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Colombia's largest savings and credit cooperative renews its IBM Power and Intel infrastructure without disrupting operations

Redsis renewed both of the cooperative's production platforms with IBM Power9, IBM FlashSystem, a VMware cluster on Lenovo servers and a new Veeam and BRMS backup scheme: unified storage managed from one console, high availability for the database and headroom for its core migration.

Client

Colombia's largest savings and credit cooperative

Industry

Cooperative financial services

Location

Bucaramanga, Colombia

Solution

IBM Power9 · IBM FlashSystem · VMware on Lenovo · Veeam

Service line

Infrastructure & backup

The client

The client is Colombia's largest savings and credit cooperative by members, assets and equity. Headquartered in Bucaramanga with more than 1,100 employees, it operates in six Colombian departments and serves its members through branches, a virtual branch and a mobile app, offering savings accounts, term deposits, insurance, credit cards and education, housing, agricultural and revolving loans.

Its operations rest on two platforms: IBM Power running IBM i for the core, and Intel with VMware for its other information systems. Both had been in service for about five years when the cooperative decided to renew them.

The challenge

  • VMware cluster at 80%: in service since 2015, it left little capacity for new requirements or for growth in existing systems.
  • No database high availability: the database platform ran on a single server and needed a software-based high-availability strategy.
  • A core in migration: the cooperative was migrating its core application, which required more processing capacity on IBM Power.
  • Backup to strengthen: it needed a new backup strategy with shorter windows on IBM Power and more robust procedures on Intel.
  • Zero disruption: the move to the new infrastructure could not affect critical day-to-day processes.

Before and after

Before

Two platforms at the limit

A VMware cluster at 80%, a database on a single server, a five-year-old Power8 and a core migration demanding more capacity.

Today

Renewed, unified infrastructure

IBM Power9 and a VMware cluster on Lenovo, both on IBM FlashSystem and managed from one console, with database high availability and renewed backup.

The solution

Redsis designed an end-to-end solution with products from IBM, Lenovo, VMware and Veeam, and delivered it with its own engineering services: installation, configuration, commissioning and a SAN connecting servers and storage across both environments.

IBM Power platform

  • IBM Power9 server connected to IBM FlashSystem 7200 storage.
  • IBM BRMS backup to an IBM TS4300 tape library.
  • Upgrade of the existing high-availability server using reusable parts from the previous production server.
  • Power8-to-Power9 upgrade that kept the same serial number, avoiding the purchase of a GUI software license the new core version no longer required.

Intel platform

  • Three-node VMware cluster on Lenovo ThinkSystem SR630 servers connected to the IBM FlashSystem 7200.
  • Veeam backup, upgraded to Enterprise Plus edition, on a Lenovo SR630 server with IBM FlashSystem 5010 storage and an IBM TS4300 tape library.
  • Database high availability with a Lenovo ThinkSystem SR650 server licensed for VMware Enterprise Plus and vRealize Operations Enterprise, for the database node that sits outside the cluster.

Results

Single console

Unified storage for both environments, managed from the same console: fewer tasks and more control for the IT team.

Same serial number

The Power8-to-Power9 upgrade avoided buying a software license the new core no longer needed.

Protected database

VMware high availability for the database node, which previously depended on a single server.

  • IBM Power9
  • IBM FlashSystem 7200
  • VMware cluster on Lenovo
  • Veeam Enterprise Plus
  • IBM BRMS and TS4300
  • SAN

Why Redsis

With more than 25 years delivering infrastructure to Latin America's financial sector, and as an IBM Platinum Partner, Redsis can design and deliver IBM Power and Intel platform renewal, storage, virtualization and backup in a single project. Our architecture team found the best technical and economic combination, and our engineering team executed the migration while protecting the cooperative's critical operations.

Is your infrastructure reaching its limits?

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