THE CHUGOKU ELECTRIC POWER CO., INC.Urgent Need to Build IT Infrastructure with Improved Reliability and Availability With the deregulation of electricity in April 2016, Chugoku Electric,

Challenges• Time required to recover two data

centers in the event of a disaster• Building a Meter Data Management

System (MDMS) infrastructure to manage an enormous volume of meter data

• Increased operational load on approximately 1,200 virtual machines

SolutionsUsing VMware NSX, added an L2 extension to the network between two data centers to form a seamless virtual environment creating a single, virtual data center. Through VMware vRealize Operations, they visualized approximately 1,200 virtual machines, including MDMS and other cloud services, to reduce operational load through capacity management.

Effects of deployment• In the event of a disaster, a

single virtual data center can be recovered in about half a day.

• Stable processing of meter data transmitted every 30 minutes.

• Visualization of the virtual environment facilitates operations, such as reporting.

Deployed products and services• VMware vSphere• VMware NSX• VMware vRealize Operations• VMware vRealize Log Insight• VMware Professional Services

• Energia Cloud Grand Design Formulation Support

• Energia Cloud Infrastructure Design Support

• VMware NSX Network Virtualization Design/Operation Support

• vRealize Operations MetroCluster Customization Support

ENERGY

Urgent Need to Build IT Infrastructure with Improved Reliability and AvailabilityWith the deregulation of electricity in April 2016, Chugoku Electric, which supplies electricity primarily to the Chugoku Region, opened a membership-based Website called the "Forever Club.” It uses this club to provide services such as new, inexpensive electricity plans, partnerships with local companies, and Hiroshima Toyo Carp baseball merchandise.

The most important change that has come with deregulation is the system for processing meter data. Previously, meter reading technicians would check electric meters every month. Now, smart meters that collect meter data via networks every 30 minutes are installed in each home and business. This data must also be provided to other electric companies.

According to Kunio Tanji, Manager of the Information and Telecommunications Division (Information Systems) and Executive Officer in Charge of IT Departments at Chugoku Electric, "We needed a new system that could ensure the stable provision of new services and IT infrastructure. In particular, since reading meter data is one of the most important jobs for us to perform in the electricity business, it would not be acceptable to stop using our Meter Data Management System (MDMS)."

Chugoku Electric started operation of the "Energia Cloud" service for all companies in the group in 2011 and also strengthened its efforts toward disaster response based on lessons learned from the Great East Japan Earthquake. However, although it had constructed a secondary data center in addition to the primary site, it realized that it would take a lot of time to implement a full recovery of its business. As a result, Chugoku Electric was unable to satisfy the availability and business continuity needs required by the MDMS.

Although the company had decided to approach deregulation by using MDMS with the existing Energia Cloud, it was faced with the challenge of how to meet the requirement for business continuity. At that point, the company turned its attention to VMware's SDDC technology.

According to Yasuo Horiba, Manager of the Information and Telecommunications Division (Information Infrastructure Group) at Chugoku Electric, "If we could build a virtual data center between our two existing data centers, we would be able to achieve high levels of reliability and availability as well as a high level of performance. I was convinced that this mechanism, which would allow simple operation while remaining unnoticed by users, would be the optimal infrastructure."

Using VMware NSX for the Virtual Consolidation of Two Remote Data CentersChugoku Electric decided to use VMware NSX to add an L2 (Layer 2) extension to the network between its two data centers, upon which it would build an MDMS infrastructure.

Developing Public Infrastructure Does Not Slow with DeregulationUsing VMware NSX to achieve the virtual consolidation of two data centers, Chugoku Electric Power was able to reduce costs while significantly improving business continuity

At the same time, it also used the VMware vRealize Operations and VMware vRealize Log Insight operation management software to visualize and improve the operability of the large-scale virtual infrastructure (approximately 1,200 machines) running in the Energia Cloud.

It added Dell EMC Japan's Dell EMC VPLEX Metro to the Dell EMC VMAX 40K that was already in use as the main storage system to create a shared volume that can be used transparently from any site.

With the deregulation of electricity in April 2016, Chugoku Electric Power needed a mechanism to further increase the reliability of its IT infrastructure. Its "Meter Data Management System" (MDMS), which is used to handle the meter data for an enormous amount of electrical power, has a great impact on the business of other companies and therefore cannot be shut down. So, Chugoku Electric Power turned its attention to VMware's Software-Defined Data Center (SDDC) technology. With the addition of Dell EMC technology, the company has seamlessly consolidated two data centers into a single virtual data center. The results include significant improvements in business continuity and operability.

The Chugoku Electric Power Co., Inc.Executive OfficerInformation and Telecommunications Division (Information Systems)ManagerKunio Tanji

THE CHUGOKU ELECTRIC POWER CO., INC.

