Kemtek Imaging in South Africa Customer of Scale Computing HC3 Platform

Kemtek Imaging Systems Holdings Limited deployed Scale Computing’s HC3 platform on Lenovo Data Center Group‘s servers to manage its IT environment.

The company is based in Johannesburg, South Africa and has over 30 years of experience in providing quality driven technologies to well established brands in the commercial and industrial print, 3D/additive manufacturing, auto identification, barcoding, and labeling industries. The company’s focus is on the supply of fully integrated equipment solutions coupled with a skilled service and post-sales support. Through its portfolio, the company offers print solutions, rapid 3D printing, bar coding, and labeling solutions.

Key Challenges: 

• Existing storage environment reached the end of its lifespan, with no ability to scale out
• Purchasing additional hardware was expensive and costly
• Existing IT environment was becoming difficult and time-consuming to manage

Key applications running on Scale Computing’s HC3 platform:

• ERP
• CRM
• SQL

Business Benefits: 

• Improved performance and reduced costs
• Quick DR testing
• Added ability to scale out – no need to over-provision storage
• Data replication and complete BC
• The ability to set up more servers quickly, as needed
• Reduced management time

“We wanted a simple out of the box solution and Scale Computing was exactly that. The appliance was easy to set up and use. Our performance has greatly improved and as a result, we have increased production, which is contributing to our bottom line. Previously the environment was slow and difficult to manage which at times held us up. The simplicity of Scale Computing has far exceeded our expectations,” said Andre Theron, IT manager, Kemtek.

IT Challenges
Providing technology services, it was fundamental to the company that it had an IT system in place that could meet customer demands. IT plays a major role in the day to day operations of the company, so when its existing environment began to reach the end of its lifespan, Kemtek saw this as an opportunity to upgrade.

As a growing business, it was essential that the customer could grow IT infrastructure when required without cost and capacity challenges. Alongside this, the company wanted to invest in a platform that offered performance, replication capabilities, and easy management – at a competitive price point.

Theron commented: “Our IT environment is pivotal to the way we work, and it’s important that any platform can support our customer demands. When our existing system reached the end of its lifespan we wanted to take the time to ensure any new investment could not only meet requirements now but also in the future.”

He continued: “One of the main things we looked for was scalability, this was a major selling point for us. But it was also critical that we could benefit from flexibility and improved performance.“

Finding the right solution
Kemtek worked with its long term partner Edgetec Systems (Pty) Ltd to evaluate the market and find a solution that would meet its requirements. 

Edgetec said: “Kemtek needed a solution that would provide HA, was able to scale, offer performance and was easy to use. With this in mind, we immediately understood a hyperconverged platform would be the ideal fit. Price point was also a major concern, so the HC3 platform was highly recommended in this area – it offered all the requirements but at a competitive price for Kemtek.“

Theron said: “Everything with Scale Computing was so simple, we had a presentation on how the technology worked and were immediately sold. We knew it would be the perfect platform for us.“

Simplified management
The HC3 platform integrates storage, compute, and virtualisation layers of infrastructure into a single solution architecture. The technology is designed to eliminate complexity from the data centre, providing Kemtek with the required simplicity. In addition, the product requires no additional licensing fees or certification. The solution includes rapid-deployment, automated management capabilities, and a single pane of management.

Theron explained: “We wanted a simple out of the box solution and Scale Computing was exactly that. The appliance was easy to set up and use.“

Improved performance and HA
Alongside simplified management, HC3 has provided Kemtek with improved performance and HA. The solution is designed for automatic failover and provides replication and snapshot capabilities. In the event of a complete node failure, applications are automatically restarted on other nodes to minimise downtime.

Theron added: “Our performance has greatly improved – previously the environment was slow and difficult to manage which at times held us up. The simplicity of Scale Computing has far exceeded our expectations. The replication and DR capabilities are also an added bonus. With a VM, if we have to restart, it’s seamless and easy.“

Scalability and affordability
The demand for a scale-out architecture was also a major factor in the purchase decision for the customer. With the HC3 product, if more storage is needed, organisations can add additional nodes which eliminates the need to over provision storage. Nodes of different types can be mixed and matched in a single cluster, providing flexibility to build out the perfect infrastructure for applications.

Theron concluded: “Previously we had budget constraints, and limited scalability which at times could hinder our production time. Scale Computing has completely transformed this and offers a simple, cost effective and scalable solution. Its ease of use really is a big plus.“