Microchip Case Study: Wortmann AG, World-Class Cloud Services Provider
Moving from being a well-known systems vendor to a world class cloud services provider can be a daunting decision. But, for Wortmann AG it was a natural next-step of their evolution.
Wortmann AG, a leading German IT innovator, started as a family business in 1986. Headquartered in Hüllhorst, North Rhine- Westphalia, the Wortman family tree branches out from its 650 employees to over 15,000 specialized resellers and IT providers throughout Europe. The company prides itself on being a single source for many of the key categories for IT hardware and cloud services that power the modern enterprise throughout Europe.
As the company moved into the hosting and cloud infrastructure sectors, its well-known and well-respected TERRA brand evolved along with it. Today, the TERRA CLOUD data center powers a suite of hosting, housing, Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) offerings for companies in Germany and throughout the region. Customers locating their hard¬ware and services within the TERRA Data Center in Hüllhorst, take full advantage of the company’s highly-available infrastructure and security.
How Did They Do It?
When developing plans for their TERRA CLOUD data center, Wortmann needed two key components: a reliable team and reliable products. Wortmann didn’t need to look too far for either. The Adaptec®-Wortmann engagement dates back nearly 20 years and has resulted in their exclusive adoption of several generations of our leading-edge storage adapters that have real-world driven performance and efficient manageability.
Wortman selected the Adaptec team, as a trusted supplier with proven expertise and support for the buildout of Wortmann’s TERRA CLOUD Data Center. Our team was chosen for their deep understanding of evolving storage requirements, their ability to deliver the right products for the application, and their proven expertise to facilitate the testing and evaluation of industry-leading storage solutions in real-world data center environments. The Adaptec team has supported the TERRA CLOUD Data center from concept to launch and will continue to do so over the lifetime of the data center.
The Results
Today Wortmann TERRA CLOUD serves as the centerpiece of the company’s expanding presence in the cloud data center sector, and the Adaptec team is proud to have both contributed their storage expertise and knowledge and be the only source provider of hardware RAID solutions to such an ambitious project. The two companies will continue their ongoing relationship well into future.
About the Products
The cornerstone storage products that are designed into the TERRA CLOUD data center architecture are the SmartRAID Adapt¬ers and Host Bus Adapters families. The unprecedented management and maintenance capabilities of these Adaptec storage solutions feature the key components of Microchip’s proven Smart Storage stack.
Our Adaptec SmartRAID adapters are full-featured, high-performance enterprise RAID adapters built for a variety of storage requirements. They have the industry's lowest power consumption and provide maximum read/write bandwidth and Input/Output Operations Per Second (IOPS) when coupled with 12 Gbps SSDs. Unique features available on some adapters include integrated Zero-Maintenance Cache Protection (ZMCP); maxCache, a SSD caching solution; and maxCrypto controller-based encryption for any block-based storage device.
Our Adaptec Host Bus adapters are the ideal connectivity solution for server-based storage systems that require maximum bandwidth and I/O connectivity, low power consumption and high reliability. Uniquely combining the capabilities of a full-featured HBA, like the HBA 1100, with those of a basic RAID adapter using hardware RAID, these adapters offer a more versatile storage solution.
In addition, Adaptec SAS HD cables were selected for the project as they are configured with mini-SAS HD connectors to allow for maximum performance and connectivity in a MD2 low-profile form factor, without ever having to worry about compatibility.