Intelligent CIO North America Issue 47 | Page 58

CASE STUDY data centre , representing an 85 % reduction . As a result , the City ’ s IT team gains greater efficiency to focus on other critical initiatives , including creating data retention policies and contributing to regional efforts to bolster the local economy through innovation .
• Flexible , Grow-as-you-Go Data Storage : Leveraging Pure Storage FlashArray via an Evergreen // Flex subscription gives the City of Bloomington the flexibility to pay only for the amount of storage used , with the advantages of on-premises storage ownership . The City now has ongoing access to the latest hardware , monitored and managed 24 / 7 by Pure Storage . At the same time , the City now has full visibility into its storage environment via the Pure1 AIOps management console .
• Faster Access to Critical Data : Public safety , including the increasing use of police body cameras , was driving exponential data growth for the City of Bloomington . However , with public safety videos residing on Pure Storage FlashArray , which is optimised for capacity , the City gains faster access to this critical safety data for its citizens . FlashArray also serves as the backup repository for Veeam – which the City uses together with SafeMode Snapshots for fast recovery in the event of a cyber ( or physical ) incident .
Craig McBeath , Director of IT , City of Bloomington , said : “ Pure Storage has revolutionized our approach to IT with unparalleled flexibility , simplicity and performance across our data storage environment .
“ We now carry the confidence of constant vigilance , providing significant peace of mind , while gaining the ability to effectively deliver and scale superior citizen services .”
McBeath has been with the City of Bloomington for 26 years , starting as an IT Support Specialist .
When he was promoted to Director of IT , he inherited responsibility for a jumble of disparate storage technologies that had been long neglected due to budget constraints put in place a decade earlier .
Support contracts for many of these systems had expired and needed to be replaced , creating a large amount of maintenance work for the IT team .
Other departments were also adding to the data load as part of the City ’ s overall digital transformation .
This combination of factors , coupled with a new data governance initiative , prompted McBeath to pave the way for major IT modernization .
“ I appreciate being able to serve and help the community that I live in and love to be better .
“ In my new role , I can influence meaningful change to provide better services and support for city departments and constituents ,” he said .
McBeath and his team selected Pure Storage to replace the City ’ s aging and unsupported storage technology .
Temporary solutions like using jump drives or other low-cost storage arrays only added to the management complexity of the storage environment .
At the same time , public safety – namely the increasing use of police body cameras – was driving exponential data growth .
All primary workloads , including VMware ESX and Microsoft SQL Server , run on Pure Storage FlashArray // X . Public safety videos reside on Pure Storage FlashArray // C , which is optimized for capacity . It also serves as the backup repository for Veeam , which the City uses together with SafeMode Snapshots for fast recovery .
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