Stratus AP Stratus Customer Success Stories 2013

The uptime for Stratus customers today:

Stratus Uptime Meter

9 9 9 9 9 9 8 2%

Stratus Success Stories Booklet Your Acceptable Yearly Downtime: H M S

87:40:58 08:45:58 04:23:58 52:36 05:16 31.6 seconds

87.6 hrs downtime/year

Conventional 99% 99.9% High Availability 99.95% 99.99% Continuous Availability 99.999% The Stratus Zone 99.9999%

63 sec downtime/year

Meet Stratus and Our Customers Since 1980, Stratus Technologies has dedicated itself to providing customers with the peace of mind that their most impor tant applications will run 24 hours a day, 7 days a week – Uptime. All the Time.

We understand that corporations want to drive and expand their businesses that rely on in the continuous availability of their information systems, whether physical, vir tual or cloud computing. That is why StratusÂŽ is their par tner of choice.

Customer focus is the hear t of the Stratus culture, developed over more than three decades of experience and put into daily practice by ever y Stratus employee. We deliver the highest uptime assurance in the industr y using resilient technologies combined with proactive availability management and monitoring ser vices. Our systems are built from the ground up and enabled through our strategic alliances with other open-systems technology leaders, allowing us to provide the ultimate uptime assurance.

Proactive remote monitoring and management technologies link our availability engineers to ever y Stratus system, anywhere in the world. The systems we care for are continuously protected. We prevent failure, downtime and data loss, so our customers can rest easy.

Thus, in Asia Pacific and around the world, our ser vers are the availability platform of choice for the leading financial ser vice institutions, telecommunications operators, manufacturers, health & medical organizations, government agencies, and business of all kinds.

Just to name a few, we are pleased to share with you why these corporations choose Stratus fault tolerant technologies on their mission critical and business critical applications.

Stratus Asia Pacific 2013

ftServer’s Content Ambulance Service of New South Wales

P.1-2

新南威尔士的救护车服务

P.3-4

Allegheny County Emergency Services 9-1-1 Division

P.5-7

Emergency Medical Care, Inc.

P.8

Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport

P.9-10

MIS Systems Engineering

P.11-12

St. Charles County Department of Dispatch and Alarm

P.13-14

圣查尔斯县急救派遣和报警中心

P.15-16

上海市城投原水调度中心监控系统

P.17-18

Columbia Memorial Hospital

P.19-20

Pulse Systems Inc.

P.21-22

Ojikai Healthcare Corporation Limited

P.23-24

Dubai Gold & Commodities Exchange (DGCX)

P.25-26

Elavon, Inc.

P.27-28

Makro, South Africa

P.29-30

Sheetz, Inc.

P.31-32

South Carolina Federal Credit Union

P.33-34

Strategic Payments Services

P.35-36

National Commodity & Derivatives Exchange Limited (NCDEX)

P.37-38

Westpac Institutional Bank

P.39-40

H2OSatellite

P.41-42

H2OSatellite (中文版本)

P.43-44

Pitney Bowes, Inc.

P.45-46

ftServer’s Content Robotic Parking Systems, Inc.

P.47-48

Tohan Co., Ltd Tohan Co., Ltd(中文版本)

P.49-50

容错服务器在智能交通监控系统中的应用

P.53-54

Isuzu Motors Limited

P.55-56

KapStone Paper and Packaging

P.57-58

Pinellas County Utilities

P.59-60

Rexam BCNA

P.61-62

Sika Sarnafil, Inc.

P.63-64

Hitachi Information Systems Ltd.

