Virtual BackOffice is a virtual IT infrastructure that is highly scalable and available. Created by Merkl IT, this solution gives customers access to their data and applications from almost any location with very little hardware required onsite. When Merkl IT began working on what has now become its core product a few years ago, the company knew that it needed hardware that would help provide high resiliency, scalability and fast response times for its customers. Although it considered other products, the company decided to rely on several Sun products for its solution.

Sun StorageTek 2510 arrays with redundant iSCSI RAID controllers and 1 Gb/sec throughput provide a stable foundation for storing data. The SMI-S-compliant Sun StorageTek Common Array Manager software simplifies 2510 array storage management, enabling Merkl IT to accelerate deployment, simplify its environment and improve utilization.

Sun Blade 6000 servers with energy-saving features virtualize and host Windows servers and desktops running Virtual BackOffice. The Sun Blade servers' stability and the upgrade capacity of its main memory are a couple of benefits the Munich-based systems vendor has garnered from its decision.

Julian Merkl, who founded Merkl IT with his brother Maximilian, commented, "We were surprised at how resilient the Sun Blade servers are. And in terms of equipment with working memory, we have still not reached the limit."

Sun’s "green IT" focus was one of the attributes that helped make it a top choice for Merkl IT. Only a few years ago, data transmission volumes and bandwidth were the critical concerns for datacenters, noted Merkl, who continued, "The question now is how many kilowatt hours are being used, and how much waste heat is produced. With efficient technology from Sun, we can make considerable savings in this area, which really benefits our customers too."

Investment protection was another plus for Merkl IT in choosing Sun. "By using Sun Blade servers, we do not have to invest in completely new equipment for our data center every three years," Merkl explained. "It was really important for us to know that we would be able to purchase more blades and accessories in the same design as we have now."

Sun Ray Thin Clients and associated software including Sun Virtual Desktop Infrastructure and Sun Secure Global Desktop software are provided to Merkl IT customers along with installation if requested. This is one of the things that makes Merkl IT stand out from companies offering purely hosting services. "This means we're actually one step ahead of the major providers," Merkl said. Also, unlike its competitors, the company can integrate its customers' local servers and network infrastructure into Virtual BackOffice.

More Information

Customer Snapshot: Merkl IT

Sun Blade 6000 Server

Sun StorageTek 2510 Array

Sun StorageTek Common Array Manager

Sun Virtual Desktop Infrastructure Software

Sun Ray Thin Clients

Sun Secure Global Desktop Software [...read more...]

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