ALTOONA, Pa. — Sheetz Inc. is standardizing its in-store computer systems with StorMagic SvSAN software at its more than 600 convenience stores.
The new solution enables Sheetz to add high availability, minimize hardware sprawl, simplify support and administration, provide a platform for in-store technological innovation and improve resiliency within its environment, according to StorMagic.
Sheetz previously used a collection of single-function workstation class devices to provide in-store technical services. The retailer chose SvSAN to simplify the underlying infrastructure and management of many business-level applications, including in-store system orchestration, credit processing, the MySheetz Card loyalty program and Sheetz’s proprietary kitchen management application suite. Each store contains a two-node cluster composed of Dell servers, VMware vSphere hypervisors and SvSAN Standard Edition software.
“Sheetz has been able to centrally manage multiple in-store applications quickly and affordably and drastically reduce the number of hardware failures with StorMagic,” said Scott Robertson, universal endpoint unit manager for Sheetz. “Our initial [proof of concept] and extended pilot of 10 locations was spread out over the course of 10 months. This was done so that we could get comfortable with the solution as well as the process to convert the stores in a manner that was minimally impactful to operations. Once we decided to deploy companywide, we were able to deploy to over 100 stores within a two-month period. Thanks to some automated processes and the relatively seamless conversions, we’ve escalated the timeline to standardize on SvSAN across all of our convenience stores.”
SvSAN is designed for retailers like Sheetz that want to process and manage data locally at hundreds or thousands of smaller sites. It is intended for store locations where no IT staff is present to administer and address failures associated with infrastructure that has single points of failure and lacks high availability, the company said.
“Sheetz is a privately held family operated business that serves customers across six states 24 hours every day, year-round,” said Brian Grainger, chief revenue officer for Bristol, U.K.-based StorMagic. “SvSAN supports their daily business goals by offering ease of use and uptime. They can focus on delivering excellent customer service while StorMagic handles data needs at each site with little to no intervention required.”
Altoona, Pa.-based Sheetz operates more than 600 c-stores in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland, Ohio and North Carolina. It is No. 14 in CSP’s2019 Top 202 ranking of c-store chains by size.
Members help make our journalism possible. Become a CSP member today and unlock exclusive benefits, including unlimited access to all of our content. Sign up here.