Shaping Outstanding Digital Learning Experiences with a Reliable, Easy-to-Manage Storage Platform

Overview

Challenge

• Replace a legacy storage system with a low-touch solution that offers headroom for several years of growth in digital services across the university.

Solution

• Deployed Hitachi VSP One Block, a compact midrange storage solution with all-flash drives and streamlined management from Hitachi Ops Center.

Outcome

• Achieved 50% more capacity per dollar than the closest competing vendor while minimizing management tasks, helping UMHB focus on digital innovation.

Challenge

Founded in 1845, the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor (UMHB) is dedicated to Christian higher education. With a 340-acre campus, the university welcomes nearly 4,000 graduate and undergraduate students each year. UMHB strives to be university of choice for Christian higher education in the Southwest United States by supporting and enhancing student success, maintaining strong financial health, and delivering quality academic programs.

Greg Brandenburg, VP for Information Technology & CIO at UMHB, confirms, “We use our digital platforms to help underpin high-quality student experiences and to enable day-to-day university management. To serve our stakeholders effectively, it’s important that our IT infrastructure is reliable and scalable.”

With its existing storage platform approaching end of life, UMHB looked for a new solution that would help it deliver high-quality digital services for staff, students and faculty for years to come. 

Chris Hugo, Data Center Engineer – Information Technology at UMHB, says, “We have a lean IT team, so we’re always looking for ways to streamline and automate infrastructure management. We wanted a storage solution that would be easy to deploy and to manage.”

Solution

After a thorough review of the storage market, UMHB selected Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform One (VSP One) Block, a compact yet high-performance all-flash storage solution. With storage management capabilities from Hitachi Ops Center, VSP One Block combines high power efficiency with a seamless, user-friendly experience.

“When we started the vendor evaluation process, we assumed that Hitachi was an enterprise solution provider that we would simply be unable to afford, but in fact nothing could have been further from the truth,” says Brandenburg. “The more we looked into the Hitachi portfolio, the more we realized that they had a wide range of midrange solutions that were a great fit for our technical needs and our budget. Of all the options, we felt that VSP One Block best addressed our requirements.”

Another aspect of the Hitachi offering that impressed UMHB was the 100% data availability guarantee. “If we ever experience unplanned downtime because of a storage malfunction, we know Hitachi will step in to put it right,” comments Hugo. “That said, we don’t expect to need to ever call on that guarantee, as Hitachi solutions have a reputation for being extremely reliable.”

Outcome

Working with a local Hitachi partner Austin Data Logics, UMHB replaced its legacy storage system with a VSP One Block 24 array, offering 15,000 IOPS and substantial headroom for future storage expansion.

“Deploying VSP One Block and migrating over our data was really simple,” recalls Hugo. “We were able to rack and stack the solution ourselves by following the quick-start guide that Hitachi provided. At the end of the process, Hitachi checked over the solution to ensure it was configured correctly, and we were all set.”

With VSP One Block, the university can use adaptive data reduction (ADR) technology from Hitachi to deliver storage capacity savings through deduplication and compression at the storage controller and disk level. With guaranteed 2:1 data reduction, the Hitachi Vantara solution delivered up to 50% greater storage capacity per dollar than others that the university considered.

Crucially, the Hitachi solution provides UMHB with highly reliable and easy-to-manage storage, freeing its IT team to focus on digital innovation.

“One of the biggest benefits of VSP One Block is that we don’t need to think about it, it just works,” concludes Brandenburg. “With Hitachi storage at the heart of our IT infrastructure, we have a strong foundation for future digital innovation. And if we should ever need it, responsive support from Hitachi experts is only a phone call away.”