Chapter 4: A Tale of Server Consolidation - Toyota Australia

In this chapter, we look over the shoulder of Toyota Australia as they plan and implement a server consolidation project. In this project, Toyota takes the work of eight servers and various storage devices and moves it to two pSeries systems and a TotalStorage server with the help of Global Services. This chapter is adapted from a report prepared by IBM and Toyota about the project.

About Toyota Australia

Located outside Melbourne, Toyota Australia (a subsidiary of the Toyota Motor Company) manufactures and distributes automobiles, engines, and components to supply 255 domestic Australian dealers, as well as 33 export markets in the Asia-Pacific region. With manufacturing facilities producing 100,000 new vehicles per year, the company is a consistent leader in the Australian automotive market—ahead of several large global competitors (Figure 4.1). "Australia is Toyota's longest-established offshore manufacturing base and one of its most successful markets," says James Scott, manager of Information Technology (IT) Infrastructure for Toyota Australia. "We have led our market for six of the ten years between 1990 and 2000."

Figure 4.1: Assembly line at Toyota Australia.