CASE STUDY Leipzig energy exchange’s clearing house optimizes its server and storage infrastructure
Consolidation and virtualization enable high degree of agility »The goal of consolidating and virtualizing our IT infrastructure was to ensure a high degree of flexibility in providing IT resources. As always, Fujitsu helped us realize our objectives with the expertise we've come to expect.« Ralf Hönemann, Head of Information Technology, European Commodity Clearing AG, Leipzig
The challenges Optimization of server and storage provision Improvements in flexibility of IT operation Guarantee of high availability for all business-critical applications
The solution Consolidation of the server and storage infrastructure Use of innovative virtualization technologies Implementation of the consolidation project with Fujitsu as the partner for design, planning and support Energy markets are dynamic by their very nature. They require support from powerful IT. Additional improvement to the existing performance standard was the objective of an optimization project untertaken by European Commodity Clearing AG (ECC), a subsidiary of The European Energy Exchange AG (EEX) was created in 2002 from the merger of the two electricity exchanges Frankfurt and Leipzig. This Leipzig-based energy exchange runs spot and forward markets for energy and related products. It is regarded as the leading location for energy trading in Europe. More than 200 trading partners from 20 countries use the platform it provides to trade in electricity, natural gas, CO2 emission rights and coal. European Commodity Clearing AG (ECC), a subsidiary of the exchange, is responsible for clearing the transactions concluded at the exchange and off the floor. Its activities are supported by powerful information technology with a server platform from Fujitsu.
European Energy Exchange AG (EEX). The project added a whole new dimension of availability, flexibility and performance to its server and storage infrastructures. Its longstanding hardware and service partner Fujitsu accompanied the project expertly, assisted in designing and planning the solution, and assumed responsibility for implementing, integrating and supporting it.
Solution components
Customer benefits
Implementation of server virtualization with VMware
Greater flexibility in providing IT resources
Infrastructure and NetApp cluster solutions for data
Further improvement in the existing high level of
consolidation
availability
PRIMERGY RX300 S4 servers as VMware ESX servers
Optimized resource utilization thanks to introduction of
NetApp MetroCluster FAS3020
innovative virtualization technology
VMware Infrastructure with HA Cluster and VMotion,
Reduction of the workload involved in IT operation
NetApp Data ONTAP
High security and reliability thanks to data mirroring at
Client software: Microsoft Windows Server 2003, SLES
two locations
Linux, Oracle database and mySQL
Successful completion of the project within a short
Data center connection: CWDM link with redundantly
timeframe
designed multiplexers
A PRIMERGY RX300 S4 system with VMware ESX Infrastructure, HA Cluster and VMotion now runs at each of the two data center locations: the HA cluster ensures high availability, and VMotion enables virtual machines to be migrated from one server to another with no downtime. A NetApp MetroCluster with FAS 3020 filer heads takes care of storage. All the data is stored redundantly thanks to data mirroring and is thus available at both locations in Photo: EEXAG
the event of a disaster.
The starting situation Information technology is critical to the European Energy Exchange
The successes
and European Commodity Clearing, the subsidiary responsible for energy trading transactions. IT is the lever and also the driver that
»The new infrastructure immediately produced the effects we had
enables the company to maintain and expand its leading position
imagined,« is the summary of project member Hendrik Mestenhau-
in energy trading and in handling transactions on markets in con-
ser. In particular, he cites the greater flexibility with which server
tinental Europe. As part of its policy, the energy exchange relies on
and storage resources are now provided. Business operations are
both partnerships with other exchanges and subsidiaries in order
protected more reliably than ever against downtimes. In addition,
to keep its cooperation options open.
standardized administration reduces the workload involved in IT operation. The subsidiary’s customers profit from highly available
That necessitates maximum IT flexibility and availability. An expan-
business processes and its own employees from high-performance
sion of these two functions required new concepts for provisioning
functionality at their workstations. And partner Fujitsu also gets a
server and storage resources. That’s why the company’s managers
good rating: »Fast and good,« is how IT Head Ralf Hönemann praises
decided at the end of 2007 to launch a far-reaching optimization
the team’s work.
project. Its choice of external partner for designing, commissioning and integrating the system was Fujitsu, its longstanding multi-vendor service provider and hardware vendor for the server platform.
Contact
The project
Fujitsu Technology Solutions Customer Interaction Center Mon. – Fri.: 8:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m. Email: cic@ts.fujitsu.com Phone: +49 (0) 1805-372 100
»Fujitsu has always provided us with expert advice and assistance in important infrastructure decisions in the past,« are the reasons
(each call 14 ct/min.; the prices for calls made from mobile devices can vary from this rate)
given by IT Head Ralf Hönemann. Together, the two parties laid the foundation for server virtualization with VMware ESX Server and storage consolidation with NetApp MetroCluster and completed the project within a tight time window of just two months. All rights reserved, including intellectual property rights. Technical data subject to modifications and delivery subject to availability. Any liability that the data and illustrations are complete, actual or correct is excluded. Designations may be trademarks and/or copyrights of the respective manufacturer, the use of which by third parties for their own purposes may infringe the rights of such owner. For further information see ts.fujitsu.com/terms_of_use.html Copyright © 2009 Fujitsu Technology Solutions Realization: www.tmc-gmbh.de (#9248) Printed in Germany.