END USER INSIGHT
WE NEED TO
PROTECT OUR
CUSTOMERS’
DATA AND OUR
OWN INTEGRITY
BECAUSE
OUR RESULTS
ARE WHAT
MAKES US.
issue, not necessarily around NetApp,
is connectivity and making the data
available. That’s where we’re looking to
move some things into the cloud because
we can then push things closer. We are
based in Liverpool but if we can push data
that’s needed into an AWS data centre for
example, it’ll get it closer, faster, easier
and enable less time to deliver results and
answer customer questions.
Can you walk us through the
end-to-end process that you
offer your customers?
How has the NetApp solution
improved scalability and
assured longevity?
It’s incredibly scalable. We can add in
new shelves, we can add in other nodes
into the cluster if needed. It’s a fantastic
investment. In terms of longevity, it allows
us flexibility – if we’ve got our primary
data, we can tear that off to pretty much
anywhere we want. This might be to the
cloud or you can go onto some kind of S3
www.intelligentdatacentres.com
or on-prem if you like so I’m obviously a
fan but I find that it’s helping us to keep
our data where we want it at the right
time. When you pair it with some of the
partners in the ecosystem, I think you’ve
got a very stable platform.
What are some of the industry-
specific challenges you face?
In the mining industry, we are in some
very remote areas so our biggest
We have a broad range of services in the
industry. Our core service is to provide
analytical services so if a mine or a
company is prospecting, they may well
dig up some soil and send it to us and
we’ll let them know how much copper or
gold etc there is in there so that they mine
there. So we have many different ways
of finding out information, it depends
on what the client wants. We could also
provide on-site support and we do this by
setting up a lab on mine where they want
a quick turnaround, for example if they
are chasing a vein of copper, they want to
know if it’s still viable to keep going.
What benefits has the solution
provided to your customers?
First of all, we’re ensuring that their data
is safe. Speed is another factor – it’s not a
super quick turnaround but we’re ensuring
stability, security and generally if our staff
can access the data quicker and more
efficiently, they can interact with the
customer in a much more seamless way. ◊
Issue 14
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