P.65-66

株式会社日立信息系统

P.67-68

江苏常熟发电有限公司

P.69-70

太原钢铁炼钢厂制造执行系统(MES)

P.71-72

Hokuden Information System Service Company Inc. 北电信息系统服务株式会社

P.73-74

Wenty Leagues Club

P.77-78

P.51-52

P.75-76

ftServer - Solution Overview Customer

Industry Vertical

Stratus Products

Ambulance Service of New South Wales

ftServer

Allegheny County Emergency Services 911 Division MIS Systems Engineering

Horizontal Applications

Operating Environment

My SQL Server

MS Windows Server OS

ftServer; ftScalable storage

SQL Server

VMware vSpher, n/a MS Windows Server OS

ftServer

My SQL Server

MS Windows Server OS

n/a

Government & Hartsfield - Jackson Government & PublicSafety Safety ftServer International Airport Public

My SQL Server

MS Windows Server OS

PSSI

ftServer

EMC Replistor

MS Windows Server OS

TriTech

ftServer

MS SQL Server® 2008 database

MS Windows Server® 2008

TriTech

Emergency Medical Care, Inc. St. Charles County Department of Dispatch and Alarm Shanghai urban water Station SCADA system Columbia Memorial Hospital Pulse Systems Inc. and Mid-Kansas Ear, Nose Healthcare and Throat

ISV Application

Partner TriTech

TriTech VisiCAD

Geography Asia Pacific

CAD; remote CAD, mobile, Web query, PRM, Americas system interface require continuous availability MIS’s ALERT C3 command and control system EISEC/ALSEC, advanced EMEA mobile data AVLS/GPS Embedded GIS PSSi RESPONSE Americas CAD Software

TriTech VisiCAD Americas Command DR Solution TriTech VisiCAD, VisiNet Mobile™ Americas wireless

Windows Server® 2003 Vmware vSphere, My SQL Windows Database Server MS Server OS

Hite

Hite

Asia Pacific

n/a

EHR software (private cloud)

Americas

ftServer, Avance

n/a

n/a

Pulse System

Pulse Complete EHR software

Americas

Ojikai Clinic

ftServer

n/a

VMware

Trinity Design PACS, Electric Chart

DGCX - Dubai Gold & Commodities Exchange

ftServer

n/a

MS Windows Server FT India

Markro, South Africa

Westpac Institutional Bank National Commodity & Derivatives Exchange Limited (NCDEX) H2OSatellite Pitney Bowes, Inc. Robotic Parking Systems, Inc.

ftServer ftScalable Storage

Database\SCADA

Financial Services

FT India’s trading application

Japan Asia Pacific

ftServer / ftScalable

My SQL Server

VMware, MS Windows Server, VOS, OpenVOS MS Windows Server MS Windows Server OS VMware, vSphere, MS Windows Server

ftServer

MS SQL Server

VMware, vSphere, MS Windows Server S1

Americas, EMEA ACI Postillion Payments EMEA ACI Retail commerce Americas server LynxGate ATM Americas Management Software S1 processing and Asia Pacific switching software

ftServer, ftScalable Storage

MS Windows® 2008R2/ 2003R2 apps

VMware, vSphere, n/a MS Windows Server

file transfer service

Asia Pacific

FT India’s trading application

Asia Pacific

ftServer, n/a V Series Continuum n/a ftServer

Elavon, Inc. Sheetz, Inc. South Carolina Federal Credit Union Strategic Payments Services

ftServer

ftServer w/ Active Upgrade software

My SQL Server

V Series, n/a Continuum

n/a ACI ACI FiServ

VOS, OpenVOS

FT India, NCDEX

ftServer

n/a

MS Windows

n/a

Travel, ftServer Transportation & Logistics ftServer

n/a

MS Windows

Pitney Bowes

Tohan

ftServer

Intelligent City Traffic Monitoring System

ftServer

MS Windows GE Fanuc Server OS Windows Server® CTC n/a 2003 Server® Hite Database\SCADA Windows 2003 My SQL Server

n/a

H2OUptime: marine server communications EMEA network Direct Connect Inserter Control System Americas (document messaging) Intelligent Platforms Proficy; HMI/SCADA-CIMPLICITY EMEA software Daifuku Japan Hite

Asia Pacific

ftServer - Solution Overview Customer

Industry Vertical

Stratus Products

Horizontal Operating Applications Environment

Partner

ISV Application

Geography

Isuzu Motors

ftServer

n/a

Kapstone Paper and Packaging

ftServer, ftScalable Storage

MS Toyo Business MCFrame/AEParts: Windows Server Engineering, Manufacturing Japan Execution System (MES) OS Qualica Inc.

