hp StorageWorks - customer case study

CROSSMARK Inc. location: United States
"HP StorageWorks solutions provide a reliable storage platform for our business-critical software applications. They are the most cost-effective storage solutions on the market."
-- Jason Robohm,
Director of Technical Services,
CROSSMARK, Inc.

summary
CROSSMARK Inc. is one of the largest sales and marketing organizations in the $2.3 trillion consumer goods industry. The company depends on HP StorageWorks solutions - in conjunction with HP ProLiant servers, HP iPAQ Pocket PCs and HP Services - to communicate with its large and geographically dispersed network. "HP StorageWorks systems drive our business-critical applications and provide a centralized storage platform to facilitate double-digit growth."

CROSSMARK® hits the bulls-eye with hp StorageWorks solutions
When a company expands by acquisition, its information-technology (IT) department often serves as the catalyst for corporate unity. Effectively integrating diverse information systems requires a highly flexible, standards-based infrastructure designed to scale in a modular fashion. That's why senior managers at CROSSMARK count on HP solutions to unite its international organization, a technical strategy that helped the company grow from 1,000 to 10,000 employees in just seven years.

For example, to understand better and control its ever-changing corporate environment, CROSSMARK brought in HP StorageWorks solutions to serve as a centralized storage platform for its business-critical software applications. "We grew ten-fold since our inception, and we expect to grow our data-storage needs by an additional 50 percent or more annually," says CROSSMARK's Director of Technical Services Jason Robohm. "HP StorageWorks solutions provide a reliable storage platform for our business-critical software applications. They are the most cost-effective storage solutions on the market."

focusing on uptime
With 48 offices throughout North America, CROSSMARK is one of the largest sales and marketing organizations in the consumer goods industry. The company's 6,000-plus retail representatives across the U.S. offer everything from merchandising to audit services, resulting in more than 1.5 million retail transactions each year. CROSSMARK is responsible for more than $25 billion in retail sales annually for its clients and retailers. Its corporate mission is straightforward: To be the best business services company within the consumer goods industry, delivering customized client solutions and unparalleled execution.

For CROSSMARK, building a solid data-storage infrastructure is the starting point for ensuring that critical information systems are always online. "We completed a full conversion to Lawson ERP applications in only three months - a monumental accomplishment," says CROSSMARK's Chief Information Officer Charlie Orndorff. "I credit our HP StorageWorks SAN for helping us to get these applications up and running without incident. It went so well that Microsoft wrote a case study to document the process."

hp solutions fit the bill
Orndorff established several key business requirements for its storage infrastructure: the need to centralize storage assets; the ability to add more capacity on demand; and the importance of building a standards-based platform, which could expand with the business. Then, his team carefully evaluated the major storage solutions on the market, narrowing the final selection to HP and one other vendor.

One element that swayed Orndorff and his colleagues was the strong partnership between HP and Microsoft. Positive comments from several StorageWorks customers also influenced their decision. "The other storage platform wasn't standards-based and the vendor had trouble demonstrating its fail over capabilities," recalls Orndorff. "Additionally, analysts at Gartner, Forrester Research, and Giga Information Group gave high marks to the HP StorageWorks architecture. Finally, Microsoft recommended the HP StorageWorks platform, since they use it themselves internally."

CROSSMARK purchased HP Fibre Channel StorageWorks Enterprise Modular Array 16000 (EMA16000) and StorageWorks Raid Array 8000 (RA8000) systems configured as two storage-area networks (SANs). This configuration allows CROSSMARK to pool its storage resources and create virtual disk space, which the company can allocate as needed. "Storage pooling and virtualization allows our staff to respond quickly to changing capacity requirements anywhere in the world," emphasizes Orndorff.

CROSSMARK uses HP OpenView Storage Management Appliance software to manage more than 6 TB of data from a central location. "This tool gives us a graphical representation of our disks and disk volumes across the fabric of both SANs, and it allows us to take advantage of HP VersaStor technology," notes Orndorff.

targeting a new infrastructure
Already, more than 15 HP ProLiant servers (out of 100 ProLiant servers enterprise-wide) link the SANs - including models DL760, DL580, and DL360 G2 - and run the Microsoft Windows NT Server and Microsoft Windows 2000 operating systems. Microsoft Server Cluster Software clusters many of the servers. "HP ProLiant DL760 servers are the most reliable computers I have ever used and that's why we rely on them to run our must-go business-critical applications," says Orndorff. "HP's exceptional quality extends to its storage devices, servers, hand-held computers, management software, and service organization as well."

