13 October 2008

The Saatchi Gallery looking onto the Thames, London

Octavia Information Systems has implemented a virtualised IT system for the new Saatchi Gallery.

The solution was developed for the gallery’s inaugural exhibition: The Revolution Continues: New Art from China. Octavia was responsible for the new building’s entire IT infrastructure, including all server provisioning, voice and data comms deployment, Microsoft Exchange 2007 for e-mail and Microsoft SQL Server 2005 for data storage. High availability and provision for disaster recovery were achieved using a combination of technologies.

“We needed an out-of-sight system that could do what we needed and as such required a technology partner that could take an innovative approach to the specific needs of this unique organisation,” said Nigel Hurst, chief executive at the Saatchi Gallery. “Octavia has delivered just that with a stable, high availability system that we can rely upon.”

The new IT infrastructure has enabled the Saatchi Gallery to have greater control over its file, database and e-mail security, while providing additional storage capacity for all core systems such as enabling the gallery to maintain an extensive image repository of all artwork in a bespoke image bank.

This system for the Saatchi Gallery reduces the amount of hardware required, while providing increased resilience and future proofing options that will significantly reduce downtime

Giles Sirett, Octavia’s chief executive officer “High availability systems have traditionally only been available to large organisations due to expensive deployment and maintenance costs,” said Giles Sirett, Octavia’s chief executive officer. “However, using these innovative technologies, we’re now able to offer SMEs cost-effective and highly reliable IT systems. This system for the Saatchi Gallery reduces the amount of hardware required, while providing increased resilience and future proofing options that will significantly reduce downtime.”