MS SQL Server

MS Windows Server OS

MAJIQ

MS Terminal Services

Vmware vSphere

Wonderware Application Server, Historian, information Americas Wonderware, Server, I/O Device integration server, ACP inTouch HMI and Object Server; ACP ThinServer

Oracle 10i database

MS Windows Server OS

Tata Consultancy; SAP

Oracle 10i database

MS Windows Server OS

Tata Consultancy; SAP

SAP xMII Composite App; SAP xAPP Manufacturing EMEA Integration and Intelligence

n/a

MS Windows Server OS

Rockwell

SAP xMii composite app, Rockwell automation RSSQL software

Americas

Pinellas County Utilities

ftServer

Rexam BCNA

ftServer, ftScalable Storage

Manufacturing & Rexam Agile IT Utilities

Initiative Keeps Plants Running (Article)

ftServer

Elixir SOP/ MES

SAP xMII Composite App; Acumence Plant Analytics Server

Americas

Americas

Sika Sarnafil, Inc.

ftServer

Changshu Power Plant

ftServer

Database\SCADA Windows Server® Hite 2003

Hite

Asia Pacific

Taiyuan Iron and Steel Plant MES System

ftServer

Database\SCADA Windows Server® Hite 2003

Hite

Asia Pacific

Management server of EDI Systems

Windows Server® WMware 2003

n/a

Japan

n/a

Windows

Hitachi ftServer Information Systems Ltd. Hokuriku-electric power Information Communication ftServer System Services

Wenty Leagues Others - Gaming ftServer; Club ftScalable

Hitachi SIP::Office Communications

Japan

eBETelectronicgaming apps: cashless gaming, MS MS eBET Gaming cash redemption, player Asia SQL Server 2008 Windows Server Systems player loyalty, paging, Pacific 2008 system and transaction auditing applications

Uptime. All the time.

P.1

Ambulance Service of New South Wales Assuring CAD uptime for one of world’s largest ambulance services Business situation More people live in New South Wales than any other part of Australia, which leaves the state’s ambulance service with a very big job. In fact, the Ambulance Service of New South Wales (Ambulance) is the third largest in the world and responds to a request for assistance about every 28 seconds. That’s more than 1,133,000 emergency and nonemergency calls during 2009-10.

With lives and health under its care, Ambulance is uncommonly prepared for anything that might happen. The organization has used a modern computer aided dispatch (CAD) system for many years. As daily demands for service increase — more than 22 percent in the last five years — Ambulance has upgraded and changed the system to keep pace.

The most recent change involves hosting the mission-critical CAD system in a much more efficient way. Ambulance decided to use a primary data center to serve the four control centers that take calls and dispatch ambulances. In the past, the organization ran four separate instances of the CAD system at the Sydney, Charlestown, Dubbo, and Warilla control centers.

Business objectives Hosting CAD at the four control centers had provided some resiliency because each site had its own independent system. The downside was the instances of the CAD system didn’t share the same database. The system performed extra steps to hand off information every time that a call taker needed to transfer an incident to another control center.

“We determined that we should look at an architecture whereby there was just one single instance of the VisiCAD system that all four of our control centers accessed. There would be no need for this concept of transferring incidents from one center to another, because they’re all accessing exactly the same database,” said Roger Hanssen, Director, Information Technology.

“So first we had to consider what would happen if that computer system

QUICK FACTS SOLUTION PROFILE • Third largest ambulance service in the world provides pre-hospital care and patient transport • Responds to a service call every 28 seconds • Includes a primary data center and a secondary site for disaster recovery • Integrates with the city’s CAD system • Builds in uptime assurance PRODUCTS • Stratus ftServer systems • TriTech VisiCAD Command computer aided dispatch software • Microsoft® Windows Server® operating system • MicrosoftSQL Server® database software SERVICES • Stratus Assured Availability • Stratus Professional Services SM Support

goes down. It wouldn’t mean that just one control center is out of action,” he continued.

don’t just ring for an ambulance during office hours. It’s important that we have that 24 by 7 capability.”

