Anglian Water is using virtual server technology to speed up the deployment of business applications and has reduced IT support time in the process.

The utility is using software from supplier VMware to run its telemetry systems and some business applications.

Working with IT consultant VirtualizeIT, Anglian Water is migrating information and applications from 15 physical servers to 41 virtual ones, running on three VMware ESX-based machines.

The company hopes to manage its telemetry systems, which provide information on reservoir water levels, pumps and other assets, more efficiently.

The systems are built by LogicaCMG and electronically communicate information about the state of different assets, so that staff can view details through a Business Objects reporting system.

‘We have more than 400,000 telemetry points at 6,000 sites around the UK, and
all this information has to pass through our servers before the information is accessed,’ said Brian Lumb, telemetry systems manager at Anglian Water.

‘In the past, when we had to add a new application it involved adding a new server. The virtual server system is a massive advantage in terms of IT maintenance.’

CSC has an outsourcing contract to manage most of Anglian Water’s IT systems. But the utility’s in-house technology division also develops some business applications, and has benefited from the VMware system.

‘Our engineers build certain applications for the company, and they need to create servers quickly to get them out to the end users,’ said Lumb. ‘The time it takes to make a server on which to develop applications can now be about one hour.’

By consolidating all the servers into three machines Anglian Water has also been able to reduce IT maintenance time.

‘If we hadn’t done this we would have found ourselves in the situation where we could have had 41 physical servers to maintain, and that would have been a nightmare,’ said Lumb.

‘With this technology, maintenance is much easier as everything is in one place.’