MONACOR INTERNATIONAL – Hyperconverged infrastructure replaces storage

MONACOR INTERNATIONAL – Hyperconverged infrastructure replaces storage.

MONACOR INTERNATIONAL delivers tailor-made public address solutions the world over. The manufacturer and solution provider for professional audio products offers the highest quality and maximum service when it comes to the installation, sale and design of the best audio concepts for its B2B customers. To make sure the company’s storage was fit for the future, Bechtle implemented a hyperconverged infrastructure in Microsoft Azure with the Dell Azure Stack HCI as an efficient, affordable and easy-to-maintain alternative to its on-prem storage.

Project details.

Services

Server & Storage
Cloud

Industry

Manufacturing

Manufacturer

Dell, Microsoft

Company size

< 250 employees

Challenge.

Founded in 1965, the independent and owner-run family business, MONACOR INTERNATIONAL GmbH & Co. KG, has established itself as a successful manufacturer and provider of professional audio technology, offering its customers customised audio solutions concepts and expert technical service. The company is renowned for its high quality, customer-centric service and product innovations made possible by MONACOR INTERNATIONAL consistently updating its products, processes and skills. With its on-prem storage system environment reaching the end if its lifecycle, the company was on the look out for a new future-proof solution that didn’t require the purchase of any additional hardware with maintenance contracts, and so together with its long-term IT partner Bechtle, the search began for a modern and affordable solution. As MONACOR INTERNATIONAL were already using Microsoft 365 in the cloud and the sales units in Denmark, the Netherlands, Poland and Spain were to be networked with the headquarters, it was decided that a hybrid solution of on-prem and cloud would be the perfect fit.

The hyperconverged infrastructure Bechtle installed for us has revolutionised our IT management. We not only benefit from lower costs, but also from significantly easier administration. Everything went smoothly from the pitch to the roll out with Bechtle working on time and on budget so we got exactly what we were offered. This is the ultimate proof that trust in a strong partnership and innovative technology is the way forward for us.

Carmen Lenski, Head of IT, MONACOR INTERNATIONAL GmbH & Co. KG

Solution.

In a workshop, Bechtle offered a like-for-like sizing and, together with a Dell hyperconverged infrastructure expert, presented a classic storage model along with the Dell Integrated System for Microsoft Azure Stack HCI. MONACOR INTERNATIONAL’s decision fell for implementing a hyperconverged infrastructure together with Microsoft Azure to pave the way for storage innovations with Bechtle installing the Dell Integrated System for Microsoft Azure Stack HCI that combines everything in one. Dell’s software-based automation solution simplifies and rationalises the Azure hybrid cloud environment through full-stack lifecycle management and native Azure integration. Bechtle configured MONACOR INTERNATIONAL’s infrastructure with a cluster made up of three redundant nodes, which are all operated in one room, to leverage the system’s redundancy in order to boost reliability. Features including load and storage distribution along with backup are all included in the Azure-based solution with computing power and memory combining seamlessly. Bechtle configured the system in such a way that the local data is saved on the cluster with its three redundant nodes, eliminating the need for another discrete storage solution. The Dell Technologies Azure Stack HCI allows MONACOR INTERNATIONAL to continue to save and manage its data in-house. In preparation for moving the data, Bechtle migrated the virtual machines to the Microsoft Azure Stack HCI, where they can be better scaled and deliver fast data transfer rates. Thanks to two-factor authentication and Microsoft Azure’s integrated security features, MONACOR INTERNATIONAL has been able to significantly boost data security. Furthermore, the hyperconverged infrastructure has also drastically reduced admin thanks to the unique integration of the environment and Azure Arc which, in turn, has seen a reduction in MONACOR INTERNATIONAL’s operating costs and simplified accounting. In the future, only Azure invoices will need to be posted instead of several cost centres for hardware and software to enable the more efficient and consolidated running of the storage environment as well as flexible usage models.

Business benefits.

The hyperconverged infrastructure installed by Bechtle for MONACOR INTERNATIONAL combined with the Dell Integrated System for Microsoft Azure Stack HCI seamlessly integrated into Azure has made the company’s storage both scalable and easy on resources and has significantly optimised admin, licence costs and data security. Microsoft Azure and its security features including two-factor authentication have now been seamlessly embedded into MONACOR INTERNATIONAL’s infrastructure, paving the way for the company’s remote sites to be linked up through Azure.