Requirements included:

The Stratus ftServer solution

● Enable mission-critical service levels ● Provide continuity of ambulance

dispatch operations in a consolidated data center ● Use the Microsoft Windows operating system and SQL Server database, in order to work with the CAD system and custom interfaces SDSI, which specializes in public safety software, recommended Stratus ftServer systems as the hardware platform for the new data center architecture. The Queenslandbased firm provides application support and customization to Ambulance, and is a distribution partner in Australasia for TriTech’sVisiCAD Command solution.

Maintaining continuity of operation is essential, explained Hanssen. “People

“We looked at the Stratus ftServer as a platform that would give us internal redundancy to ensure that if something broke, the system kept going and could be repaired on the fly,“ he noted.

Proven in the field to perform at the industry’s highest level of uptime, Stratus ftServer systems prevent downtime and data loss for Microsoft Windows-based applications and databases. The systems build in redundant components that serve as active spares, which keep the system running in the event of a problem.

Self-diagnostic technology and proactive monitoring report potential problem conditions automatically and make troubleshooting fast.

These links include an interface to the mobile data terminals (MDTs) in the service’s 1,100 ambulances, which delivers information about each case to paramedics and lets them communicate with the CAD system.

Another interface connects CAD to the telephony system to pre-fill the call takers’ screens with details about incoming calls, such as call origin (automatic number identifiction / automatic location identification, or ANI/ALI).

Additional interfaces include a link to a Proactive monitoring saves time Hanssen said that Ambulance has been helped by scaling down the number of separate CAD instances the IT staff needs to support, while having the uptime assurance they need. He added, “The other advantage in going to the Stratus platform is the proactive monitoring. It’s very effective. So if there’s something that’s not quite right, we’ll get a call from the service center for Stratus to let us know.” There has been an occasional need to replace a component in one of the ftServer systems. While the server continued to run normally using a redundant component, Stratus’ monitoring got the replacement component to the data center’s door the next day. Hanssen explained how the experience is different from using traditional server hardware.

“In our previous scenario, if we had an equipment failure, it was up to us to identify that we had an equipment

webbased booking system that doctors’ offices and hospitals use to schedule non-emergency transportation, such as taking a patient from a hospital to a nursing home. The newest is an interface is to an electronic medical records system (on another server). Paramedics use customized laptops in their ambulances to record patient information, which the ftServer-based VisiCAD system transfers to the hospital emergency department where the patient will be admitted.

Creating a disaster recovery site “Another contingency plan was to establish a DR data center which we didn’t have at that stage. Not only was there the internal redundancy within the Stratus platform, but we’d have the fallback of a mirrored system in another physical site,” related Hanssen.

“And that continuity plan is focused not just on the Stratus platform, but the whole data center. failure and then report it to the vendor.

“The proactive monitoring that Stratus provides is certainly a huge advantage, because it means we don’t have to do all that work on our own,” he said.

Business Impact Ambulance rolled out the implementation in steps after proving the consolidated data center concept could deliver the reliability. For more than a year now, the data center and its Stratus ftServer systems have supported all four control centers in the state.

Hanssen summed up the impact. “Our data center architecture is simpler to manage yet we still have the redundancy.

The Stratus platform ensures we can have continuity of our services. The servers’ fault-tolerant design means we have confidence in the system maintaining our 24 by 7 operations. “We’ve achieved our goal of implementing a single application and database server to

The data center has uninterruptable power supplies, a backup generator, redundant air conditioning, and so on.

Even so, if there was a major event at our primary data center we could quickly transfer to our DR data center and continue operations,” he added.

