Case Study: NETSYNC Uses Innovation, Automation to Complete $44M In Compute Refresh For Samsung R&D Center (SARC) in Austin

Over the course of (3) projects, Netsync delivers technology upgrade to Cisco UCS: 5,500 Servers and 100,000 Cores – in record time.

As a global leader in one of the most highly-competitive technology markets, The Samsung R&D Center (SARC) in Austin needed to age-out its core equipment with today’s foremost, leading-edge technology: Cisco Unified Compute Systems (UCS).

Being a major force in the market, Samsung needed its new environment to not only be the best – and the fastest – but resilient and redundant, as well. And with the pace of demand, there was absolute zero time for downtime.

That’s when Netsync stepped up to the plate. Back in 2020, the company had just won its first bid in this fast-evolving, new relationship with Samsung. Netsync knew it needed to pull-out all the initial stops to ensure the fastest, smoothest, hassle-free deployment to help satisfy the ultra-high-performance expectations of this vital new customer.

More About Samsung R&D Center (SARC)

The Samsung Austin R&D Center (SARC) was founded in 2010. In 2017, it merged with the Samsung Advanced Computing Lab (ACL) to focus on the design of next generation technologies for Samsung’s mobile devices. Its mission and commitment to invest in the future of technology is demonstrated by the $17B investment in its new 3nm Fab in Taylor, Texas – and its commitment to invest in dramatically expanding design activities focused on GPU, System IP and SoC Architecture.

Netsync Sets The Stage & Expectations for New Partner Relationship

Netsync’s project managers set-out to create a project roadmap by conducting an audit to help identify any potential roadblocks, as well as game-plan for bringing innovative, custom solutions to help enhance and streamline the process at scale.

For Netsync, the core challenges were as follows:

• Staging: How to accelerate configuration, test, and burn-in of over 5,500 CISCO Unified Computing Systems (UCS), while ensuring optimized performance
• Shipping: How to consolidate and expedite load-in and transport to Samsung’s data center location in Austin, Texas
• Speed of Deployment: How to ensure seamless on-site deployment in collaboration with Samsung’s on-site project management team

Netsync Determined to Deliver Added-Value Across The Entire Project

Beyond overcoming the challenges of timing, staging and logistics, Netsync project managers took the project to the next level by considering the overall broader impact potential of this new project. Where could the company add value? What additional service benefits and quality assurances could the company leverage to help it rise above Samsung’s incumbent vendor partner?

This was no small consideration, give that Samsung (SARC) is headquartered in the same city as other key competitors. Thus, making the determined effort to find every opportunity to enhance its processes and deliver added-value for the customer were of paramount importance to help opening the door to additional projects within Samsung and its sister-companies.

Netsync Completes Refresh Weeks Ahead of Schedule – Opens Door To Additional Business

To complete the project, Netsync delivered the qualities and services that every client appreciates: innovation, acceleration through automation and flawless execution.

First, Netsync leveraged its staging facility to test all Cisco UCS Servers for DOA’s, burn-in and automate configuration. The key difference-makers were twofold: 1) automating for initial configuration steps to help streamline the process; and 2) creating a 24-hour burn-in process to match the exact custom specifications of Samsung.

For delivery of the project, Netsync used specialized trucks that featured more stable, vibration-free environments, and helped accelerate load-in and unloading of the 5,500 Cisco UCS Servers. On-site, Netsync engineers worked hand-in-hand with Samsung on-site technicians for the final install. The entire, turn-key execution was overseen and managed by Netsync’s own experts

Value-add items to Samsung for the project included: provided engineering hours, a significant amount of Cisco training credits, specialized workshops, dedicated Cisco HTOM, Intersight SaaS, as well as complimentary hardware for lab testing.

The entire project was completed in six weeks from staging to deployment, well in advance of the customer’s projected timeline.

As a result of its impressive quality performance, Netsync was subsequently awarded two additional Compute Refresh projects in 2021, and again in 2022. And with each of those subsequent projects, the company continued to streamline and optimize its processes to help further reduce its turn-around time – to even less than six weeks!