CROSSMARK's SAN supports human resources, financial and e-commerce applications from Lawson Software; data warehouse, business intelligence, and e-mail software from Microsoft; and a custom-developed sales force automation program called SalesTrak NG, which works within the Microsoft .NET framework. "The tightly integrated partnership between HP and Microsoft is of special importance to CROSSMARK," says Robohm. "The synergy between these companies is 100 percent." CROSSMARK also appreciates the close-knit relationship between HP and Lawson Software.

downtime is not an option
Using its custom-developed SalesTrak software programs, CROSSMARK uses technology to tie its field force together. As they work in retail stores throughout North America, the sales representatives can respond very quickly to the needs of manufacturers that want to get their products on the store shelves. The Microsoft Exchange platform ties thousands of field sales representatives together through the SalesTrak NG application. Additionally, CROSSMARK's data warehousing provides on-demand reporting and status information to customers in any location. "It all must run consistently - downtime is not an option," emphasizes Orndorff. "The HP StorageWorks system eliminates unplanned downtime and provides an ideal platform for growth."

CROSSMARK also has more than 900 iPAQ Pocket PCs. "One of the great advantages of the HP iPAQ Pocket PC is that it allows us to extend our back-office applications to mobile field representatives and executives," says Robohm. "We get all this from HP - the same company that provides our enterprise-class storage and server platforms. HP has a powerful set of integrated solutions."

Having highly available computer systems ensures CROSSMARK's business runs smoothly - without costly work outages. It also means that CROSSMARK obtains higher productivity from its IT staff. "It's much easier to maintain a centralized storage environment than it is to maintain 50 unique storage configurations," explains Orndorff. "It takes only one person to manage the HP StorageWorks environment, which allows us to allocate other IT personnel to key growth initiatives rather than routine maintenance chores. Thanks to HP StorageWorks systems, we can react with agility to changing business conditions."

The initial impetus for acquiring StorageWorks systems was to allow CROSSMARK to expand its business gracefully. StorageWorks SAN technology addresses this objective in two important ways: with its modular, upgradeable design and its conformity to industry standards. "Standards are very important to us because we are continually expanding our IT infrastructure," says Orndorff. "With HP StorageWorks systems, we can focus on business issues instead of time-consuming integration issues. That means we can solve problems and find qualified employees more easily.

"CROSSMARK is the technical leader in its industry," concludes Orndorff. "HP StorageWorks solutions help us maintain that leadership position. Our higher data availability is saving us money, which frees up capital to put toward core solutions and services. This allows us to serve clients more quickly than our competitors. We plan to continue to rely on products and services from HP to stay on the leading edge."

business results:
Highly scalable HP StorageWorks design allows CROSSMARK to expand its business into new regions, while keeping costs down.
Redundant, highly available server and storage solutions increase productivity and prevent losses associated with system shutdowns.
Standards-based storage platform ensures easy integration with best-of-breed hardware and software solutions.
what makes it work:

hardware:
HP StorageWorks Enterprise Modular Array 16000 system (EMA16000)
HP StorageWorks Raid Array 8000 system (RA8000)
HP StorageWorks HSG80 Fibre Channel controllers
HP StorageWorks 16-port Fibre Channel switches
HP OpenView Storage Management Appliance
HP ProLiant servers - model DL760 for SAN-attached, business-critical applications; model DL580; and model DL360 G2 as Web servers, (15 ProLiant servers are SAN attached out of 100 ProLiant servers total enterprise wide)
more than 900 HP iPAQ Pocket PCs

software:
HP Command Console
HP OpenView Storage Management Appliance
SalesTrak NG from CROSSMARK
Lawson human resources, financial and e-commerce applications
Microsoft SQL Server
Microsoft 2000 OLAP
Microsoft Exchange 2000
Microsoft SQL 2000
Microsoft Cluster Server software (MSCS)
Microsoft Windows NT server and Microsoft Windows 2000 operating systems

hp services:
ongoing infrastructure support service