Ambulance maintains its DR data center as a warm standby. The facility runs the same system as the primary site, including six ftServer systems, VisiCAD Command software, and all the CAD interfaces. Ambulance stays primed to respond under any circumstances. The primary and the secondary data centers are on opposite sides of Sydney harbor.

These locations put them in separate telephone exchanges and on different parts of the electricity grid. Business continuity planning is so thorough that personnel regularly test manual dispatch procedures, so they have practice in working with or without the CAD system. support our four control centers. And the uptime assurance has allowed us to build on that architecture to implement our DR data center.”

“ The proactive monitoring that Stratus provides is certainly a huge advantage, because it means we don’t have to do all that work on our own.”

Roger Hanssen Director, Information Technology Ambulance Service of New South Wales

Government & Public Safety

In addition to the core VisiCAD Command software, the ftServer systems would also run critical interfaces, some custom-developed, that link computer aided dispatch to other, non-Stratus systems. The advantage of these interfaces is that data from the VisiCAD application and database gets presented to the other systems, and vice versa.

ftServer

P.2

P.3

新南威尔士的救护车服务 为世界上最大规模的救护车服务机构之一确保计算机辅助调 业务状况 居住在新南威尔士的人口数量比澳洲的任何一个其他地方都 要来的多，这使得这个州的救护车服务行业面临较为艰巨和 繁重的任务。事实上，新南威尔士的救护车服务机构 (Ambulance)的规模在全球排名第三位，约每28秒需对一个 救助请求作出应答。在2009年至2010年期间，紧急呼叫和 非紧急呼叫的次数超过了1,133,000次。 除了救死扶伤外，Ambulance还需对可能发生的各类紧急事 件作出迅速应对。该机构早在多年前就已经开始使用现代计 算机辅助调度系统。随着日均服务需求的不断增加--在过去5 年内，需求量已经增加了百分之二十二以上--Ambulance对 其系统进行了升级和更换，以满足日益增长的需求。 最新的一项变更是以一个更有效率的方式将核心任务CAD系 统进行整合。Ambulance决定使用一个主要数据中心来支持 负责接收呼叫和救护车调度的四个控制中心。在过去，这个 机构在悉尼、查尔斯镇、达博和瓦里拉中心运行着四个独立 的计算机辅助调度系统。 发展目标

概况浏览 解决方案的概要介绍 • 全球第三大救护车服务机构提供入院就诊前 的急救护理和病人运送; • 每隔28秒对一个业务呼叫做出应对; • 包含一个主要的数据中心和一个灾难恢复的 二级站点; • 与全市的计算机辅助调度系统融为一体化; • 内置式正常运行时间保障; 产品 • Stratus ftServer系统 • TriTech VisiCAD控制中心计算机辅助调度软件 • 微软Windows服务器运行系统 • 微软SQL服务器数据库软件 服务 • Stratus 可用性支持 • Stratus 专业服务

样的后果。这并不意味着只有一 个控制中心将无法正常运行。”

将四个控制中心的计算机辅助调 度系统进行集合实现了一定程度 的弹性，因为每个站点都有其独 立的系统。唯一的缺憾是这些计 算机辅助调度系统并不能共享一 个相同的数据库。每当呼叫接听 员需要将事件信息传送至另一个 控制中心时，系统将运行另外的 程序步骤对信息做出迅速处理。

要求: ● 启用核心任务服务等级 ● 确保综合数据中心的救护车调 度运行的连续性 ● 配合计算机辅助调度系统和定 制界面使用微软Windows运行 系统和SQL服务器数据库

信息技术部主任Roger Hanssen 说，“我们决定对这个架构进行 仔细的审视，因为我们所有四个 控制中心都将通过这唯一的一个 VisiCAD系统进行运作。我们无 需将事件信息从一个中心传送至 另一个中心，因为它们都依赖于 相同的数据库。”

作为公共安全软件的专业软件发 行商，SDSI推荐将Stratus ftServer系统作为新数据中心架 构的硬件平台。这个总部位于昆 士兰的公司是TriTech的VisiCAD Command解决方案在澳大利亚 、新西兰及附近南太平洋诸岛的 发行合伙人，它向Ambulance提 供应用支持和定制化服务。

