CareAR Reduces Data Center Downtime by Enabling Instant Remote Support to Drive Efficiency and Reduce Carbon
Challenge
A data center in Halifax, UK installed a new hyperconverged infrastructure to reduce the number of racks it deployed. One day, a blade server malfunctioned, setting off alarms. But exactly what wasn’t working remained a mystery to the London based Xerox data center operations team. In the past, the team used phone calls and email to solve problems, leading to miscommunications and time delays. The downtime hurt the company’s ability to provide service, which damaged revenue streams. “At this point, we needed a visual within the data center and we just couldn’t go forward with the current issue,” said Jonathon Weston, Operations Manager, UK and EU Data Centers, Xerox.
CareAR Assist
Data Infrastructure
United Kingdom
suppliers, partners, and industry experts to help us resolve calls remotely. This avoids costly visits with the added benefit of helping us towards our sustainability goals. Every truck roll we prevent reduces our carbon emissions.”.”
Jonathon Weston
Operations Manager, UK and EU Data Centers, Xerox
Solution
The London team sent an engineer to the Halifax data center, three hours north, and they used CareAR® Assist’s live video guidance to communicate via Google Glasses and iPad. First, the engineer used the wearables to show Weston and the other experts the front and back of the server rack, allowing them to see lights indicating fan malfunctions. Then he switched to the tablet, and the London team drew arrows and text annotations on the live video stream to indicate which fans failed. They also ordered replacements, and then explained how to remove the broken parts and install new ones. “We were enabled to talk the engineer through what components needed to be removed, allowing us to get parts shipped to the site, and then those parts to be replaced, and then pushing the server back into service,” Weston said.
RESULTS
CareAR Assist significantly reduced recovery time
“A picture paints a thousand words. And in this case, you’ve turned that picture into a live video stream, then you add the power of annotation, both arrows, signals, and text, you’ve all of a sudden gotten a very immersive experience,” added Warren Birch, Infrastructure Architecture, Xerox. “The power of annotation to
that live video stream just absolutely cuts down the confusion and the noise. It cuts through that ambiguity.”
Resolving problems remotely also helps the company cut costs and meet sustainability goals by reducing its carbon footprint.
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