Apex e-Bulletin January 2008
Enabling Server Virtualisation through Intelligent Network Services
The current trend towards server consolidation and virtualisation places new demands on the underlying network infrastructure. In order to fully realise the potential of virtual servers, organisations require a highly-available, high-performance, and scalable switched network foundation.
In our latest whitepaper, we investigate what network services you should consider when going virtual.
Storage Hot Topics for 2008….
Our Storage Services Manager, Graham Ratcliffe takes a look at the hot topics for data storage this year...
Archiving – Archiving has been around for quite some time now, but with explosive data growth, information security and compliance all becoming very real topics, 2008 could well be the year when archiving, whether it be email, files or databases, will really be a key topic to watch and consider.
‘Green’ Storage – 2007 saw the onset of "green" computing, but we predict 2008 will see companies seriously considering these solutions. Whether driven by a desire to be "green", or as a simple cost and efficiency saving through improved storage infrastructure utilisation, 2008 is set to be the "year to be green".
Information Lifecycle Management (ILM) – Put simply, research has revealed that 30-50% of data held on primary ‘expensive’ storage is inactive and not likely to be accessed again. By moving this unused data to a cheaper form of storage or archiving it, you could reclaim costly storage space and reduce the need for additional capacity. By aligning the business value of information with the most appropriate and cost-effective infrastructure from its inception to destruction, companies can improve their data management and realise significant cost savings.
Apex becomes IBM Bladecenter and Storage Solution Centre
Apex are delighted to announce that they are now an official IBM Bladecenter and Storage Solutions Centre, further enhancing our demonstration and testing facilities in these fields. This new status recognises the investment made and specialist capabilities achieved by Apex technical staff over the past year.
Apex implements 3G mobile routers
Apex are used to dealing with leading edge technologies, and this month sees the implementation of another brand new solution. We are currently deploying 3G mobile routers to one of our key customers, enabling them to
provision data communications services throughout their expansive customer’s networks, rapidly and without the headaches associated with fixed-line data services.
Successful proof-of-concept tests have led to a 40 site, pilot rollout of the technology to support a M2M environmental monitoring and metering application, with a view to several hundred UK and European rollouts in the New Year.
Apex helps West Kent College create their vision of the future
Apex are delighted to announce that we
will be assisting West Kent College with the development of their
new data centre, providing a server consolidation and virtualisation
solution using IBM System x and SAN hardware with VMware Virtual
Infrastructure 3. The new data centre will provide West Kent College
with the flexibility and
scalability that it requires for the future, whilst ensuring minimum
downtime and maximum return on investment.
Apex wins place in Channel Business Solutions "Rich List"
Apex is pleased to be listed as number 104 in the Channel Business Solutions magazine Rich List 2007. The "Rich List" identifies the top channel companies in the UK by turnover.
Virtualisation & Server Consolidation events
If you are looking into server consolidation and virtualisation in 2008, then our Virtualisation seminars and workshops may be of interest.
Our seminars are designed to give you an overall view of server and storage virtualisation, and what you should consider when embarking on a project.
Our workshops give you the opportunity to have a hands-on demonstration of VMware Virtual Infrastructure, running on IBM System x and Blade servers, and to discuss your requirements in more detail with our virtualisation specialists.
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Virtualisation |
21st February |
Apex Technical Demonstration Suite, Cirencester |
|
Virtualisation |
23rd April |
IBM Southbank, London |
Further dates will be available shortly.
To reserve your place on any of the above events email marketing@apexcomp.co.uk
Free Cisco Discovery Audit
Apex are currently offering a free Cisco Discovery Audit designed to help improve your network infrastructure and security.
The Discovery Audit will help you uncover network hardware and software inside your network and identify gaps between existing infrastructure and your current or future network requirements.
At the end of your audit, you will receive a detailed report with findings and recommendations for improvements.
For further details contact: marketing@apexcomp.co.uk or call 01285 863878.
Improve DS4000 performance and reliability…..
Did you know that it is the customers’ responsibility for keeping the code levels on the IBM System Storage DS4000 range at the required levels?
Whilst this isn’t always the most exciting thing to think about, it should be pointed out that these aren’t released just for bug fixes, but they can dramatically improve performance and reliability in some cases, and with the DS4200, DS4700 and DS4800 the following additions will be available from February: additional partitions, mirrors and copies, greater than 2TB LUNs, RAID6 on the DS4700 and DS4200 and Pro-active drive health monitoring.
Apex can help you with these upgrades to ensure minimal downtime during the process.
VMware ESX Server 3.5 and VirtualCenter 2.5 are now generally available
The new release of VMware Infrastructure 3, which includes the new VMware ESX Server 3.5 and VirtualCenter 2.5, will allow VMware customers to streamline the management of IT environments through greater levels of automation, increase overall infrastructure availability and boost performance for mission critical workloads.
As a VMware Enterprise Partner, Apex will be offering demonstrations of VMware ESX Server 3.5 and VirtualCenter 2.5 in our Technical Demonstration Suite
Please email
marketing@apexcomp.co.uk
for further details.
Cisco introduce significant upgrades to their two distribution / core switching platforms
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Apex Computers International Limited, 2008