“所以，首先我们必须考虑如果 电脑系统发生故障将会产生什么

保证运行的持续性至关重要。 Hanssen解释道，“人们不会仅限

工作时间拨打电话呼叫救护车， 我们必须确保每天24小时处于随 时待命的状态并具备相应的工作 能力。” Stratus ftServer解决方案 “我们将Stratus ftServer看作是给 我提供内部冗余的一个平台，确 保发生故障时，系统将继续运行 并在运行过程中将其修复。 ”Hanssen对此作出了特别说明。 实践证明，Stratus ftServer可以 在这个行业领域内实现最高级别 的正常运行时间，它可以帮助基 于微软Windows的应用和数据库 防止发生运行故障和数据丢失。 这个系统置入了冗余组件作为有 效部件，一旦发生问题，可使系 统保持运行。自我诊断技术和自 主监控系统可自动报告潜在问题 情况并快速进行故障处理。

P.4

另一个界面将CAD与电话系统进 行连接，在呼叫接听员的屏幕中 预先显示有关呼入电话的详细信 息，如呼叫来源(自动号码识别/ 自动位置识别或ANI/ALI)。 其他界面中包括与医生办公室和 医院用来安排非紧急转移运送日 程的网络化预定系统的连接，如 主动监控可有效节省时间 Hanssen曾说过按比例减少IT人 员所需支持的单独CAD事项数量 对Ambulance起到很好的帮助作 用，同时也保证了其所需的正常 运行时间。 他还补充道，“选择Stratus平台 的另一个优点在于自主监控。这 一点非常有效。所以，一旦出现 异常情况，我们将会接到Stratus 服务中心的电话，了解到相关情 况。” 我们偶尔需要对其中一个 ftServer系统中的部件进行更换 。一方面可以使用一个冗余元件 使服务器持续正常运行，与此同 时，Stratus的监控系统将在次日 将替换部件送至数据中心。 Hassen解释了使用传统服务器

创建一个灾难恢复站点 Hanssen提到“另一个应急计划是 建立一个DR数据中心，目前阶 段我们尚未建立此类数据中心。 它不仅有Stratus平台的内部冗余 ，而且我们还能在另一个实际站 点拥有镜像系统的后备支持。” “而且这个持续性计划不仅针对 Stratus平台，而是整个数据中心 。这个数据中心拥有不间断的供 电，一个后备发电机，多余的空 调系统等。即便如此，如果我们 硬件的截然不同的体验。“在过 去，如果我们的一个设备发生了 故障，我们需要自己发现设备故 障，然后将此情况报告给供应商 。” “Stratus提供的主动监控无疑是 个显著优势，因为这就意味着我 们无需自行进行监控。” 业务影响 在合并数据中心实现的可靠性得 到充分证明后，Ambulance分了 几个步骤进行实施。在经历了一 年多的时间后，如今的这个数据 中心及其Stratus ftServer系统对 我们在这个州的四个所有控制中 心提供技术支持。 Hanssen对其影响力作了一个总 结，“我们的数据中心架构管理 起来更加简单，同时仍保留了一

的主要数据中心发生重大事故， 我们也能快速转移至DR数据中 心并继续运行。”他补充道。 Ambulance始终将DR数据中心 作为一个热备份。这些设备运行 着与主要站点相同的系统，包括 六 个 ftSer ver系 统 ， VisiCAD Command 软件和所有CAD界面 。Ambulance随时准备就绪，应 对各类紧急事件。主要数据中心 和第二数据中心分别位于悉尼海 港的两侧。这样的地理位置使其 分布于各自独立的电话局和电网 的不同区域。 Ambulance的业务持续性计划非 常严密，工作人员定期地对人工 调度程序进行测试，因此，无论 是否采用CAD系统，他们都能熟 练操作和运用。

