The Sydney-based hotel had a traditional 3 tier environment. Simplicity and ease of management is of utmost importance to lean IT teams on the ground.
By implementing Lenovo HX for Nutanix, the business achieved a simplified IT infrastructure, reduced costs and accelerated time to value.
In general, the hotel business is under the impression that Hyperconverged is only for big data centres. But that is not the case: you can scale it down easily, and cost-wise it is about the same as four or five physical servers, so very cost-effective.
Park Hyatt Sydney is part of Hyatt Hotels Corporation, an American multinational hospitality company that manages and franchises luxury hotels, resorts, and vacation properties.
Park Hyatt hotels are mid-sized, residential luxury hotels in cities considered premier destinations. The Sydney-based hotel had a traditional 3-tier environment, and by implementing Lenovo HX for Nutanix, the business achieved a simplified IT infrastructure, reduced costs and accelerated time to value.
How did you come to be at Park Hyatt Sydney and what drew you to the opportunity here?
Swaid: “I moved to Sydney to obtain my Master degree and did an internship at Park Hyatt in 2013. After that, I continued my career at other places, but four years later I came across this opportunity at Park Hyatt. What I like about my role is that I can make a direct impact on the everyday operations. The Headquarters in Chicago push global changes and projects, but some plans are local initiatives and focus specifically on what the business here needs (in compliance with universal Hyatt standards). How we serve those needs, that is where I come in.
What challenges in your business influenced you to look for a solution?
Swaid: “I wanted to move away from the traditional 3-tier infrastructure to something modern, like a Hyperconverged solution. Since I am a team of one, simplicity and ease of management is of utmost importance to me.”
How did you search for a solution?
Swaid: “Many vendors offer Hyperconverged technologies, so I actively researched different solutions. I made a lot of calls (laughs). Nutanix technology offered the best value, high performance and the environment is so much easier to manage than a traditional (or virtualized) 3-tier server. Once I got approval from the General Manager and Director of Finance, I could kick-off the project.”
Swaid continues: “BEarena got referred by Howard Phung (Senior IT Manager at Frasers Hospitality). He said: ‘if you are looking for a Hyperconverged solution, these are the people to go to.’”
Did you encounter any challenges implementing the solution?
Swaid: “I think the biggest challenge was the fact that Hyperconverged solutions are traditionally not implemented by Hyatt: this hotel is the first one, not even the Headquarters has it. So it was all very new.
He continues: “In general, the hotel business is under the impression that Hyperconverged is only for big data centres. But that is not the case: you can scale it down easily, and cost-wise it is about the same as four or five physical servers, so very cost-effective. We had some issues with measuring-features like the one-click-upgrade, but this got fixed with a workaround promptly and in an acceptable time frame.”
The solution is quickly up and running and capable of doing a lot. It helped our business to simplify the IT infrastructure, reduced costs and accelerated time to value. The day-to-day-operations benefits are massive, like increased uptime. Back in the day, the servers would crash twice every week, now second to none. The entire hotel operations move faster and more smooth, and the staff is generally happier because of it.
What specific results have you seen from implementing the solution?
Swaid: “The solution is quickly up and running and capable of doing a lot. It helped our business to simplify the IT infrastructure, reduced costs and accelerated time to value. The day-to-day-operations benefits are massive, like increased uptime. Back in the day, the servers would crash twice every week, now second to none. The entire hotel operations move faster and more smooth, and the staff is generally happier because of it.
What is on the agenda for the future?
Swaid: “The next things will be going to cloud. However, our hotel will be just a soldier in the field, since the Headquarters will manage this project. I am curious to see the result.”
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