Data Processing Center

The enterprises massively decide to use automated solution for numerous tasks which makes it necessary to develop high availability computing systems. The central element of the system is Data Processing Center.

Creation of the Data processing center is a difficult design task. The contractor shall have vast experience in creation of engineer and software and hardware complexes. The contractor's vast practice is a guarantee to project implementation in time, within the budget and in compliance with all customer’s needs defined during preparation of technical specification.

Open Technologies has all necessary intellectual and industrial recourses to solve complex tasks of data processing center construction.

Our service package includes pre-design inspection, system development and design, integration and interfacing with existing information infrastructure, installation and execution of acceptance tests as well as service and technical support ensuring optimal and continuous work of the system. To create a data-center our company uses the latest technologies of famous manufacturers such as Microsystems, Hewlett Packard, IBM, Veritas, EMC, Cisco Systems, Oracle and others. Our customers include largest Russian and international enterprises and organizations.

We implement projects corresponding to the client’s technical and business tasks, both short-term and long-term ones. Our DPC has technological spares and scalability of all complex subsystems.

The main stages of DPC designing, construction and development:

  • Inspection and IT consulting (collection of primary requirements for DCP, research of ambient environment and corresponding infrastructure, inspection of existing information system, preparation of feasibility report on creation of DCP in the organization)
  • Conceptual and strategy design (development of the main high level requirements and approaches to DCP creation and operation, detection of aims and plans of DCP creation)
  • Design (formalization of business requirements to organization information model, simulation in the Competency Center, pilot project, development of technical design including Program and Methods of Testing - PMT)
  • Hardware and software order and delivery
  • Implementation (assembly, plant installation work (PIW), complex tests, testing and fixation of operation configuration, development of operational documentation)
  • Regulations (development of policies and procedures regulating system operation, preparation of document kit, trainings for personnel and users)
  • Emergency recovery plan (development of regulations and action plan in case of emergency situations aimed to reduce losses and ensure continuous business process operation)
  • Operation (trial operation, technical support and service maintenance and outsourcing).

One of the most upcoming trends of Open Technologies work is construction of commercial DPCs. In this case the aforementioned stages are completed by the following:

  • Development of DCP concept and operation strategy
  • Return of investment (ROI) estimate
  • DCP feasibility study
  • Development of all other necessary documents in accordance with the client’s option.

As a result, the customer has possibility to offer state-of-the-art services to its clients, including: collocation of customer's equipment at the commercial DCP spaces, lease of commercial DCP equipment and lease of additional services, for example, services (SaaS), resources (IaaS), and platforms (Paas).

We use the following solutions and technologies to construct DCPs:

  • fail-safe systems and high-availability systems

They allow solving problems of high availability and, finally, ensure reliable work of necessary application tasks. Moreover, due to scaling elements, fail-safe systems ensure required performance of certain tasks and ensure required price/performance ratio of the whole hardware and software complex. Server clusters are the base for these systems. At this, required system fail-safe operation and high availability can be achieved both at the level of physical servers and at server virtualization software.

  • disaster-safe solutions, standby DCPs

To ensure continuous work of the business and work of critical applications at large enterprises standby DCPs (SDCPs) are used more and more often. They ensure operation of the whole enterprise IT structure at different sites located tens or hundreds or thousands kilometers far. Distributed architecture guarantees IT operation of the whole enterprise and its protection against failures, such as:

  • natural disasters;
  • man-made disasters;
  • terrorist acts;
  • viral infection;
  • single or multiple hardware failures at some facility.

In all the aforementioned cases use of SDCP is the sole solution allowing reaching required level of IT infrastructure disaster-safety and reliability at the whole enterprise.

  • centralized data storage systems, SAN technologies

Explosive growth of the stored data volume became the reason of transmission from Direct-attached storages (DAS) to Storage Area Network (SAN).

