Learn how SLTN reduces cloud and virtualization management costs with IBM SmartCloud Provisioning and KVM.

1. IBM SmartCloud Computer Services
Smarter Computing
SLTN
Reduces cloud and virtualization management costs
with IBM SmartCloud Provisioning and KVM
SLTN is an information and communications technology (ICT) managed
Overview service provider and system integrator in the Netherlands. The company
serves a wide range of organizations, from multinational corporations and
The need
government agencies to mid-market businesses.
Provide clients with private cloud
services that support both legacy
and cloud-based applications under SLTN’s evolution from hardware reseller to managed service provider,
a single platform. and, now, cloud services provider reflects changing IT needs over the
The solution past 15 years.
SLTN built a high-performance, reliable
cloud computing data center based on “There is a lot of interest in the market for cloud computing,” says Peter
IBM systems and storage technology.
IBM® SmartCloud™ Provisioning
van den Muijsenberg, operations manager at SLTN. “A lot of companies
software enables SLTN to simplify want to expand their IT capacity without capital expenditures. However,
management and delivery of virtual they’re finding that cloud offerings from most vendors do not integrate
machines on either KVM or VMware
well with their existing operations. We saw an opportunity to add our
and provide clients with rapid access
to cloud-based services. system integration capabilities to cloud services so that companies
could benefit from the cloud without losing their existing systems.”
The benefit
Supports delivery of cloud-based
services in two days; enables Having the flexibility to deliver both private cloud and traditional
provisioning of virtual machines in infrastructures as a single solution also enables SLTN to offer clients
seconds; reduces administrative the most cost-effective approach for each application.
time by 50 – 70 percent.
“We wouldn’t want to put Oracle Database, for example, in the cloud
because it would be very expensive from a licensing perspective,” says
Henk Jansen, general manager of services at SLTN. “In such a case,
we would have to isolate the database on a dedicated system next to the
cloud solution, but still have the solution feel like a single solution for
the client.”

2. IBM SmartCloud Computer Services
Smarter Computing
Building a reliable, high-performance
“We can show our infrastructure for private clouds
To deliver cloud services, SLTN designed and implemented a new data
customers that they don’t center based on IBM BladeCenter® and IBM System x® 3550 class
have to make a large servers, and IBM XIV® Storage System technology.
upfront investment to “IBM is a very important vendor for us as a reseller,” explains Jansen.
expand their capacity or “When you look at the projects that we have done, they have almost
invest money in systems always been IBM based because of the flexibility, scalability and
price-performance that IBM systems offer. IBM helps us to tell a
management. With good story to our clients.”
our cloud services, they
In addition to selecting technologies for performance, scalability, and
can easily add capacity extreme reliability, SLTN also considered the environmental impact
when they need it.” of its data center.
—Peter van den Muijsenberg, “We’re proud that we’ve created a CO2 neutral data center, probably
Operations Manager, SLTN one of the first here in the Netherlands,” says van den Muijsenberg.
Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM) and VMware virtualization
technology are used to enable clients to run multiple virtual machines
with Linux or Windows images depending on their needs.
“What we see, in general, is that customers say the system management
of VMware can be difficult and that licensing costs are high; and that’s
the main reason why customers are looking to other options like KVM,”
says Jansen. “We believe that there’s a great future for KVM, especially
in combination with Linux. I think there will continue to be a lot of
development in KVM so we’ll see better and better performance,
functionality and management capabilities.”
Improving virtual environment efficiencies with
dynamic provisioning
Once the data center was in place, SLTN executives needed the ability
to provision services quickly and cost-effectively. As Jansen and van den
Muijsenberg evaluated cloud management solutions, only one stood out.
Smarter Computing: The IT Infrastructure of a Smarter Planet
Leveraging IBM hardware, software and storage technologies, SLTN is providing breakthrough cloud services that allow companies
to integrate private clouds with their existing application services. SLTN’s approach enables it to deliver new cloud services to clients
in days and dynamically provision virtual machines in seconds. For SLTN, the solution also reduces administration time by up to
70 percent, enabling staff to focus on business growth and service innovation instead of having to manage the cloud.
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3. IBM SmartCloud Computer Services
Smarter Computing
“Immediately after we learned about IBM SmartCloud Provisioning
Solution components software, we felt that this would fit our needs,” says Jansen. “When we
looked at the VMware approach to cloud management, we anticipated
Software
that we would need six months to decide what functionality we would
• IBM® SmartCloud™ Provisioning
want to use. But with SmartCloud Provisioning, it took us only two
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux (including
KVM hypervisor) months to get it up and running so we could begin to demo the solution
• Microsoft Windows to our clients.”
• VMware
Hardware SLTN found that by using SmartCloud Provisioning it could also
• IBM BladeCenter® rapidly provision virtual machines with little administrative effort.
• IBM System x® 3550 class server
• IBM XIV® Storage System
“One of the biggest benefits of IBM SmartCloud Provisioning is that we
can deploy non-persistent virtual machines within seconds and can reduce
administrative costs enormously,” says Jansen. “Once we have the cloud
“One of the biggest fully in service with the right volumes, we expect to see roughly half of
the administrative cost and 50 – 75 percent faster deployment of new
benefits of virtual machines compared to other solutions.”
IBM SmartCloud
Provisioning is that we And while SLTN will use other cloud management technologies when
needed, it has found that the majority of its clients can benefit from using
can deploy non-persistent IBM SmartCloud Provisioning software to support provisioning of both
virtual machines within KVM and VMware ESXi hypervisors.
seconds and can reduce
“If we look at our typical client infrastructure, at least 70 percent would
administrative costs run best using SmartCloud Provisioning as opposed to VMware
enormously.” solutions,” says Jansen.
—Henk Jansen, General Manager, A strong foundation for growth
Services, SLTN With the ability to deliver new cloud services cost-effectively, SLTN
expects to realize a 24-month return on its investment.
“As a company, we are spending a great deal of man-hours in looking
at how we move from hardware sales to cloud services,” says Jansen.
“We can still offer clients traditional infrastructure solutions, but we also
now have a very good story around cloud services. We can show our
customers that they don’t have to make a large upfront investment to
expand their capacity or invest money in systems management. With
our cloud services, they can easily add capacity when they need it. If a
client gives me the order today, they can start using the cloud within
two days. Our customers so far have been very happy about this.”
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4. For more information
To learn more about IBM cloud offerings, please contact your
IBM representative or IBM Business Partner, or visit the
following website: ibm.com/cloud
For more information about SLTN, visit: www.sltn.nl
© Copyright IBM Corporation 2012
IBM Corporation
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Produced in the United States of America
October 2012
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