Casestudy:VblockimplementationforROMPETROL

Iqon and Crescendo implements the “vBlock”platformaspartofan IT‐Cloudconsolidationproject,uniqueinSoutheastEurope

“The shifting of the IT&C infrastructure into Cloud was asuccess forRompetrol.Frommypointofview, thevBlock’splatformmajor advantage can be expressed in four simplewords:bestvalueformoney.”

AskarZhakenov,,GroupITDirectorRompetrol

At the end of 2010, in themidst of the operational excellence

achievement process and following the launch of the SAP

implementation program, the Rompetrol Group opted for the

development of an IT&C infrastructure in the Cloud (private

cloud),asolutionbasedonvBlockandofferedbytheVCEalliance

(Cisco, EMC and Vmware). The project wasmeant to provision

resources for the SAP environment, together with the “private

cloud” consolidation of 575 physical servers and 11 storage

systems:itwasamajorsuccessforRompetrolandtheRomanian

market. The implementation process completed, the company

estimatesa22%ROI(ReturnonInvestment)rate,anda64%IRR

(InternalRateofReturn).Thedesignandimplementationforthe

entire solution were carried out by Iqon and Crescendo, and

resulted inthefirst,mostampleprojectof itskind inthewhole

SoutheastEuroperegion

Generalpresentation

Countryoforigin:RomaniaIndustry:Utilities&Energy

Abouttheclient

The Rompetrol Group N.V. is amultinational oil company,headquarteredinAmsterdam,Holland.Thecompanyactivates in12countriesand holds the majority of shares andoperations in France, Romania, SpainandSoutheastEurope.

Businessdrive

Provision the hardware resources forthe SAP environment, together withthe "private cloud" consolidation of575 physical servers and 11 storagesystems.

Solution

Rompetrol opted for the vBlockplatform, developed by VCE, whichintegrates solutions from families ofproducts such as Cisco UCS, CiscoNexus, EMC Unified Storage, VMwarevSphere 4 Unified Infrastructure. Forbackup and replication, the clientchose the EMC Avamar and RecoverPointsolutions.

Benefits

• ReturnonInvestment(ROI)of22%;

• InternalRateofReturn(IRR)of64%;

• The growth of ITs' response rate totheorganizationbusinessneeds;

• The optimization of operationalcosts.

Casestudy:VblockimplementationforROMPETROL

ContextIn 2009, following Rompetrol’s fullacquisition of KazMunaiGas, thecompany decided to undertake amajorstrategychange,movingfromrapid growth to operationalexcellence. The project had tosupport the decision to implementthe SAP solution for themanagement system consolidationand company resource planningprocesses, and also to ensure theoptimization of the IT system,represented, back then, by aheterogeneous environment ofapproximately 700 servers, over 20storagesystemsandafewhundredsof applications, all administered bytwoITBusinessUnits.

”TheexistenceofaheterogeneousITenvironment was difficult toadministrateand implied toohighacost.Basically,withoutacentralizedmanagement program, the systemmaintenance required frequentmoving to the data centers andmanual interventions on aninfrastructure whose correctinventory was difficult to achieve.Furthermore, each IT Business Unitmanaged separate infrastructuresections,makingthesituationallthemore complicated.”, states AskarZhakenov, Group IT DirectorRompetrol.

The internal audit, carried out withregards to the SAP implementationprocess, revealedaCPUusage levelof only 2‐3%, because every newproject came with dedicatedhardware and there was novirtualized environment to optimizethe server load. For the storagesystems, the utilization level was,also,atapproximately20%.

There was no Disaster Recoverysolution for the entire system, butonly for the e‐mail platforms(Microsoft Exchange) and the ERP(OracleEnterpriseBusinessSuite).Inthis context, the Rompetrol teamdecided to consolidate its ITinfrastructure,bymeansof “privatecloud”project.

Solution

In order to identify the type ofplatform that suited best both theSAPimplementationprocessandtheentire infrastructure consolidation,the Rompetrol team began athorough market analysis. In theend, based on the business planrequirements, Rompetrol chosevBlock,asolutiondevelopedbyVCE(aCisco,EMCandVMwarealliance).

