Technology helps port turn the tide

SITS Group, which is based at Newcastle’s Quorum Business Park originally won the tender to help the Port create a more resilient IT backup and disaster recovery platform across the 600 acre (242.8ha) site.

As part of that project the team went on to assess whether the Port’s server estate was structured efficiently. Experts from SITS Group consultancy team spent four weeks conducting a detailed capacity planning exercise, studying data traffic and patterns of use and subsequently implemented the latest virtualisation technology from VMWare to create a much leaner, more efficient structure, reducing the number of physical servers needed from 28 down to just three.

According to industry experts, the virtualisation market is set to grow by 300%, through organisations looking to cut costs while making better use of resources. One of the spin off benefits of virtualisation is its ability to slash carbon emissions, thanks to lower power, heating and cooling requirements.