Nissan puts the brakes on server sprawl at Tennessee plants

Phil D'Antonio, Nissan's manager of conveyors and controls engineering, says the consolidation has increased production efficiency and cut energy usage by 34%. "Over the past two to three years, our server population had exploded to almost 160 and was continuing to grow," explains D'Antonio. "It was extremely difficult to manage and it consumed numerous hours." Nissan defined a refresh strategy for its system infrastructure using virtualisation technology in the form of Microsoft Hyper-V software, which, he says, allowed multiple virtual machines to operate on single physical machines. The technology was implemented at Nissan's Smyrna and Decherd plants in less than 12 months, and has since improved manageability as well as reducing space and energy requirements. "We were able to reduce the growing cost associated with a sprawling system as well as cut energy usage by a third," says D'Antonio. "As an Energy Star partner, Nissan is committed to improving the energy efficiency of our business and protecting the environment for future generations."