Merlin Entertainments has standardized on SimpliVity hyperconverged infrastructure to revolutionize its data center. SimpliVity hyperconverged infrastructure dramatically reduces capital and operational expenses (CAPEX and OPEX), while ensuring high performance and availability for Merlin’s business-critical applications. As a result of its recent move to SimpliVity, Merlin projects a three-year total cost of ownership (TCO) saving for its new theme parks and attractions, compared to alternative solutions, of 25%.
The ?1.2 billion organization is the largest European-based entertainment company. Globally, Merlin operates 110 attractions in 23 countries. Some of the most renowned and famous resort theme parks and midway attractions in the world are operated by Merlin, including LEGOLAND® resorts, Madame Tussauds, and SEA LIFE aquariums, among others.
Merlin was looking to streamline operations, simplify management, and free up its IT team to work on more innovative and business-progressing initiatives. The organization needed a solution that would reliably support its revenue-critical retail systems, ticketing and admission systems, hotel management systems, and core IT services. After vetting solutions from a number of vendors, Merlin decided that SimpliVity was the perfect fit for the global entertainments company.
“The product’s built-in data protection capabilities, ease of implementation and operation, and tight vCenter integration were major differentiators,” said Sean Channon, Global Infrastructure Architect, Merlin Entertainments. “With SimpliVity, we no longer have to rely on in-house server or storage experts for routine system admin and support tasks. Instead, a small team of IT generalists efficiently manages our entire global operation.”
Thanks to SimpliVity’s operational efficiency, Merlin can now get a site up and running quickly, deploying the essential IT required to run attractions in hours when it used to take days with the organization’s previous data center technology, enabling faster time to revenue. The SimpliVity solution also offers built-in data protection and enables data backup and recovery to occur in seconds or minutes as opposed to hours or even days with it previous IT infrastructure.
“It’s great to see Merlin Entertainments benefitting from the exceptional operational efficiencies that SimpliVity delivers,” said Klaus Seidl, vice president of EMEA sales, SimpliVity. “IT is changing dramatically, as leading companies spur the move from maintaining complex infrastructure to serving the current and future needs of their businesses with the power of simplified IT.”
