City Electrical Factors in UK Selects HPE GreenLake

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP announced that City Electrical Factors (CEF), the UK’s electrical wholesale network, has selected its GreenLake edge-to-cloud platform as the first step in its digital transformation journey.

The GreenLake platform will enable CEF to optimize their infrastructure management and improve security using the DR capabilities of Zerto.

Established in 1951, CEF prides itself on delivering optimal customer service and satisfaction. Its customer platform, which enables them to respond to and track orders of all sizes, was based on legacy technology and had become outdated. To improve the customer experience, the end user decided to move to a cloud experience with the GreenLake platform. As part of the solution the wholesaler will move into global International Business Exchange (IBX) data centers operated by HPE partner Equinix, benefitting from HPE datacenter technology services to plan, design and deploy the solution.

This move will provide the company with a cloud experience that allows them to scale on demand and pay as they use. CEF will also simplify their infrastructure management experience using GreenLake Management Services and ensure their BC with Zerto for DR. With the implementation of the GreenLake platform in the UK, it has a global platform that can be deployed and replicated with a single user experience throughout their regions, including North America, Ireland, Spain and Australia.

“We’ve enjoyed a long-standing partnership with HPE for the past 15 years, and we are delighted to continue this journey utilizing the HPE GreenLake platform,” said Jon Higginson, IT EMEA director, CEF. “We were looking to improve our service offering to our customers through the adoption of cloud technologies and we found the HPE GreenLake platform to be the most compelling offer available. As we operate over 400 stores globally, we need to ensure that we have a consistent platform that delivers an ongoing positive customer experience, scales as we grow and provides the flexibility to be tailored to potential future requirements. The DR and BC capabilities of Zerto in particular will deliver the enhanced stability and reliability we seek for our operations.“

When researching a solution to drive their transformation, CEF focused on systems that would enable them in their journey to the cloud, enhance their security and strengthen their customer relationships. Key requirements were to increase the company’s protection vs. cyber threats and external disruptions, ensure the continuity of high quality of customer service, and the reduction of energy consumption and thereby of the group’s carbon footprint. At the same time, it was important for the services to be deployable and replicable throughout the different regions CEF operates in.

“Running the HPE GreenLake platform in a colocation is the ideal solution for customers like CEF, who are looking for a cloud experience while staying in full control of their IT,” said Matt Harris, MD UK, HPE. “As a partner first organization, we’re delighted to work with Equinix, the HPE GreenLake Momentum Partner of the Year 2022, to enable CEF to access the hybrid cloud services they require, wherever and whenever they need them. Not only does this give CEF the control over their usage and cost, but it also allows them to free up more of their time that can be further invested into their transformation efforts.“

With the deployment of GreenLake Management Services, the user will entrust the managing of its infrastructure stack to HPE. By reducing the time spent on management, about 20% of theits IT team’s time will be freed up. This additional time will allow the group to enhance their offerings and address their customer’s needs and requirements and accelerate their cloud journey in additional regions. GreenLake also allows them to migrate their bespoke applications to a hybrid cloud platform designed for both cloud-native and legacy workloads.

GreenLake and Zerto will givethe customer peace of mind, as it ensures close to zero downtime and allows them to move production workloads into the DR environment. As part of the DR environment, the group will reduce RTO and RPO from 24 hours down to minutes. This ensures internal and external end users stay unaffected and allows their business to continue trading. After the initial roll-out of GreenLake with Zerto at their DR site in the UK, CEF is planning to deploy GreenLake in Australia as well as their production site in the UK.