Optimizing datacenter costs for a printing and photocopying solutions provider
The objective was to reduce operational overhead and improve compute efficiency as part of a broader digital transformation initiative.
The Challenge
The client was facing infrastructure inefficiencies driven by aging hardware and rising operational costs.
- The company was operating 80 physical servers, many of which were outdated and power-hungry
- The increase in maintenance and energy costs were impacting the total cost of ownership (TCO)
- There was limited visibility into workload efficiency, making it difficult to identify consolidation opportunities
- The organization needed to improve performance without increasing infrastructure complexity
The Objective
The goal was to streamline operations, cut costs and improve compute performance with minimal disruption.
- Reduce the physical server footprint while maintaining or improving workload performance
- Maximize performance per dollar by identifying the most cost-effective compute configurations
- Lower TCO and power consumption
- Use data-driven insights to guide infrastructure decisions and future scalability
The Solution
HCLTech leveraged the Intel® Xeon® Processor Advisor (XPA), a powerful analytics and recommendation engine that evaluates server fleets and suggests optimal processor configurations based on real-world workload characteristics.
Using Intel XPA, the team:
- Analyzed the existing 80-server fleet powered by older-generation processors
- Simulated consolidation scenarios using the latest Intel® Xeon® processors
- Recommended a transition to just 46 servers, each equipped with high-core-count, high-throughput CPUs optimized for static workloads
Intel XPA provided insights into:
- Performance uplift potential
- Power and thermal efficiency
- TCO comparisons across configurations
- Opportunities to improve performance per watt and performance per dollar
The Impact
The modernized infrastructure delivered stronger ROI, reduced footprint and positioned the organization for scalable growth.
- Server count was reduced from 80 to 46, a 42.5% reduction in hardware footprint
- The new infrastructure delivered significantly higher compute performance, improving performance per dollar
- Power consumption dropped substantially, contributing to sustainability goals
- The company realized hundreds of thousands of dollars in TCO savings over the projected term
- With fewer servers and better workload alignment, the IT team gained operational agility and scalability for future growth
