Sisk Group in virtualisation deal with Novosco

21 Apr 2009

As more and more companies turn to virtualisation to cut costs, John Sisk & Sons has just entered phase two of a virtualisation project with Novosco to centralise its IT network.

Novosco will implement VMware technology on all of Sisk’s servers in order to consolidate hardware and reduce core infrastructure costs.

With a turnover of €1.2bn, contractor Sisk’s current IT infrastructure serves approximately 700 IT users and a range of remote construction sites.

Says Ken Kennedy, IT manager, Sisk Group: “Within the past four to six months, we have removed 15 of our physical servers and virtualised them onto two hosts.

“Virtualisation is the way forward for us to further centralise IT and to reduce both ongoing support and capital costs.”

Phase two of the project will see Sisk consolidate all servers into the external data centre.

Given the low level of bandwidth in Ireland, this decentralised platform is proving particularly beneficial for the company, providing Sisk with a solid disaster recovery plan, and it believes it will achieve a significant return on investment.

Eddie O’Rourke, sales director, Novosco, explains: “With 60 to 70 construction sites throughout the country, reducing servers has greatly improved Sisk’s ability to set up new remote sites.”

Over the coming years, Sisk will also focus on the area of desktop virtualisation.

Landmark construction projects carried out by Sisk include Croke Park and, more recently, Lansdowne Road.

By Carmel Doyle

Pictured are Ken Kennedy, IT manager, Sisk Group, and Eddie O’Rourke, Novosco sales director

Carmel Doyle was a long-time reporter with Silicon Republic

editorial@siliconrepublic.com