Technology Category
- Application Infrastructure & Middleware - Database Management & Storage
- Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) - Cloud Storage Services
Applicable Industries
- Cement
- Construction & Infrastructure
Applicable Functions
- Logistics & Transportation
Use Cases
- Construction Management
- Infrastructure Inspection
Services
- Cloud Planning, Design & Implementation Services
- Hardware Design & Engineering Services
About The Customer
Gijima is a leading ICT company in South Africa, providing cloud infrastructure, IT, and outsourcing services for a wide range of clients, from enterprise clients to small to medium businesses. The company is proudly 100% black-owned with Level 1 BBBEE status and employs 3,000 people across 16 regions. Gijima serves over 1,000 satisfied clients and hosts business-critical systems for many of its biggest clients in its state-of-the-art Tier-3 data center. When Gijima acquired the data center, it inherited most of the existing server and storage infrastructure and its client systems.
The Challenge
Gijima, one of South Africa’s leading ICT companies, faced a challenge with its inherited server and storage infrastructure. Much of the storage was reaching end-of-life, and Gijima recognized that upgrading could significantly improve performance and manageability. However, the company needed to migrate its data to new storage arrays without causing any disruption to its clients’ systems. Additionally, Gijima required a partner that could offer on-demand scalability at an attractive price-point, to cater to its wide range of clients, from enterprise clients to small to medium businesses. The company's state-of-the-art Tier-3 data center hosts business-critical systems for many of its biggest clients, making the need for a seamless transition to new storage arrays even more crucial.
The Solution
Gijima chose Hitachi Vantara as a trusted partner for its storage refresh. The company installed two Hitachi VSP 5000 Series arrays at its production data center and two VSP G700 arrays for disaster recovery. These all-flash storage systems replaced the older, bulkier spinning-disk arrays, significantly consolidating the physical infrastructure. The migration of clients’ systems was completed within four months, with the majority of the systems being transferred seamlessly to the new arrays without any downtime, thanks to the nondisruptive migration feature of Hitachi Storage Virtualization Operating System RF and Hitachi TrueCopy Remote Replication software. Gijima also upgraded its storage management software, adopting Hitachi Ops Center for storage management and provisioning, reporting and analytics, and data protection and replication management.
Operational Impact
Quantitative Benefit
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