CASE STUDY
Epicor, a leading provider of enterprise resource planning and management solutions, makes it a priority to offer first-class support so its customers’ productivity and profitability is never compromised.
Epicor needed a solution that could handle massive database sizes while providing room for future growth. Explore how we contributed our support.
When you’re supporting over 20,000 customers across 150 countries, storage isn’t just a technical issue – it’s the foundation of customer service excellence.
Epicor discovered this first-hand when its growing database sizes pushed its infrastructure to breaking point, threatening their ability to deliver the first-class support their global customer base depends on.
We took the time to fully understand and identify which storage solution would work best for them.
Industry:
Enterprise software & ERP solutions
Size:
20,000+ customers across 150 countries
Solution:
Storage solutions, infrastructure planning
Epicor’s commitment to customer success created an unexpected challenge. As Peter Williams, IT Director for APAC and EMEA, explained: “The difficulty we had encountered was that the databases were getting huge, often surpassing the 1TB mark.” These massive databases, needed for customer troubleshooting, were overwhelming their 5-year-old HPE 3PAR storage array.”
With the system running at 85% capacity and troubleshooting requests increasing due to business growth, Epicor faced a critical decision. Williams continued: “We were also beginning to run into management issues that were causing more problems than they were solving, so had to decide quickly whether to invest again in 3PAR technology, or look at an alternative.”
The pressure was mounting. Epicor needed a solution that could handle massive database sizes while providing room for future growth.
We worked closely with Epicor to evaluate its options, considering immediate needs and global infrastructure standards. The evaluation included HPE 3PAR, HPE Nimble Storage and Pure Storage, with insights from its US operations informing the decision-making process.
Graham King, International Server Team IT Manager, noted how our guidance aligned with US experiences: “They had had their own experiences using both Pure and Nimble Storage in particular and suggested that the latter would be a strong option for us to look into in more detail.”
We arranged a comprehensive demo day with HPE, providing in-depth discovery of Nimble Storage’s capabilities. Using HPE’s InfoSight predictive analytics system, we helped accurately size Epicor’s requirements for the next three years, resulting in a specification for a 150TB hybrid array that balanced performance with cost-effectiveness.
The project also included upgrading its switch fabric from 8GB to 16GB. We ensured this went off smoothly, orchestrating all the resources needed to deploy the fabric and implement the storage solution.
The transformation delivered exactly what Epicor needed – massive capacity for growing databases without the management complexity of the previous system. The new hybrid Nimble Storage system now provides Epicor with 100,000+ IOPs, a solution 10x faster than their legacy 3PAR array.
Graham King perfectly captured the experience: “Working with Advania felt more like working with a partner than a supplier.”
The solution supports Epicor’s mission to deliver first-class customer support while providing the scalability needed for continued global growth.
Our expertise in storage solutions and capacity planning helps organisations stay ahead of their growth curve. Contact us to explore how we can transform your storage challenges into strategic advantages.
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