optoVision, based in Langen near Frankfurt, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Rodenstock,
Munich. optoVision manufactures spectacle lenses of all kinds, in particular high-quality varifocal lenses in free-form technology, with a wide variety of coatings according to customer requirements. The plant in Langen is highly automated - several million lenses are produced and sold in the factory halls every year.
The existing hardware landscape at optoVision was due for a regular update in 2010*. In addition, contracts and licenses were to be updated. Head of IT Peter Ludewig took this opportunity for a reorientation: the basic idea was that the increased demands on storage and high availability as well as the handling of highly sensitive customer data made it necessary to mirror the system, ideally during operation.
Although the data from the IBM POWER i and Intel environment was stored in two data centers in different fire compartments, it was not mirrored. There were only isolated solutions for the VMware applications.
New solution approach from DATAGROUP: Storage virtualization with IBM System Storage SAN Volume Controller as a stretched cluster and VDisk mirroring
"By using the IBM SAN Volume Controller, we were able to consolidate all servers," explains Peter Ludewig, CIO at optoVision. "Database servers, file servers, Intel and IBM POWER i servers - they all access the same storage through the SAN. And we are only really using VMware now."
*Hardware and concept renewal in 2016 (editor's note)
"Stretched Cluster in a private cloud is the ideal solution for us."