STME deploys best-of-breed integrated solutions at Dubai Silicon Oasis

STME was entrusted with the task of efficiently addressing the IT requirements of Dubai Silicon Oasis. STME utilized the latest solutions from industry leaders such as Hitachi Data Systems, NetApp, and Symantec, to deploy the necessary solutions at the High-Tech Park; thus ensuring an optimum return on investment for DSO’s IT infrastructure development.

Dubai Silicon Oasis:

Established in 2004, Dubai Silicon Oasis Authority (DSOA) is wholly owned by the Government of Dubai and considered the only technology park in the region that provides both a living and working integrated community.  Dubai Silicon Oasis is a Free Zone Authority and provides a full package of free zone incentives and benefits to companies operating within the tech park.

DSO operates as a free zone technology park for the semiconductor, microelectronics and other high technology-based companies looking to set up their regional headquarters and R&D facilities in the Middle East and Africa region. DSO works with a vision to create a universally recognised state-of-the-art "Technology Oasis" by facilitating and promoting technology-based industries, as well as research & development within a fully integrated community.

Dubai Silicon Oasis (DSO) spans 7.2 square kilometres, enjoying one of the most developed infrastructures in the region. DSOA has injected a large capital investment in its infrastructure to cater to the need of high tech industries in the free zone, ranging from advanced telecommunications, a fibre optic network, tier 3 data centre with 120 high capacity racks, and a high-tech utility infrastructure comprising eight power stations with a capacity of 1,600 mega watts.

STME:

STME is a leading enterprise IT solutions integrators in the Middle East. Founded in 1982, STME established regional data storage and IT solutions and services provider that focuses on quality as a means to achieve enterprise efficiency. The company boasts a broad range of key technology providers to deliver solutions geared to meet clients' specific needs. These partners include NetApp, Symantec, and Hitachi Data Systems among many others. The company is committed to designing and integrating innovative solutions to its portfolio of over 400 enterprise customers. STME has a presence throughout the Gulf region, Egypt, Levant and Pakistan.

Implementation:

STME deployed a comprehensive solution that addresses the specific IT requirements of DSO. The solution included a consolidated, centralised storage array at the Main Site and Disaster Recovery (DR) Site connected to a redundant Fibre Channel Fabric, a DR solution, high availability for critical servers with remote failover using Symantec Storage Foundation, an archiving solution, and enhancement of existing backup solution.

The DR solution is enabled by Storage to Storage replication (HDS TruCopy) between the Storage Arrays at the Main and DR Sites, while STME's upgrade of the backup solution has helped improve Recovery Time Objectives and Recovery Point Objectives enabled by Disk to VTL backup at Main Site for additional protection, and vaulting of backups to a Tape Library at the DR Site. The archiving solution uses Symantec Enterprise Vault for archiving emails and file systems to a SATA-based storage array, helping eliminate quotas/message size restrictions and get rid of PSTs.

"STME has deployed a high-performance, high-throughput, scalable solution that delivers optimum value to the IT investments of DSO. Data security is paramount for DSO considering the nature of its business, which is why we have deployed a best-of-breed integrated solution for storage, disaster recovery, and archiving of email and file server," said Ahmed Galal, Sales & Marketing Director, STME.

"It was crucial for us to develop a pre-defined, detailed project plan and detailed scope of work, which ensured a smooth workflow without creating major disruptions to DSO's daily operations. This approach has also helped us in effectively managing resources and associated costs - value-added benefits that are passed on to our clients," added Ahmed Galal.

Post-implementation:

Utilising solutions from Hitachi Data Systems, NetApp, and Symantec, STME has helped achieve a range of improvements within DSO's IT infrastructure, including eliminating a Single Point of Failure, which further boosts the reliability of the entire IT system and greatly reduces the risk of a systems failure. Moreover, DSO also benefits from ease of administration and faster IT processes, including quick recovery of files on NAS in case of user deleted files.

"Our project with STME is a confirmation of DSO's continuous effort to achieve long-term cost-efficiency, particularly in terms of operations and maintenance overheads. STME has proven to be a professional and efficient business partner that complies with our stringent business requirements to offer advanced IT infrastructure," said Abdulsalam Bastaki, Vice President of IT at DSOA.