Pure Storage aids 5G Networks in trailblazing data centre consolidation

Pure Storage has helped 5G Networks (5GN), Australia's premier managed service provider, to accomplish a significant data centre consolidation. This development imbues the company with the capacity to deliver enhanced services while also promoting environmental sustainability by significantly curtailing energy consumption and space requirements.

The undertaking involved the migration of over 1.5 petabytes of data from a myriad of 5G Network services and applications to a unified data centre. This ambitious project was executed in less than three months, setting a new industry benchmark in Australia for data migration timeliness.

5GN had identified a need to condense the operational capacities of two leased data centres, harbouring more than 1.5 petabytes of data, into a single, purpose-built facility in Sydney. This was the outcome of a strategic review of its data centre workings. The company facilitates diverse services such as telecommunications, co-location, data centre, infrastructure provision and managed IT for a vast portfolio of corporate and government clients across Australia.

The challenge lay in ensuring minimum disruption to the thousands of live services and applications relied upon by customers during the migration process. Additionally, 5GN was keen to address environmental concerns and promote energy efficiency in a bid to fulfil its sustainability ambitions.

Pure Storage played a dynamic role in overcoming these hurdles by closely liaising with 5GN. The company's FlashArray//X was at the heart of the newly minted data platform of 5GN, resulting in several benefits. Among the standout advantages was the completion of the data centre consolidation within three months, minimising disruption to customers despite the thousands of live services and applications operating simultaneously.

Another significant plus point was the environmental consideration. Pure Storage's all-flash storage solutions, equipped with patented DirectFlash Modules, helped 5GN reduce rack space usage by 65%, leading to a corresponding decrease in energy and cooling costs. This progression also enabled the 5GN IT team to concentrate on more strategic tasks, for example, the development of new services.

"We are a very customer-centric company and anything that affects a customer is a priority for us. It was a huge project involving the movement and consolidation of 1.5 petabytes of data and thousands of live customer services that needed to be maintained with an absolute minimum of disruption," commented Wahab Khan, Head of Cloud and Platforms at 5G Networks. He added that after the migration to Pure Storage, the network was running at least twice as fast.

Pure Storage's Area Vice President for Australia and New Zealand, Amy Rushall, expressed satisfaction with the project outcomes. "This truly was a challenging assignment but the team never gave up and we were convinced that we had the technology and expertise to fulfil the task. This is really a great showcase of the capabilities of Pure Storage's solutions," she said.