Data Strategy and EMC Solve Indiana Office of Technology Growth Problem

The Indiana Office of Technology (IOT) announced a solution to the state’s growing challenge of long-term storage while improving service-level performance for data services delivered to state agencies.

The IOT is building the first-ever, state-level, all-Flash datacenter in the US. By switching from traditional disk-based storage arrays to Flash, the IOT will exponentially increase data-retrieval and delivery speeds to departmental clients and state residents. The system works by compressing file-server workloads and eliminating manual intervention associated with traditional datacenter arrays. Just weeks into the transformation, Help Desk calls have dipped, performance issues have disappeared, and backups are completing faster.

In conjunction with the move to flash, the IOT restructured its archival storage system. The move saved a projected $1.2 million by eliminating future expansion and maintenance costs. IOT recorded a steep drop in archival time – from 17 days to less than two (each archive cycle required an additional 50TB of space per quarter). The resultant infrastructure has reduced storage space needs and freed up staff to focus on more value-added activities for state agency constituents.

The IOT collaborated with Indianapolis-based consultants and engineers from Data Strategy, LLC and EMC Corporation to bring the project to fruition. The team focused on simplifying data management processes, improving data delivery effectiveness, and eliminating as much manual intervention as possible. In doing so, the IOT migrated from traditional backup architectures that were on the verge of scaling out.

“The performance of all Flash removes storage as a component in troubleshooting production issues,” said Paul Baltzell, CIO, IOT. “We are also no longer limited in our ability to patch and reboot large numbers of systems at any one time.“

Baltzell commented that the engineering prowess and strong customer support of Data Strategy and EMC helped IOT plan and implement the monumental change in Indiana’s state datacenter environment.

“Our team of engineers has a deep understanding of the state’s old and new systems, which allowed the IOT to architect a solution free of downtime or service interruption to its constituent agencies,” said Mark Graham, GM, Data Strategy’s Indianapolis office. “We challenged the IOT to ‘Think Big’ with respect to its datacenter vision, and we are all pleased with the innovative result.“