New architecture based on SAN allowed combining diversified data into integral unit at the same time ensuring advantages, such as:

  • efficient use of disk space;
  • balanced data storage system performance;
  • highly reliable storage;
  • possibility to backup data during operation, including replication in several SANs;
  • scaling.

SAN architecture allows increasing performance of existing resources attributing any volume of disc space available to any network node.

  • backup systems, hierarchical information storage systems

Even at the dawn of information technologies it became necessary to backup data. Since then the main backup principle remains the same but continues to be improved due to new technological solutions, such as:

  • increase of the tape-stored data density;
  • increase of the tape recording speed;
  • alternative use of disc repositories instead of tapes;
  • use of faster robot tape libraries.

Along with simple data backup the hierarchy storage systems are used based on principle of the system separation into sub-levels consisting of:

fast-access but small data volume subsystems (discs);

low-access but large data volume subsystems (tapes).

At this the whole complex of the backup system level is regarded as one device in charge of all preset tasks on backup and further processing of incoming requests to access the data. The main advantage of the solution is optimum cost/large data volumes stored ratio.

It is possible to cut expenses of server operation including energy consumption costs using virtualization technology. Joining several servers under one "iron roof" you get the following advantages:

  • separation of operation system and equipment - no more dependency on hardware;
  • control of operation system and applications as a unity via encapsulation into virtual machines;
  • full isolation from the point of view of security and fail-safety;
  • standard and independent environments can be supplied any time;
  • flexibility when choosing necessary operation system for every application.

Thus we see that, stepping away from conventional approach, one can cut expenses of:

  • administration: thin clients are maintained by fewer engineers.
  • A set of virtual machines ensuring the same number of services is easier to operate than the same number of physical servers;
  • energy supply: thin clients and servers with virtual engines consume less power;
  • payments for premises: thin clients and servers with virtual engines occupy less space.

In 2004 Open Technologies organized its Competency Center. It includes laboratory with test equipment. If it is necessary to work out this or that solution the company specialists create a stand to simulate various work situations and typical user actions in the Competency Center laboratory. This allows defining "narrow spaces" of the created solution already at the stages of planning and construction, and after introduction – to respond more quickly to customers' requests, ensure aftersales and service maintenance of hardware and software complex installed. One of the Competency Center stands is devoted to construction of operation environment using technologies of thin clients and virtualization.

A part of our approach to solution of customer's task is warranty support and technical maintenance of created solution. This support is provided by Open Technologies Service Center which has all required resources to solve tasks of heterogenuous information system assistance. Highly qualified specialists of the center can solve integration tasks inevitably arising when using inherited hardware and software complexes in a new information system.

Construction of Data Processing Center will ensure:

  • Reliable data storage in your organization:
    • DPC will have all conditions for normal operation of equipment;
    • unified storage space allows easier control and information security assurance;
    • standby data center ensures reliable storage of important information.
  • Information availability:
    • geographically distributed network of data-centers will ensure required level of disaster-safety to natural and man-made disasters. In case of the main data-center failure the control will be switched to standby center. As a result, your company business continuity is ensured;
    • portable DCPs in containers allow delivery of the required computing capacity in the shortest possible time and ensure information availability in remote regions;
    • it is easier to ensure backup of certain subsystems and IT scaling with data-center.
  • high information processing speed:
    • DCP computing resources can be redistributed flexibly between IT service consumers ensuring required performance of application tasks on request;
    • DCP creates necessary conditions for deployment of high performance computing (supercomputers);
    • access to large data volumes and analytical processing of large information volumes will be made at high speed.
  • Reductions of costs of IT system support and maintenance:
    • DCP allows concentrating resources of IT maintenance;
    • convergent infrastructure allows cutting expenses of integration of diversified systems into unified information field;
    • it is easier and more transparent to control IT development within DCP;
    • increased storage reliability and information availability leads to reduction of forced and inevitable scheduled downtime;
    • resource virtualization will increase the level of equipment recycling thus reducing expenses of excess capacity.