The conversation around hyper-converged technology continues to heat up. And Neal Reardon,  AVP of information systems and technology at Central One Federal Credit Union, spoke to Stu Miniman, cohost of theCUBE, from the SiliconANGLE Media team, during VTUG Winter Warmer 2016 about his experiences of undergoing a virtualization migration in a banking environment. Reardon was responsible for the early adoption task that came with a number of challenges and business requirements.

The credit union wanted to add efficiency, a better footprint, disaster recovery and support 24 x 7 operations. Regulations aside, the infrastructure systems belonging to the institution included two-and-a-half physical racks and the utilization of more than 60 power supplies. After the migration, the footprint changed to essentially 4U space with 85 virtualized servers hosted within. In addition to that, the base of systems is now almost entirely virtual, and they have gained disaster recovery, easier patching, easier troubleshooting and an improved base of systems all around.

The move to 24/7 operations

The new environment utilizes SimpliVity Corp.’s hyper-converged software-defined infrastructure known as OminCube. Stacking Oracle and other high transaction systems into the platform was a simple process, and the credit union has been able to double the memory while vastly increasing the virtual machine density. 24×7 operations are now more feasible than ever before.

In the last year, the credit union added two more OmniCubes in order to implement RDS servers in what he calls sort of a “VDI light” deployment. At the end of the day, it is clear that the credit union has gained operational benefits that weren’t previously in reach and it has accomplished this under the duress of regulatory compliance and the demands of around-the-clock production.

Reardon also shared how WAN optimization was one of the developments on the platform that did not call for him to integrate an upgraded data line. Next up, he looks ahead to improved backup facilities that will help support Microsoft Exchange in a granular and flexible method.

Watch the full interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE and theCUBE’s coverage of VTUG Winter Warmer 2016.

Photo by SiliconANGLE