The vBlock packages combine, in aunique, scalable and extensibleplatform, the best processing,storage, unified communications,administration and securitysolutions offered by the alliancemembers: Cisco, EMC andVMware,and allow the adoption of large‐scalevirtualization,fromserversandoperating systems to businessapplicationslikeERP,CRM,BIetc.

"The internal audit that Rompetrolcarried out resulted in aconsolidation project for which wedid a market research and athorough evaluation of all thesolutionsavailable.WechosevBlockafter an elaborate analysis of itsperformance indicatorsandcertifiedsupport, but also for the unitaryconcept itwasbuilton.Tous, theseaspects counted the most.”,considers Askar Zhakenov,Group ITDirectorRompetrol.

“We chose vBlock afteran elaborate analysis ofits performanceindicators and certifiedsupport, but also for theunitary concept it wasbuilt on. To us, theseaspects counted themost.”

statesAskarZhakenov,GroupITDirectorRompetrol

Casestudy:VblockimplementationforROMPETROL

Projectdevelopment

Following the information,evaluation and selection steps, theproject itself began in December2010, when Rompetrol purchasedvBlock. The Iqon‐Crescendo teamimplementedtwovBlock1platformsfor the enterprise computing area,in two distinct locations, connectedby means of a communication line10Gbpsincapacity.

The vBlock platform architecturewas designed and implemented byCrescendo’s specialists andintegrates a series of solutionspertaining to the Cisco UCS, CiscoNexus, EMC Unified Storage,VMware vSphere 4 UnifiedInfrastructure product families. Forbackup and replication, the clientopted for the EMC Avamar andRecoverPointsolutions.

The consolidation and virtualizationof physical servers was carried outby Iqon, according to a previouslyagreed upon plan that determinedthe achievement of clearperformance indicators whileminimizing the impact on theorganization.

“The consolidation project was achallenge due to its extent and thehighly aggressive timeline. At theendofeachstep,ourteamachievedthepresetperformanceindicatorssothat,ifbackinApril2010therewere675physicalmachinesandnovirtualmachine, in April 2012 a number ofover 500 virtual machines and only100 physical machines wasreached.”, says Cristian Bălulescu,OperationalDirectorIqon.

Furthermore, starting February2012, SAP is on stream on vBlock:thesolutionbenefitsfromamain

andadisasterrecoverysites,placedinadifferentlocationandcapableofstartingwithinafewminutes.

“TheSAPprojectisoneofthelargestIT projects developed within theRomanian private sector in recentyears. The solution serves theactivityofallthedivisionsinsidetheRompetrol Group, which led to avery strict implementation roadmapforthefirstphaseoftheproject.Theproject consolidation eased theachievement of the objectives thatwere preset for this first phase.“,states Giani Kacic, SAP ProjectDirectorRompetrol.

Benefits

The impact on business wasbeneficial on many levels. From afinancial point of view, Rompetrolestimated for vBlock: a return oninvestment (ROI) rate of 22% andan internal rate of return (IRR) of64%.

The operational efficiency resultedinthefollowingbenefits:

An increase in the ITadministration’s speed of responseto the company’s business needs.Thanks to the virtualizedenvironment and the centralizedmanagement components, the timeallotted to the provisioning ofserversfornewprojectsdroppedtojust a few hours, as against themonths previously needed for thecompletion of equipmentacquisition,delivery,installationandconfigurationprocedures.

Operational costsoptimizationasaconsequenceofconsolidating the ITenvironmentonaunitarystructure.

