployed in an ad-hoc fashion. This led to inconsistent configurations, unclear procedures and little central management. As a result, there was no single visual of the data in the organisation nor how to manage and secure it effectively.
The intelligence to manage data
Kenmore responded to these challeges by effectively managing factors that were within their contnrol: people and infrastructure. How? By standardising and simplifying at every turn. Across 18 locations the business has now implemented one solution:- Zella DC micro data centres with cooling systems, rack-mounted UPSs, and ready to roll components in a secure, robust box.
- Sunbird Power IQ® DCIM monitoring software for fast, easy, centralised power management and reporting.
- Raritan® Power Distribution Units (PDUs) with intelligent power capabilities.
“This micro data centre solution is rich in features. Whether its dealing with high temperatures, or it’s receiving too much power, it generates an alert to our staff."
"Immediately we know that there’s a problem with the power supply coming in from external power and can check that. It has its own security features and cameras. It can detect people and record the last person to use the unit which helps us to manage our infrastructure better.
The unit is very robust, compact product so its ideal for a place like PNG. But still it’s quiet enough to put next to your table and looks neat and tidy. We’ve put these units in 18 of our locations and not had an issue.”
Ferdinand M. Daroya
Chief Information Officer, Kenmore
Protected against downtime
The positives of Zella DC’s micro data centre solution are many;
- Easy from selection to deployment, maintenance, and management
- Robust and able to withstand Australia’s harshest conditions
- Fully-contained (think dust-free) and complete (with software)
- Cost-effective in terms of both infrastructure and energy usage
- Scalable as you grow your business, you can grow your data centre
- Secure from unwanted entry in the physical and cyber dimension
- Reliable eliminating downtime from overheating and other causes
- Vendor agnostic integrating all hardware and software seamlessly
server rooms with their complexities and costs are a thing of the past.
“The internet speed in Papua New Guinea is improving but it’s nowhere near the speed of places like Australia. That means on-site data processing using a Zella DC unit is really a necessity.
There is an argument for purely relying on Cloud computing but most often I find that people want to keep their data on their premises. The risks associated with the Cloud, particularly from a PNG viewpoint, are too great.
The Zella Pros lessens the headache of maintaining a data centre. They make life easy for our team.”
Ferdinand M. Daroya
Chief Information Officer, Kenmore
Download the Kenmore case study in PDF format
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