ENERGYKunio Sakamoto, Assistant Manager of the Information and Telecommunications Division (Information Infrastructure Group) at Chugoku Electric has nothing but praise for the effectiveness of the VMware technology that the company uses at the core of its system.

"We also considered other technologies and products to achieve Software-Defined Networking (SDN), but they were problematic because they would involve complications such as making fundamental changes to our network. With VMware NSX, it was possible to add an overlay without making major changes to our existing network, allowing us to limit additional costs. The ability to share the same IP addresses between the sites for simple operation was also a major factor. We are also very grateful for the immense technical support that we have received from VMware since the early days of Energia Cloud, and in particular for the valuable consultation that they have provided in this case regarding virtual network design/operation support for NSX," said Sakamoto.

Horiba added, "With VMware vRealize Operations, we can automatically create the monthly reports that we previously asked operators to prepare." He continued by saying that VMware vRealize Log Insight makes it easy to analyze logs. "In particular, when problems occurred while we were actually building the system, we were able to analyze a large volume of logs, promptly identify the cause, and quickly resolve the problem. So, I expect that we will be able to effectively utilize this system even in the event that trouble occurs," he said.

In this way, Chugoku Electric achieved a virtual data center that is seamless between its two existing sites. This virtual data center, built across the long distance between Hiroshima and Okayama (approximately 140 kilometers), is the largest in Japan.

Regarding the achievement of this virtual data center, Tatsuji Mihara, Deputy Manager of the Information and Telecommunications Division (Information Infrastructure Group) at Chugoku Electric said, "Previously the development departments and user departments had to be aware which data center was active and which was on standby. Now, we no longer need to think about this. We have not received any new demands or complaints from Energia Communications, the company in the group responsible for managing the operation of the system. I am convinced that this infrastructure will promote speedy development and smooth operation."

Working with VMware to Build More Stable and Effective IT ServicesThe most important factors for Chugoku Electric were to have two data centers running actively at the same time and to dramatically enhance business continuity.

Regarding the IT services that Chugoku Electric aims to provide, Tanji said, "This is just the first step. However, it is a big first step."

"We were able to make big strides toward our ideal Business Continuity Plan (BCP). VMware's products and services are very reliable. Company representatives listened carefully to our requests and responded to our needs. We look forward to VMware's continued support as a partner as we move forward together in the future."

Chugoku Electric will continue to provide a stable supply of electricity as public infrastructure while responding quickly to new demands from the market. VMware's technology has responded perfectly to Chugoku Electric's advanced needs. To achieve a more convenient IT infrastructure, Chugoku Electric will continue to utilize VMware's technology to actively resolve existing issues and introduce new systems.

VMware, Inc. 13F Hamamatsucho Square, 1-30-5 Hamamatsu-cho, Minato-ku, Tokyo 105-0013, Japan URL: www.vmware.com/jpCopyright © 2016 VMware, Inc. All rights reserved. Protected by U.S. and international copyright and intellectual property laws.

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Item No. CS_ENERGIA_JPQ216

06/16

Customer ProfileElectric company supplying electricity under the "Energia" brand to the Chugoku region and parts of Hyogo Prefecture and the Shikoku region in Japan. With the deregulation of the electric industry in April 2016, opened the "Forever Club" membership-based Website, providing services such as new, inexpensive electricity plans and a point system for merchandise from local companies and the Hiroshima Toyo Carp baseball team.

"With VMware NSX, there is no need to make major changes to the existing network configuration. Therefore, you can build a virtual network that connects two data centers while keeping costs low. Through the use of vRealize Operations and vRealize Log Insight, we immediately benefitted from the effects of improved operability even while the network was still being built."

The Chugoku Electric Power Co., Inc.Kunio Tanji

The Chugoku Electric Power Co., Inc.Information and Telecommunications Division(Information Infrastructure Group)Assistant ManagerKunio Sakamoto

The Chugoku Electric Power Co., Inc.Information and Telecommunications Division(Information Infrastructure Group)Deputy ManagerTatsuji Mihara

The Chugoku Electric Power Co., Inc.Information and Telecommunications Division(Information Infrastructure Group)ManagerYasuo Horiba

Figure: Configuration of the Virtual Data Center Built by Chugoku Electric

Dell EMC Dell EMC

FC-SAN

VM VM VM VM VM VM

Dell EMC

NW for Services

Physical Server Group

Intersite WAN(Extension)

Shared Volume between Sites

Intersite WANNW for Storage Management

Physical Server Group

Chugoku Electric Head O ce (Witness)

For VM Management

For vMotion

NW for NSXFor VPLEX

Synchronization

Okayama (Secondary Site)

Dell EMC