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HP Rescues lifeboat charity from potential IT disasters
The RNLI relies on having a robust and reliable IT environment to support its vital, life Saving work. This case study looks at how HP has helped...
The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) is a registered charity that saves lives at sea. It provides rescue services from 231 lifeboat stations around the UK and Northern Ireland and on 43 beaches in the South of England.
On average, there are more than 7,500 lifeboat launches a year, which rescue more than 7,300 people and since the RNLI was founded in 1824 it has saved more than 136,000 lives.
The hub of support for the RNLI is its headquarters in Poole, Dorset where any IT failures could seriously affect lifeboat supplies or vital fund raising, marketing and sales functions. The RNLI needs a robust and reliable service to support 1000 full time computer users and up to 1000 volunteers at the lifeboat stations. That has been provided by HP.
Slick operation
"Although we are an emergency service we are no different than any other business," said IT Manager for the RNLI, Richard Miles. "We dont actually despatch the lifeboats from here but we provide the support and admin backup to the coast so we have to have a slick operation to respond to emergencies."
SAP R/3 Enterprise Resource Planning applications are used to run most of the organisation and HP has provided the infrastructure for them. More recently, however, it has turned its attention to Disaster Recovery (DR) and IT management issues. It has provided a second Datacentre at Poole and re-built the first Datacentre to make a dual site solution with N Class servers.
Adaptive enterprise
HP has also installed the UNIX version of HP OpenView Operations to improve overall management of the environment. A Storage Area Network (SAN) has been created with HP Storage Area Manager and HP Storage Node Manager, which send alerts to OpenView. Flexibility of allocation makes storage easier to manage, enabling RNLI to become a more adaptive enterprise.
In addition, HP Consulting is advising the RNLI on service management procedures such as change and configuration management. "Datacentre 2 is not just for disaster recovery. It is part of our day to day services," added Miles. "We have half of our business and office servers sitting in each room so if we lose one we can failover to the other, albeit on a slightly reduced service."
Automatic alerts
HP ServiceGuard enables automated failover between the two sites and HP Data Protector (previously OmniBack 2) is used for backing up the RNLIs two HP XP128 storage arrays to two new MSL 6000 series tape libraries.
Where out-of-hours standby staff had to previously dial in to check the systems, they now receive automatic incident alerts from OpenView - a particularly important benefit since RNLI is moving to a more 24x7 service with its new Intranet called Porthole.
"Running a complex Information Systems Department is a challenge and our association with HP has helped us improve the efficiency of the critical service we provide," said Miles. "Partnering with a quality organisation was a key critical factor for us which is why we chose HP and frankly, we have never been disappointed."
Why HP?
RNLI had an existing good relationship with HP, which had supplied the infrastructure for its SAP R/3 business applications.
It wanted a quality partner with the expertise that could support its critical business.
It was ensured of good value for money.
HP Services
Advice on service management procedures from HP Consulting.
RNLI now has the peace of mind that its operations will not be affected by IT failure.
Its important national fund raising, sales and marketing functions are supported.
It can move on to become a 24x7 operation.
HP provided a dual site solution by renewing the RNLIs first datacentre and creating a new second datacentre with automatic failover.
It improved infrastructure management with HP OpenView Operations UNIX.
It also created a flexible Storage Area Nework with improved back-up and XP technology.
The Royal National Lifeboat Institution relies on having a robust and reliable IT environment to support its vital, life saving work.
To ensure continuity of service, it needed a Disaster Recovery solution.
It also needed to improve IT service management, storage and back-up.