定的冗余。Stratus平台确保了我 们服务的持续性。这个服务器的 容错设计使我们对这个系统充满 信心，它将为我们确保全天24 小时的正常运行。” “我们已经实现了实施单个应用 和数据库服务器支持四个控制中 心的目标。确保正常运行时间使 我们能在此架构之上进行增建来 实施我们的DR数据中心。”

“Stratus提供的主动监控无疑 是个显著优势，因为这就意味 着我们无需自行进行监控。” Roger Hanssen Director, Information Technology Ambulance Service of New South Wales

ftServer

将一名病人从一个医院送至一个 护理院。最新的一个界面是与电 子病历记录系统(位于另一个服 务器)的连接。护理人员在其救 护车上使用定制的笔记本电脑来 记录病人信息，再通过基于 ftServer开发的VisiCAD系统将此 信息转移到病人将被送入收治的 医院急诊室。

政府及公共安全

除了核心VisiCAD Command软件 外，ftServer系统还将运行核心 界面，其中一些是客户定制开发 的，可将计算机辅助调度系统与 其他非Stratus系统进行连接。这 些界面的优点在于来自VisiCAD 应用的数据和数据库可在其他系 统中显示，反之亦然。这些链接 包含了一个与服务中心1100辆 救护车的移动数据终端相连的界 面，将有关每个事件的相关信息 传送至护理人员，并借助CAD系 统使其进行交流。

P.5

Allegheny County Emergency Services 9-1-1 Division Stratus delivers continuous uptime for multi-jurisdictional police, fire and emergency services

Business situation

Allegheny County, Pennsylvania’s Public Safety Telecommunicators handled 1.3 million emergency and non-emergency calls in 2011, an average of more than one per county resident. Daily call volumes of 4,500 to 5,000 are not unusual.

The scale of operations and infrastructure required to support this multi-agency, multi-jurisdictional Emergency Services 9-1-1 Division places it among the nation’s top-tier public safety dispatch authorities. The Center dispatches the 91 police, 167 Fire and 46 EMS agencies that serve and protect 130 municipalities in a 731-square mile area, the largest city being Pittsburgh.

Prior to 2010 the county’s dispatch operation consisted of two independent UNIX-based systems that had been operating for more than nine years. During this time, the computer industry at large was moving away from the high management and maintenance costs of inflexible UNIX systems. The power and performance of Intel processor-based servers, together with the performance, versatility and reliability of Microsoft Windows® applications offered a compelling, cost-effective alternative. In 2008 Allegheny County embarked on a project to completely update its computing infrastructure. Plans called for moving computer-aided dispatch (CAD) and other critical applications off legacy systems onto a Microsoft Windows-based application suite running on an industrystandard server platform. At the conclusion of the two-year effort, they would merge the two independent systems into a fully integrated, distributed and redundant system with both a primary dispatch center and an overflow/ disaster recovery site to ensure operational continuity regardless of circumstances. The new CAD system would enable dispatchers to respond to, manage and track emergency calls more efficiently to the benefit of the county’s citizenry, as well as its hundreds of first responders.

Business objectives Allegheny County’s UNIX-based systems had been operating reliably for many years. As dependable as their server hardware and support from Stratus Technologies had been, more current and cost-effective products had entered the marketplace that could help the county integrate its two independent dispatch systems with improved resiliency and system-wide efficiency. As had many software companies, the Agency’s public-safety applications provider had re-written its products for Microsoft Windows, knowing that this was where future business growth would be coming from. Likewise, Stratus had also introduced a new category of servers in 2001 – fault-tolerant servers for Windows, built with industrystandard Intel® processors. Given the age of its infrastructure, together with industry advancements, the county determined that it was time for a technology upgrade. The multi-million dollar contract was put out to bid.

