Published on 23-Apr-2009
Validated on 06 Mar 2013
"We’re better positioned than ever before to translate our focus on environmental responsibility into rapid top-line growth … we’re guaranteed to handle that growth efficiently, reliably and profitably." - Phil Nail, technology manager, AISO.net
Customer:
AISO.net
Industry:
Computer Services
Deployment country:
United States
Solution:
Green/Sustainability, Smarter Planet
Smarter Planet:
Smarter Infrastructure
IBM Business Partner:
Sirius Computer Solutions
Overview
California-based AISO.net has been a trusted name in environmentally friendly Web hosting since 1997. It is the first and only 100 percent solar-energy–powered Web hosting company and currently serves more than 12,000 customers worldwide.
Business need:
AISO.net had established itself as a leader among “green” service providers, but its rapid growth forced the company to confront the challenges of rising costs and maxed-out capacity. Essentially, AISO.net needed to transform its infrastructure strategy so that it would have more control of its resources while maintaining superior performance.
Solution:
AISO.net chose IBM BladeCenter® and IBM System x® servers along with IBM VMWare Infrastructure and VMotion software. With IBM Business Partner Sirius Computer Solutions, it achieved a massive consolidation of its data center resources—using advanced virtualization technologies. Major reductions in cooling and energy consumption headed off the need to invest in additional solar panels to sustain rapid growth and enabled the company to sell its excess energy back into the electric grid.
Benefits:
Achieves a 60 percent reduction in power and cooling costs through virtualization-based data center consolidation; provides 99.9 percent availability through automated failover capabilities; increases average server utilization level by an estimated 50 percent
Case Study
Overview
AISO.net
Romoland, California
United States
www.aiso.net
Industry
• Computer Services
Products
• IBM VMware Infrastructure
• IBM BladeCenter servers
• IBM System x3650
IBM Business Partner
• Sirius Computer Solutions
California-based AISO.net has been a trusted name in environmentally friendly Web hosting since 1997. It is the first and only 100 percent solar energy–powered Web hosting company and currently serves more than 12,000 customers worldwide.
Challenge
AISO.net had established itself as a leader among “green” service providers, but its rapid growth forced the company to confront the challenges of rising costs and maxed-out capacity. Essentially, AISO.net needed to transform its infrastructure strategy so that it would have more control of its resources while maintaining superior performance.
Solution
Hardware consolidation and virtualization were needed, and AISO.net chose IBM BladeCenter and IBM System x servers along with IBM VMWare Infrastructure and VMotion software. With IBM Business Partner Sirius Computer Solutions, it achieved a massive consolidation of its data center resources—using advanced virtualization technologies. Major reductions in cooling and energy consumption headed off the need to invest in additional solar panels to sustain rapid growth and enabled the company to sell its excess energy back into the electric grid.
Benefits
• Achieves a 60 percent reduction in power and cooling costs through virtualization-based data center consolidation
• Provides 99.9 percent availability through automated failover capabilities
• Increases average server utilization level by an estimated 50 percent
“We’re better positioned than ever before to translate our focus on environmental responsibility into rapid top-line growth … we’re guaranteed to handle that growth efficiently, reliably and profitably.” —Phil Nail, technology manager, AISO.net
Products and services used
IBM products and services that were used in this case study.
Hardware:
BladeCenter, System x
Legal Information
© Copyright IBM Corporation 2009 IBM Corporation 1 New Orchard Road Armonk, NY 10504 U.S.A. Produced in the United States of America March 2009 All Rights Reserved. IBM, the IBM logo, ibm.com, BladeCenter, and System x are trademarks or registered trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation in the United States, other countries, or both. If these and other IBM trademarked terms are marked on their first occurrence in this information with a trademark symbol (® or ™), these symbols indicate U.S. registered or common law trademarks owned by IBM at the time this information was published. Such trademarks may also be registered or common law trademarks in other countries. A current list of IBM trademarks is available on the Web at “Copyright and trademark information” at ibm.com/legal/copytrade.shtml. Other company, product, and service names may be trademarks or service marks of others. The information contained in this documentation is provided for informational purposes only. While efforts were made to verify the completeness and accuracy of the information contained in this documentation, it is provided “as is” without warranty of any kind, express or implied. In addition, this information is based on IBM’s current product plans and strategy, which are subject to change by IBM without notice. IBM shall not be responsible for any damages arising out of the use of, or otherwise related to, this documentation or any other documentation. Nothing contained in this documentation is intended to, nor shall have the effect of, creating any warranties or representations from IBM (or its suppliers or licensors), or altering the terms and conditions of the applicable license agreement governing the use of IBM software. This document illustrates how one organization uses IBM products. Many factors have contributed to the results and benefits described; IBM does not guarantee comparable results elsewhere. References in this publication to IBM products or services do not imply that IBM intends to make them available in all countries in which IBM operates. ODC03128-USEN-00