New Zealand’s  SKYCITY Entertainment is in the process of implementing HP Converged Infrastructure to accommodate users across its international network, according to a new case study.  The group operates several casinos in New Zealand and Australia and needed a solution to accommodate usage spikes – it’s now using a combination of HP tech to support this demand.

SKYCITY’s deployment consists of BladeSystem BL460c servers  and ProLiant DL380’s, as well as network equipment and software. The company uses HP 5400 zl Switch Series, 3500 yl and HP 2610 Switch Series solutions to power its networking environment in conjunction with the HP Intelligent Management Center monitoring platform.

“The casino and entertainment industry drives customer loyalty by providing premium, personalised services. Our IT systems need to be able to match the speed and performance our guests expect,” said Mike Clarke, CIO, SKYCITY Entertainment Group. “HP’s proven expertise in delivering solutions to gaming and entertainment organisations together with their ability to implement a fast and secure network helped us deliver superior services with improved customer experience for our guests.”

SKYCITY completed deployment across four sites already.

Hewlett-Packard may be losing turf to mobile in the consumer space, but it remains one of the biggest vendors in the enterprise storage market. Not long ago the company landed a lucrative deal with the Department of Energy to develop an eco-conscious HPC system for its Renewable Energy Research Lab: the multi-million dollar deployment will meet very high utilization standards, and most of its heat waste will be recycled.

Earlier, Hewlett-Packard freshened up its portfolio with the addition of a new SSD-based 3PAR array. The P10000 consumes considerably less electricity than some of its disk-based predecessors, and represents one of HP’s first notable commitments to flash.