Business News
Roto Smeets Group adopts new Blade server technique to run DiMS! MIS system
Wednesday 11. August 2010 - Roto Smeets Group, specialist in high-quality print for efficient mass communication, announced the implementation of the latest Blade technique in their IT environment.
As their old servers were due for replacement, Roto Smeets followed DiMS! organizing prints advice to consider the Blade server technique and invested in a complete Blade system to run DiMS!, as well as several other applications. “At first, we walked the beaten track in our search for a new server to run DiMS!, our business-critical MIS system on, but looking back I am happy that we took this new route towards the Blade server technique”, said Theo Bruinhof, Manager ICT systems at Roto Smeets Group.
Spreading of risks and easy application management
For the DiMS! system, Roto Smeets has allocated four Blade servers; two for the production environment (one for the Oracle database and one for the DiMS! application on a Linux operating system) and two for the test environment (same configuration). “It was a conscious choice to go for this setup as it delivers us great advantages, like a wider spread of risks and easier application management”, according to Antoon Feijen, Corporate Information Manager at Roto Smeets Group. “And, when we eventually run DiMS! in a VM-ware environment in the near future, these advantages will be magnified. Actions such as database maintenance, and updating to a new release, will be much easier to perform, and when a server goes down, one of the others will automatically take over, without users noticing there is a problem”, he adds.
Theo Bruinhof added: “Looking back on the first month that we went live with DiMS! and the Blade system, we are very satisfied. In all respects, this new Blade system has brought us huge time savings. Users have experienced great improvements in the performance, and the IT staff is thrilled about the capabilities, which makes their day-to-day job a lot easier to perform.”
DiMS! is always at the forefront when it comes to adopting new techniques that are beneficial to its customers. “Supporting the Blade server technique is just a natural consequence of that commitment”, said Martijn Kemperman, VP Software Development at DiMS! organizing print. “It offers our customers benefits that range from increased system performance to less heat radiation, and risk spreading to easy ICT management; all evident results that complement our end-to-end MIS/ERP system.”
Blade server technique
A complete Blade system consists of a Blade chassis/enclosure with a number of Blade servers. The Blade servers are server computers with a modular design that are optimized to minimize the use of physical space and energy. Many components are removed in order to save space and minimize power consumption, while still having all the functional components of a computer. A Blade enclosure, which can hold multiple Blade servers, covers the services such as power, cooling, networking, various interconnects and management – whether or not through VM-ware – for all inserted Blade servers simultaneously.
Increased performance and decreased energy consumption
Roto Smeets decision to move forward was mainly driven by the technique, whereas the cost aspect played an important part too. Theo Bruinhof explains: “Both hardware and software techniques have evolved rapidly; our HP/UX server was 8 years old and ran a DiMS! application that functionality-wise basically multiplied over that same period, so there was a need for capacity increase. Of course we have added processors and internal memory to the old server to improve its performance, but we were reaching a limit there. With the new Blade server technique – linked to our existing storage – we have instantaneously improved the performance (20-23 x) for now and into the far future, and for a relatively low price. This, supplemented with the decrease in energy consumption and heat production, as well as the easy server extension capabilities, confirms that we have made the right choice.”