Japanese Hosting Provider Offers New Services, Speeds Development with New Platform

OverviewCountry or Region: JapanIndustry: Hosting

Customer ProfileBased in Osaka, Japan, Sakura Internet provides web hosting services that are widely used by both individuals and businesses.

Business SituationSakura wanted to expand its Windows-based hosting services for small and midsize businesses and also provide better disaster recovery offerings.

SolutionSakura used Windows Server 2012 R2 and Microsoft System Center 2012 R2 to create a new dedicated server and disaster recovery offerings.

Benefits Create new business opportunities and

sources of revenue growth Speed development through great

support

“Thanks to Windows Server 2012 R2, we plan to double our number of Windows platform services subscribers in about a year. This will be a great source of business growth for us.”

Junji Saito, Manager of the Marketing Department, Sakura Internet

Sakura Internet is a Japanese hosting services provider based in Osaka. Since its establishment in 1996, Sakura has focused on providing UNIX and Linux operating system environments. However, with the advent of the Windows Server 2012 R2 operating system, Sakura is expanding its focus to Windows-based hosting services to accelerate its business. Sakura has created a new dedicated server offering, new server management services, and new disaster recovery services directed at small and midsized firms. It plans to double its number of Windows services subscribers in a year. With the support it received from Microsoft, Sakura was able to greatly speed development of these new services.

SituationSakura Internet, established in 1996, is a hosting services provider in Osaka, Japan, that provides hosting and Internet services to individuals and businesses. It offers rented servers, dedicated servers, virtual dedicated servers, cloud services, and datacenter services. Sakura’s mission is to “Contribute to the future of the Internet by filling it with creativity and amazement through datacenter services that expand possibilities for people and businesses.” It is always looking for new technologies that give it a competitive advantage and increased flexibility in meeting customer needs.

While Sakura provided some Windows hosting options based on the Windows Server 2008 R2 operating system and Hyper-V technology, most web-related IT customers used UNIX operating systems, so Sakura focused most of its development resources on UNIX and Linux.

Over time, however, as Sakura expanded its business beyond IT firms, demand for Windows-based servers increased. Also, demand for disaster recovery services skyrocketed after the Tohoku Earthquake of 2011, and Sakura was intrigued with new disaster recovery services that Microsoft was including in newer versions of Windows Server.

SolutionIn 2013, Sakura formed a close relationship with Microsoft and decided to expand its Windows Server services. It deployed the Windows Server 2012 R2 operating system and Microsoft System Center 2012 R2 datacenter solutions and used those products to create several new offerings.

Dedicated Virtual Server, VDI OfferingsThe first of these services, launched in November 2013, was the Sakura Dedicated Server, aimed at small and midsize businesses. Customers can deploy these servers easily and manage them through a

portal that Sakura creates and manages with System Center 2012 R2.

Naoto Kato, Manager of Development Section 1, Development Department at Sakura Internet, explains, “We have adopted Windows Server 2012 R2 so that we can use Hyper-V to more easily construct virtual environments. We are considering providing a service that enables customers to manage multiple servers including the System Center 2012 R2 virtual environment, instead of the conventional way, where individual server operating systems are managed separately.”

Cloud-Enhanced Disaster Recovery Sakura used the newest version of Hyper-V Replica and Windows Azure Hyper-V Recovery Manager technology to create new, cost-effective disaster recovery services. Hyper-V Replica has been enhanced in Windows Server 2012 R2 to support a third replication site, to replicate hundreds of virtual machines at a time, and to support replication frequencies down to 30 seconds, which helps Sakura achieve near real-time replication at a much lower cost than fully synchronous replication solutions.

Hyper-V Replica works in concert with Windows Azure Hyper-V Recovery Manager, System Center 2012 Virtual Machine Manager, and Windows Azure to provide simplified, cloud-based management of the replication process. The control panel of Hyper-V Recovery Manager is delivered as a cloud service that runs in Windows Azure so that, in the event of a disaster, the disaster recovery orchestration metadata is securely accessible from any location.

Windows Azure Hyper-V Recovery Manager regularly replicates virtual machines to a disaster recovery site and monitors them through Windows Azure cloud services. When a failure occurs, the system can be

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“We have adopted Windows Server 2012 R2 so that we can use Hyper-V to more easily construct virtual environments.”

Naoto Kato, Manager of Development Section 1, Development Department,

Sakura Internet

automatically recovered on the replicated environment.

Sakura is preparing to provide Windows Server 2012 R2 services on its Sakura Cloud and is also planning a Hyper-V-based virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) service.

Sakura has been able to use the Command Line Interface instead of GUI thanks to Windows PowerShell command line and scripting language and therefore increase the efficiency of its development work.

BenefitsBy adopting Windows Server 2012 R2 and System Center 2012 R2, Sakura Internet has been able to introduce new services for small and midsize customers and thereby grow its business. It has also been able to speed development time by using Windows PowerShell and working closely with Microsoft.

Create New Business Opportunities and Sources of Revenue GrowthBy working with Microsoft, Sakura expects to obtain customers that it would otherwise not have had the chance to meet. Sakura hopes to increase the number of Windows platform services subscribers to the same level as that of its UNIX services subscribers. “Thanks to Windows Server 2012 R2, we plan to double our number of Windows platform services subscribers in about a year. This will be a great source of business growth for us,” says Junji Saito, Manager of the Marketing Department at Sakura Internet. “The main customers of our System Center 2012 R2 services will be small and midsize companies, most of whom are using on-premises servers. By replacing on-premises servers with dedicated virtual servers, these companies can reduce ownership costs as well as the initial investment. It is a great advantage for them.”

Sakura anticipates that the combination of its know-how on IT infrastructure and the new Microsoft software will contribute to reduced costs and thus become an advantage in attracting new customers.

Speed Development Through Great SupportSakura was able to speed development in the Windows environment due to the use of Windows PowerShell and the many resources provided by Microsoft. “Since Microsoft has provided us with plenty of knowledge about the new products, we have been able to reduce validations and move forward very quickly,” says Kato. “Support from Microsoft is invaluable."

Saito adds, “We can ask questions whenever necessary and answers from Microsoft are on target. It is encouraging and reliable for us. Also, Microsoft documentation is content-rich, and we can get not just answers from Microsoft user communities but also official answers from Microsoft. That is important from the aspect of advancing our technology understanding.”

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“By replacing on-premises servers with dedicated virtual servers, [small and midsize] companies can reduce ownership costs as well as the initial investment. It is a great advantage for them.”

Junji Saito, Manager, Marketing Department, Sakura Internet

Transform the datacenterThe hybrid cloud from Microsoft transforms the datacenter by extending existing investments in skills and technology with public cloud services and a common set of management tools. With an on-premises infrastructure connected to the Windows Azure platform, you can deliver services faster and scale up or down quickly to meet changing needs.

For more information about transforming the datacenter, go to:www.microsoft.com/en-us/server-cloud/cloud-os/modern-data-center.aspx

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This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY.

Document published January 2014

Software and Services Microsoft Server Product Portfolio− Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter− Microsoft System Center 2012 R2

Technologies− Hyper-V− Windows Azure Hyper-V Recovery

Manager

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For more information about Sakura Internet products and services, visit the website at:www.sakura.ad.jp