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Success Story
NetApp Clustered Data ONTAP Drives Storage Efficiencies Enabling
Sheridan College to Increase Video Surveillance Capabilities for
Student Safety and Security
KEY HIGHLIGHTS
IndustryEducation, Public Sector
The ChallengeSiloed storage was no longer cost-e�ective and
end-of-life systems needed to be replaced with a more �exible and
scalable virtualized storage environment.
The SolutionNetApp Clustered Data ONTAP delivered a FlexPod
architecture that could scale without a need to “rip and replace”,
provide better management and an optimized solution to support more
than 500 VMs and multiple applications across 4 campuses and 3
cities.
The ChallengeThe challenges of managing a multi-site storage
environment often meant “rip and replace” as Sheridan College’s
requirement to manage massive volumes of data for students, faculty
and administration continued to grow. Sheridan followed a strict
RFP process to identify the right storage partner who could support
their heavily virtualized environment while delivering the ability
to scale without replacing hardware. NetApp rose to the top of the
RFP contenders by recommending Data ONTAP, an always available
clustered architecture. As an added bonus, Sheridan realized
storage compression and cost savings that allowed them to
re-allocate capital for additional video surveillance equipment,
improving Sheridan’s already high commitment to making campuses a
safe place in which to work, study, and live.
In 2012, the Sheridan Board of Governors adopted a strategic
plan that declared Sheridan will continue to be an outstanding
educational institution, using their “essence of creativity and
innovation to forge a new path that meets the future needs of their
students, their communities and the country”.
That strategy included a commitment to providing the most
up-to-date technology and support for thousands of users across a
multi-campus complex. In order to identify a solution ideal for the
current and future demands of their VDI environment and application
workloads, the IT team at Sheridan College went through a rigorous
RFP process to �nd the best solution that would cost e�ectively
upgrade and support their data centre to serve four campuses in
three Ontario cities.
With the pressure on educational institutions to maximize
precious resources, they were looking for cost e�ective methods of
replacing storage silos and indiscrete storage arrays with a
�exible, scalable system and strong networking components, heavily
optimized for their virtual infrastructure.
Websitewww.sheridancollege.ca
The Benefits• Simplified data centre operations - One network,
one data centre• Rapid replication using FlexClone and Snapshot
technologies for development and QA environments• OnCommand Unified
Manager for management capabilities• Optimal storage growth
capability – no downtime with clustered Data ONTAP• Better storage
compression for video meant that cost savings could be allocated
toward the purchase of additional surveillance cameras for
increased campus security
About The ClientWith approximately 20,000 full-time students and
35,000 continuing education enrollments every year, Sheridan
College is one of Ontario’s leading post-secondary institutions,
playing a critical role in shaping the future of our society. Their
faculties include arts & design, business, humanities &
social science, applied health, science & technology, and
skilled trades.
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James DuncanSenior Technology Architect
“We needed storage capabilities we could grow into without
putting pressure on the budget. NetApp’s single scalable
architecture and clustered data ONTAP operating system meant that
we could easily grow without having to replace any technology”
The SolutionOnce the NetApp solution was selected, a senior team
from NetApp were assigned to the project.
“NetApp came to us with a great reputa-tion in the market. But
in addition to technology, one of the advantages of working with
them was the strong team of resources they made available to us,”
said Duncan. “We were really impressed with just how well they were
able to help us improve our environment by leveraging the unique
capabilities that NetApp brings to the table such as FlexClone and
Snapshots.”
FlexClone allows Sheridan to instantly replicate data volumes
and datasets as transparent, virtual copies—true clones-without
compromising performance or demanding additional storage space. In
addition, NetApp Snapshot technology is providing Sheridan the
ability to create point-in-time copies of �le systems, again with
no performance impact and using minimal storage space, enabling
data protection from a single �le to a complete disaster recovery
solution.
The Benefits“The real standouts for us were FlexClone and
Snapshots, giving us instant virtual data replication,” concluded
Duncan. “But we are equally happy with the OnCommand Uni�ed
Manager, which has given as a single dashboard to monitor the
health of our environment and ensure operational e�ciency.Since
going live, Sheridan has realized the following:
• Increased virtualization and performance with NetApp’s
architecture and clustering capabilities• Simplified data centre
operations - One network connecting two data centres, serving a
variety of academic and departmental applications across 4 campuses
in 3 di�erent cities• Rapid replication using FlexClone and
Snapshots in their development and QA environments• OnCommand
Unified Manager for management capabilities, health status and
alerts• Optimal storage growth capability – no downtime• Better
storage compression for video meant that cost savings could be
allocated toward the purchase of additional surveillance cameras
for increased campus security
Duncan continued, “Expanding is now easy and trivial, making our
lease refreshes simple to deal with, and we are pleasantly
surprised at how much storage we have been able to grow into
without increasing our budget. Being able to use unspent capital to
purchase additional surveillance equipment was a bonus we hadn’t
anticipated.”
“We have a complex environment with more than 500 VMs running a
mix of academic and departmental applications,” added Duncan. “We
are heavy users of Oracle and PeopleSoft, MS Exchange for on
premise email as well as SharePoint and SQL Server. Our operating
systems are split between Linux and Windows and we virtualize with
VMware. The ability to do rapid replication of our environments for
development and QA has become incredibly valuable.”Job #1 was to
break down siloes in di�erent parts of the organization to simplify
data centre operations and improve service delivery. With Cisco UCS
already deployed, a FlexPod architecture was created by integrating
NetApp storage and converging them into a single architecture that
takes advantage of FlexPod capabilities such as validated designs
and a premium cooperative support model.
“Again, another way that NetApp stood out was in the delivery of
everything,” continued Duncan. “We were working with compressed
timelines and needed the environment fully operational in less than
8 weeks. NetApp and their delivery partner Softchoice made that
happen.”
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“When technology, delivery and deployment work well it becomes a
transparent process. Our systems were coming to end-of-life and we
had an urgent need to get storage in place quickly. NetApp and
Softchoice met our expedited timelines. We could not be happier
with the overall experience and, of course, the outcome.”James
DuncanSenior Technology Architect
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document may
are subject to change without notice. NetApp, the NetApp logo,
Flash Cache, Flash Pool, FlexPod, OnCommand, SnapManager,
SnapMirror, SnapRestore, and Snapshot are trademarks or registered
trademarks of NetApp, Inc. in the United States and/or other
countries. Cisco, UCS,
trademark of Cisco Systems, Inc. Microsoft, SQL Server, and
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VMware and vSphere are registered trademarks of VMware, Inc. Oracle
is a registered trademark of Oracle Corporation. All other brands
or products are trademarks or registered trademarks of their
respective holders and should be treated as such. CSS-6775-0415
TECHNOLOGIES
Infrastructure:• FlexPod• NetApp FAS and E-Series• VMware
vSphere• VMware Horizon View• Cisco UCS
Applications:• Cisco Video Surveillance Manager• Cisco Unified
Communications• Microsoft Exchange, SharePoint and SQL Server•
Oracle/PeopleSoft Campus Solutions, Finance, CRM and HR• Oracle
Database
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