“Theconsolidationprojectwasachallengeduetoitsextentandthehighlyaggressivetimeline.Attheendofeachstep,ourteamachievedthepresetperformanceindicatorssothat,ifbackinApril2010therewere675physicalmachinesandnovirtualmachine,inApril2012anumberofover500virtualmachinesandonly100physicalmachineswasreached.”,

CristianBălulescu,OperationalDirectorIqon

Casestudy:VblockimplementationforROMPETROL

The monetization of this actioncomprises the costs related to theoccupied space, the energyconsumptionforpower&cooling,aswell as the maintenance andtechnical support servicescontracted with the suppliers (forinstance, thephysicalspaceallottedtotheITequipmentwasreducedbyapproximately30%,bycuttingdownon thenumberof racks, from45 to29).

A 50% decrease in the ITadministration’sworkload.

Hardware availability rose from93,7% at the beginning of theproject to 99,80%, registeringmonthly incident rate in declinefrom3to0,05.

CPU usage level increased from2,7% to 17%, while the RAM usagelevelaugmentedfrom53%to90%.

The backup duration decreased by76%, from almost 9 hours to just 2hours.

By using data deduplicationtechnologies, the storage spacenecessary for backup wasdiminishedby69,37%.

Abouttheclient

The Rompetrol Group N.V. is amultinational oil company,headquartered in Amsterdam,Holland. The company activates in12 countries andholds themajorityof shares and operations inRomania, France, Spain, Bulgaria,UkraineandGeorgia.TheRompetrolGroup deals in both refineryactivities, marketing and trading,and in additional operations – oilexploration and production, oilfieldservices,etc.

Theimplementationpartners

Forthedevelopmentofthisproject,the first of its kind in SoutheastEurope, Rompetrol choseCrescendo, an experienced oilindustry IT&C integrator, holdingadvanced expertise in Cisco, EMCand VMware technologies.Crescendo offered consulting andimplementation services, and thesupportrelatedtoeverystepoftheproject.

"Through the investments it made,

Rompetrol managed to prove, onceagain, its opening towards

technology and innovation asgrounds for fulfilling the business

objectives.We are honored to havehadtheopportunitytobeinvolvedin

this project, together with ourpartners,IqonandVCE–Cisco,EMC

and Vmware.”, Marius Tulea,GeneralManagerCrescendo

The Crescendo consultants teamedwiththespecialistsatIqon,asystemintegrator that specializes in the oiland gas industry, also holdingexpertise in the fields of retail,energy and utilities,telecommunications, public sector,healthcare. Iqon operates four datacenters and manages Rompetrol’sentire IT systems. Apart fromRomania, Iqon operates in otherEuropean and Asian countries (forinstance, in Holland, Italy,Switzerland, Kazakhstan, Georgia,Russia).

“The vBlock platform adoptionoffered Rompetrol a unitary IT

infrastructurewith a highdegree offlexibility.

„Throughtheinvestmentsitmade,Rompetrolmanagedtoprove,onceagain,itsopeningtowardstechnologyandinnovationasgroundsforfulfillingthebusinessobjectives.Wearehonoredtohavehadtheopportunitytobeinvolvedinthisproject,togetherwithourpartners,IqonandVCE–Cisco,EMCandVMware.”

MariusTulea,GeneralManagerCrescendo

Casestudy:VblockimplementationforROMPETROL

To us, these benefits translate intoeaseofadministrationandspeedof

response to the demands of ourclient’s business. In brief, we are

talking about excellence when itcomes to satisfying our clients’

needs.” Cristian Bălulescu, DirectorOperaționalIqon.

AboutvBlock

The vBlock packages combine, in aunique, scalable and extensibleplatform, the best processing,storage, unified communications,administration and securitysolutions offered by the alliancemembers: Cisco, EMC andVMware,and allow the adoption of large‐scalevirtualization,fromserversandoperating systems to businessapplicationslikeERP,CRM,BIetc.

For more on information on theVCE solutions, please visit thewebsite:

http://www.vce.com/

Formoreinformation:To find out more information onCrescendo services and solutiuons,please call the following numbers+40212111858/60.

To acces online information pleasevisittheCrescendowebsite:

www.crescendo.ro

To find out more information onIqonservicesandsolutiuons,pleasecallthefollowingnumbers+40372612600/2611

Toaccessonline informationpleasevisittheIqonwebsite:

www.iqon.com