Mining and raw materials company Eurasian Resources Group is#nbsp;changing how citizens in#nbsp;Kazakhstan interact with their government and access public services. Through digitalization, its tech startups Smart Cities and BTS Digital (startups of#nbsp;ERG’s venture fund) are transforming public services, improving their accessibility, and speeding up#nbsp;the delivery of#nbsp;benefits. What is#nbsp;the result? A#nbsp;more efficient and citizen-centric government, with stronger citizen rights.
"Almost everyone in#nbsp;Kazakhstan has a#nbsp;smartphone, just like in#nbsp;many parts of#nbsp;the world. For ERG, this presents an#nbsp;opportunity to#nbsp;make people’s lives better by#nbsp;digitalizing public services and making them accessible via mobile phones," says Sergey Korobitsin from Smart Cities company (one of#nbsp;the startups of#nbsp;ERG’s venture fund), responsible for managing all#nbsp;IT infrastructures and data centers across the fund’s portfolio of#nbsp;startups.
"We started with about 20 servers, but BTS Digital kept growing every year," says Korobitsin, who is#nbsp;Server Infrastructure, Virtualization, and Cloud Team Lead at#nbsp;Smart Cities. "We needed a#nbsp;large compute infrastructure, including compute servers, controller servers, and servers designated for running software-defined storage."
"HPE was the most agile in#nbsp;responding to#nbsp;what we#nbsp;needed," says Korobitsin. "They were always willing to#nbsp;answer our questions, like what processor could go#nbsp;with this motherboard. Their engineers went out of#nbsp;their way to#nbsp;help us#nbsp;with technical specifications so#nbsp;we#nbsp;could meet our requirements."
"We serve requests for compute and storage power faster than before," shares Korobitsin. "In our traditional architecture, we#nbsp;would take up#nbsp;to#nbsp;30 minutes to#nbsp;complete requests for virtual machines. Now using our HPE platform with AMD EPYC processors takes only one to#nbsp;two minutes, with no#nbsp;cloud operator involved."
"Productivity has improved because the infrastructure doesn’t take much time to#nbsp;maintain and allows us#nbsp;to#nbsp;go faster."
"Almost everyone in#nbsp;Kazakhstan has a#nbsp;smartphone, just like in#nbsp;many parts of#nbsp;the world. For ERG, this presents an#nbsp;opportunity to#nbsp;make people’s lives better by#nbsp;digitalizing public services and making them accessible via mobile phones." —Sergey Korobitsin, Server Infrastructure, Virtualization, and Cloud Team Lead, Smart Cities company (one of#nbsp;the start-ups of#nbsp;ERG’s venture fund)
"Powered by#nbsp;our HPE platform with AMD EPYC processors, the service’s main goal is#nbsp;to#nbsp;strengthen the rights of#nbsp;citizen’s ability to#nbsp;communicate with authorities, request and obtain government services," says Korobitsin. This ultimately improves the service citizens receive from public institutions and their quality of#nbsp;life.
"Even today, it’s still being used by#nbsp;many people," Korobitsin says.
"We haven’t had any issues in#nbsp;terms of#nbsp;support, and HPE has great hardware quality compared to#nbsp;others," says Korobitsin. "Another benefit is#nbsp;that it#nbsp;supports massive deployments of#nbsp;operating systems."
"The government sees the real problems of#nbsp;Kazakhstanis. It#nbsp;does an#nbsp;analysis of#nbsp;appeals, makes performance assessments of#nbsp;government bodies, and gains an#nbsp;overall understanding of#nbsp;people’s sentiments." —Sergey Korobitsin, Server Infrastructure, Virtualization, and Cloud Team Lead, Smart Cities
"The proposed AMD EPYC processors included a#nbsp;faster baseline CPU clock speed, faster memory, and more PCIe lines compared to#nbsp;our competitive options," explains Korobitsin. "This means we#nbsp;can now offer AMD CPU- specific virtual machine flavors and deliver impressive performance in#nbsp;SR-IOV [single root input/output virtualization] cases."
"We are very enthusiastic about the AMD EPYC processors and will use them in#nbsp;cases where we#nbsp;require high performance and density in#nbsp;our servers. The CPUs offer more logical threads and performance for multithreaded applications, including cloud-based solutions."
"Powered by#nbsp;our HPE platform with AMD EPYC processors, the service’s main goal is#nbsp;to#nbsp;strengthen the rights of#nbsp;citizens in#nbsp;dispute with authorities. The government sees the real problems of#nbsp;Kazakhstanis. It#nbsp;does an#nbsp;analysis of#nbsp;appeals, makes performance assessments of#nbsp;government bodies, and gains an#nbsp;overall understanding of#nbsp;people’s sentiments." —Sergey Korobitsin, Server Infrastructure, Virtualization, and Cloud Team Lead, Smart Cities (start-up of#nbsp;the Eurasian Resources Group’s venture fund)