Mainline improves resilience and responsiveness for Pacific Disaster Center through Virtualization

The Pacific Disaster Center (PDC), strategically situated on the island of Maui, Hawaii, was founded in 1996 to advance regional best practices in disaster risk reduction.

Today, it is a disaster-management hub providing hazard/disaster early warning and assessment to the Asia Pacific region and around the world. PDC actively manages and processes near-real-time message data from more than 65 trusted data partner agencies worldwide, including the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, National Weather Service and U.S. Geological Survey. Compiling images and other global geospatial data on an ongoing basis, PDC disseminates this early warning information to emergency managers and the public via Internet and mobile telephone applications.

PDC's team of scientists and technologists are experts in disaster management, with expertise in geographic information systems (GIS), geospatial data infrastructure, data maintenance protocols, training and update mechanisms, Global Positioning Systems (GPS), remote sensing, image processing, meteorology, earth science, geology, hazard modeling and simulation, hazard mitigation, software design and engineering, and open-source platform and social media integration.

The Challenge

An important member of PDC's team is Keone Kali, PDC's technology advisor. He is responsible for managing the computer hardware, software and communications gateways that gather and disseminate the most accurate and up-to-date hazards and disaster information. For this 24/7 mission, PDC requires not only high performance but also a more flexible system combining all aspects of the infrastructure to be used across multiple database solutions and operating systems.

In addition to these requirements, a series of disasters in the Pacific region underscored a compelling need for higher system availability and scalability. Disasters such as typhoons in the Philippines, the Marianas and Taiwan; tsunamis in Samoa and Japan; and earthquakes in Western Sumatra all caused Internet traffic surges to PDC's website from 15,000 visits a day to four million, resulting in serious delays.

"I was looking for fast, reliable and highly scalable computing, plus networking and data storage resources," said Kali, "especially to address exponential demands for information during a disaster event."

The Solution

The virtualization solution included VM vCenter™ virtualization software, three IBM System x3650 servers, and an IBM System Storage - DS3500 Express^®.

Mainline Information Systems^®, an IBM Premier Business Partner, assembled a team to assess PDC's IT architecture and system requirements, resulting in a plan that consolidated and virtualized the entire system with PDC's existing VMware and Windows Hyper V, and leveraged cloud computing for surge events. The cloud computing solution enables on-demand network access to a shared pool of computing resources that can be rapidly provisioned. The solution components include:

IBM BladeCenter^® H Chassis The BladeCenter^® H Chassis provides industry-leading performance, innovative architecture and a solid foundation for virtualization. It reduces energy expenses with high-efficiency power supplies, providing

IBM HS 22 Blade Servers Each IBM BladeCenter H houses 14 thin, modular server blades, each an independent server containing processors, memory and network controllers. The BladeCenter allows more power in less rack space while providing high performance, flexibility, simplicity and central management from a single console.

IBM^® System x3250 M3 for Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 The IBM^® System x3250 M3 is a single-socket server that offers new levels of performance and flexibility to respond quickly to changing business demands. The IBM x3250 M3 has industry-leading computing capabilities in a small footprint and offers substantial memory and storage capacity for data efficiency. Integrated tools support easy deployment and management. It has vast memory capacity and flexible storage options and is energy efficient.

IBM Data Storage^® DS 3500 Express Series The DS 3500 series is a fully integrated complement to System x^® servers, BladeCenter^® and Power Systems™. The DS 3500 Express series can double the scalability of previous-generation systems. By dynamically adding drive enclosures with virtually no downtime, users can quickly and seamlessly respond to growing capacity demands. The DS 3512 Express also converts AC power from electric utilities into DC power used by the storage system, lowering overall annual energy expenditures.

Brocade Switch Modules 5240/5230 Used for an integrated Storage Area Network (SAN) over eight Gb Fibre Channel, and designed specifically for the IBM BladeCenter chassis, these Brocade switch modules enable high performance and replication for centralized backup and business continuity.

The Result

"The process of planning, configuring and implementing PDC's IT architecture demonstrated a strong collaboration among the experts at PDC, Mainline and IBM Global Services, who provided the training and certification of the platform," noted Kali. "Mainline was very knowledgeable and responsive, providing excellent customer service. They were able to get our hardware delivered and installed to meet our deadlines."

"Today, PDC's IT system has greater flexibility, manageability and security, all with lower overhead," Kali continued. "We are now in the process of migrating some of our data services into the cloud and have had no downtime since the new system was installed. The Mainline solution has fully met PDC's missioncritical requirements," he concluded.

Pacific Disaster Center (PDC) develops and applies information and technology solutions to foster disaster-resilient communities. PDC was established by the U.S. government and is managed by the University of Hawaii. The content of this Customer Success Story does not reflect the position or policy of the U.S. government.

For more information about this solution, call your Mainline account representative or call Mainline directly at 866.490.MAIN(6246) or complete our contact us form.