Like many network engineers in large organization network engineers at Carlson SharedServices, which acts as a service provider to Carlson Companies, faced with exponential growthin storage requirement. Carlson Shared Services (CSS) uses a centralized data processing modelto meet business operational requirements. The central computing environment includes an IBMmainframe, over 50 networked servers from Hewlett-Packard and Sun Microsystems. In thiscentralized data processing unit all the servers and the mainframe had their separate disc storage.This dispersed data storage scheme had the advantage of responsiveness; that is, the access timefrom the server to its data was minimal. However, the data management cost was very high.There had to be …show more content…
Carlson enterprises include a presence in marketing, business and leisure travel, and hospitality industries. According to theCarlson website, Carlson is a vibrant, global, family-owned hospitality and travel company withambitious goals. Through their ambition 2015 strategy, they have three key aims: they want their brands to be leading brands in their segments; they want to be the number one hospitality andtravel company to work for; and they want to be the number one hospitality and travel companyto invest with. To fulfill these ambitions, Carlson companies are investing in their brands,revolutionizing their operations and growing in key strategic markets throughout the world(Welcome to the world of Carlson., 2012).According to the Case Study 4 (Carlson Companies Pg. 313), its information technologydivision, Carlson shared services, acts as a service provider to its internal clients andconsequently must support a spectrum of user applications and services. The IT division uses acentralized data processing model to meet business operational requirements. The centralcomputing environment includes an IBM mainframe and over 50 networked Hewlett- Packardand Sun servers. The mainframe supports a wide range of applications, including Oraclefinancial database, email, Microsoft Exchange, Web, PeopleSoft, and a data house application.The core of the Carlson SAN is an IP based scheme in which Gigabit Ethernet switches carry IPtraffic among servers and between servers the central