EMC Enables State of Michigan's Transformation To IT As Service

HOPKINTON, Mass. -- EMC Corp. (NYSE: EMC) says the state of Michigan is using its storage, software and professional services to improve delivery of IT services to citizens.

EMC said the state has created a Virtual Center of Excellence based on EMC technologies, serving more than a dozen agencies with IT as a service, ranging from motor vehicle registration and driver licensing to unemployment insurance and child support services.

The state standardized on EMC technologies including EMC Vmax storage that is configured with Fully Automated Storage Tiering for Virtual Pools (FAST VP) and data-at-rest encryption (DARE). The State uses EMC RecoverPoint remote data protection solution for disaster recovery, as well as EMC Data Domain for backup and recovery.

The virtualization environment includes VMware virtualization and cloud infrastructure including vSphere server virtualization with vCenter Site Recovery Manager and vCloud Director, as well as Citrix XenApp. EMC Global Services was engaged to help implement the virtualized infrastructure and educate internal customers on the value of VCOE services.

As a result the state has increased the performance of its critical human services application by 20 percent, improving service to users while extending the value of its storage investments. Also, the state's IT organization is able to offer a growing array of services online, such as motor vehicle registration and child support services, providing citizens with a convenient one-stop shopping experience. The state is also now able to partner with agencies to identify their needs and provide service catalogs with defined rate structures that make it easier for agencies to shop for services with its new IT-as-a-Service model.

"We are creating a much more satisfying, one-stop shopping experience for our citizens," said Vern Klassen, the state's director of technical services. "Residents can now renew their driver's license, register to vote or even start a new business through the convenience of a Web portal. We've eliminated the inconvenience of waiting in long lines and making multiple trips to different offices."

And, Klassen said, "Since adopting virtualization and automation, we don't need as many server administrators, so we're shifting those individuals into more service-oriented, customer-focused roles. We're becoming better marketers of our services and operating more like a business, which is essential to competing with external service providers."

Added Rick Hoffman, storage manager for the state: "Because we've become more efficient by virtualizing, consolidating and deploying deduplication, the number of people to support our systems has remained unchanged even though our storage has grown by 25 percent annually over the past five years. With EMC technologies, we are able to deliver tiered levels of availability and performance that match the performance and cost requirements from each agency. Not only are we meeting the service demands of our clients, but able to get more horsepower from our storage investments and ultimately save on long-term expenditures."

More at www.emc.com.