Dustin Group replaces multiple Tier 1 storage vendors with a Software-Defined Storage solution from StorPool Storage

Dustin Group is one of the leading Managed Service Provider (MSP) companies in Europe. It is a publicly listed company, with approximately €1.2 Billion ($1.4 bln.) in sales, 1800+ employees and 10+ data centers across Europe. 

To meet the changing needs of customers, Dustin needed to have a highly efficient cloud platform. However, over time they had acquired multiple IT and storage platforms that had become too large, complex, and expensive to manage efficiently. The company needed to consolidate its various hardware and software platforms into a standardised cloud platform that serves all its business units and customers. 

After carrying out a detailed study of the new technologies available, Dustin selected StorPool’s Software-Defined Storage (SDS) platform for their primary and secondary storage needs. They implemented a new, simple, but robust solution in several geographical locations for primary storage, backup and DR. StorPool’s highly efficient software-defined data storage platform allowed them to replace their existing diverse storage estate and replace specialized storage SAN arrays with software running on standard servers.

On the software side, the project replaced the traditional VMware and Microsoft Hyper-V software stacks with a New-Age IT stack powered by Linux and KVM, managed by OpenNebula’s Cloud Management Platform. 

On the hardware side, Dustin’s new cloud design uses standard hardware from multiple vendors – HPE, Supermicro, Nvidia Networking (Mellanox) and the primary storage is running on NVMe devices.

The new cloud platform enabled Dustin to streamline business operations. The end result is a powerful, scalable, API-driven, and efficient cloud platform, which was easy to deploy across all Dustin data centres. 

It allowed the company to streamline operations, increase competitiveness, eliminate vendor lock-in, and improve service quality. All of these achieved with low capital expenditures and fewer IT staff.

“We are very pleased with the engagement with StorPool and their ability to meet our special needs. In addition to the unique data storage solution, they provide us with first-class support with which we are very happy!”, said Dan Mårtensson, Product Manager Infrastructure and Cloud-services at Dustin Group.

With the transition to New-Age IT and building a software-defined cloud, Dustin managed to expand its technological leadership on the European market. 

“The project of Dustin Group is impressive. Both in terms of the scope/size of the exercise and also in terms of the willingness of Dustin’s management to use the best new tools available to innovate and set their business apart from their competitors”, said Boyan Ivanov, CEO, StorPool Storage. 

Тhe joint project with Dustin, is another testimonial of the capabilities of StorPool Storage in powering large-scale IT infrastructure projects. StorPool’s data storage solution is already recognized for its top performance, data management capabilities and unmatched customer support. In the last years, the company solidified its ability to provide a better replacement to traditional storage arrays, thus enabling businesses to implement flexible new-age, multi-platform storage solutions, which eliminate complexity and deliver agility. 

About Dustin

Dustin is a leading IT and managed services provider (MSP) with operations in Northern Europe. The Company offers IT products with associated services and solutions to companies, the public sector, and private individuals. Their main focus is on small- and medium-sized companies.

Dustin has more than 1800 employees. Sales for the 2018/19 financial year amounted to €1.28 bln ($1.4 bln). More than 90 per cent of Dustin’s income comes from the corporate market. Dustin Group has been listed on Nasdaq Stockholm since 2015 and has its head office in Sweden.