The Presbyterian Mo-Ranch Assembly has implemented Scale Computing's HC3 platform to replace an aging piecemeal infrastructure with the desperately needed high availability, scalability and simplicity previously lacking.
The nonprofit Mo-Ranch maintains a 500-acre parcel along the Guadalupe River as a haven for spiritual retreats, conference, summer and day camps, weddings, corporate events, vacation getaways, outdoor sports and recreation. It relies on critical systems for reservations and sales, as well as familiar line-of-business applications, all of which are maintained singlehandedly by its Manager of Information System Services, Kent Smith.
Mo-Ranch’s previous infrastructure was deemed below industry standards with challenges that included aging servers running near end-of-life operating systems, consumer-level hardware, critical applications in desperate need of updating and a single T-1 line supporting nearly 80 PCs. Operating on a non-profit budget but realizing that its deficient infrastructure must be addressed to overcome too-frequent calls to tech support, Smith began researching viable options before deciding on the Scale Computing solution.
“Like most non-profit organizations, we operate on a limited budget and a small but efficient workforce,” said Smith. “Any disruptions to key software would be highly detrimental to productivity and profits. If our hospitality management software were to go down, our ability to book rooms or register clients for conferences would be extremely difficult, if not impossible. From a technological standpoint, thanks to Scale, we started in the Stone Age and passed straight into the Virtual Age, practically overnight.”
Scale Computing’s HC3 platform brings storage, servers, virtualization and management together in a single, comprehensive system. With no virtualization software to license and no external storage to buy, HC3 products lower out-of-pocket costs and radically simplify the infrastructure needed to keep applications running. HC3 products make the deployment and management of a highly available and scalable infrastructure as easy to manage as a single server.
“For organizations operating on small budgets or with small staffs, the ability to minimize costs and management time of their business infrastructure is crucial to their success,” said Jeff Ready, CEO at Scale Computing. “Mo-Ranch, with their servers being deployed beyond their useful life, was at unnecessary risk for downtime of their critical applications. With HC3, we remove the complexity associated with traditional virtualization deployments, simplifying IT infrastructure administration at a cost point suitable for any sized business.”
