03 February 2010 News

 

Unisys virtualising Nationwide Building Society data centre

Unisys has collaborated with Nationwide Building Society to virtualise 500 servers as part of Nationwide's Data Centre Transformation Programme. The programme is a multi-year effort to enhance the building society's IT architecture while reducing operational and energy costs.

Nationwide estimates it will benefit from a saving of more than £8 million over the course of the programme by removing old hardware, improving service continuity, simplifying disaster recovery and increasing hardware utilisation through server virtualisation. To date, Nationwide has achieved a 12-1 reduction in the number of physical servers. This reduction has not only saved space within the data centre but has also significantly contributed to a decreased carbon footprint through a reduction in power and air-conditioning usage.

Unisys has provided consultancy services to design and execute a process for assessing, planning, executing and testing server virtualisation.  Working with Nationwide's internal IT teams and external service providers, Unisys has managed and directed the virtualisation programme. This collaboration has led to an increase in the number of production and business-critical applications that are now virtualised.

"Unisys has confirmed our belief in virtualisation and the business benefits it brings.  The rate and success of the virtualisation programme is testament to its project management skills," says Peter Stafford, Nationwide's IT director. "Unisys worked closely with us to resolve some very complex issues and bring us closer to reaching our efficiency targets. This data centre programme will provide Nationwide with a world-class server infrastructure - allowing us to respond to changing business needs more quickly and efficiently."