NetApp Technology From Lima for Manchester Grammar School IT Overhaul

Manchester Grammar School, an independent school for boys aged between seven and 18, chose NetApp, Inc. to revamp its data infrastructure and underpin the school’s business growth and reputation.

Over the past seven years, with the opening of its new junior school, Manchester Grammar School has grown to approximately 1,500 students and 300 staff. As a result, the school’s IT department has expanded from 400 workstations to 1,100 devices, including tablets and other mobile devices.

In line with this growth, the existing IT infrastructure, which relied on traditional disk-to-disk to tape, was unable to cope with demand. It became inefficient, with backup taking an entire weekend to complete, which was difficult to maintain and limited the scope for expansion.

Manchester Grammar School opted for an infrastructure, which incorporates the NetApp FAS2552, FAS2520 and NetApp SnapMirror from LIMA. These solutions accelerate workloads and increases usable capacity, which helps address the school’s surge in data requirements. Using both the FAS2552 and FAS2520, a SAN-to-SAN replication model was created to a DR location in the event of system failure.

The NetApp platform has helped Manchester Grammar School reclaim 40% of its disk storage, whilst improving the ability to recover the most critical data in the school. A full backup is performed every two hours in order to capture data changes 24/7, with around 8TB of data backed up almost instantly.

Richard Wilcock, head of computer services, Manchester Grammar School, said: “Manchester Grammar School is a prestigious organisation. Within this context, storage platform failures could be damaging to our reputation. With the NetApp platform, we do not have these concerns because it’s so reliable. It is a storage solution with added benefits, such as smarter backups, quick restores, and more storage in a few simple clicks. No other storage vendor could provide this, and we have been able to shrink our storage environment while also gaining greater storage capacity as a result.“

Elliot Howard, UK and Ireland country manager, NetApp said: “Manchester Grammar School is going from strength only to strength and experiencing high growth levels as a result. In line with such growth, it’s essential for IT infrastructure updates to ensure that data management and backup demands can be met. It’s great that, thanks to the NetApp platform, Manchester Grammar School’s IT department is able to focus its attention on wider projects to benefit its pupils.“