The County engaged an independent consultant to assist with preparing a request for proposal. “The bidding

QUICK FACTS SOLUTION PROFILE Fire, Police and EMS dispatch serving 130 municipalities over 731 square miles Primary and DR centers fully integrated and synchronized in real time UNIX® to industry-standard solution migration 99.99 percent uptime was RFP requirement CAD, remote CAD, mobile, Web query, PRM, system interface require continuous availability PRODUCTS Stratus® ftServer® systems Stratus ftScalable™ storage Microsoft® Windows Server® operating system Microsoft SQL Server® database software VMware® vSphere™ virtualization software SERVICES Stratus Support Services

process was rigorous,” said Gary J. Thomas, assistant chief/9-1-1 coordinator. “Prospective bidders had to complete a 700-point response matrix.

We subjected a number of suppliers and their products to exhaustive and thorough analyses. Based on our past experience with the uptime reliability of Stratus servers running mission critical applications, we included a 99.99%uptime requirement in the RFP as a minimum standard for the total solution.”

The new industry-standard hardware and software products from the County’s current vendors ultimately prevailed in the RFP process, with the added feature of virtualization. The fully redundant Windows-based CAD system would run in virtual machines on fully redundant Stratus ftServer systems. The software package included a more robust mobile solution, hosted Web query, and integrated police records modules. “Our first-hand experience with the previous Stratus UNIX servers had been first-rate and we fully expected the same experience from the new ftServer systems,” said Assistant Chief Thomas.

Running at full potential The Dispatch Center is located five miles from the overflow/disaster recovery center; the two facilities are almost identically equipped. A dedicated connection keeps the two centers synchronized with near-real-time log shipping. The overflow site can take over complete operations in a very short period of time. It can also serve as an extension of the 9-1-1 center to immediately increase dispatch and call-taking positions when needed.

Three computer-aided dispatch technicians oversee day-to-day operations and maintenance of the entire CAD infrastructure.

The Primary Center houses a total of 18 servers, including two Stratus ftServer systems. Staff positions in the 63-seat center include 20 call taker, 39 dispatch and four supervisory posts. One ftServer system serves as the VMware ESX Server ™, which hosts the two primary CAD applications on virtual machine (VMs).

These two main virtual machines run the database interface, Web interface host, and complete message switch and inter-

Allegheny County enhanced other services as part of the infrastructure project, as well. A comprehensive mobile data communication system allows first responders to quickly send and receive critical information from the field during emergency situations. Officers use the field reporting system to access case reports while in their vehicles. This integrated mobile solution increases accuracy and speeds information access, giving officers more time to interact with the community.

protocol database, two VPN controllers for mobile users, a records management application controller, records management database server, mapping/ location verification system controller, and a number of other applications.

The Overflow/Disaster Recovery Site once housed the City of Pittsburgh’s Dispatch Center. In 2004, all UNIX application servers were relocated to what is now the County’s primary center. Today, the 17 application servers there, including two Stratus ftServer systems, mirror primary-site operations in near real-time. Fourteen call takers, 24 dispatchers, and two supervisory personnel – a total of 40 – can staff the center. In the event additional dispatch resources are required or the primary communication center becomes inoperable, the disaster-tolerant configuration allows the overflow communications center to operate as an extension of the primary center or as a fully independent call-taking and dispatch facility with accurate up-to-the-second information.

The second ftServer system at the primary site runs one Windows Server that hosts the Microsoft SQL CAD database for Call History and complete system configuration and run-time settings.

The Center’s 16 other servers run a range of less-critical applications. These include workloads such as active directory services, centralized distribution for software updates, Internet-facing DMZ Web page hosting, centralized outbound paging/text alerts, medical

“Because of its distributed architecture, our CAD system can always run basic functionality such as ‘enter calls for service’ and ‘dispatch calls for service.’

Our entire support operation – remote CAD, system interfaces, mobile communication, Web query, and police records management system – is completely dependent on Stratus servers,” said Paul Colberg, CAD technician. “I’m confident that Stratus systems and people will get the job done.”

Allegheny runs critical operations at its primary and overflow site on Stratus ftServer systems P r im a y D is p a tc h C e n te r

O v e r f lo w/Dis as ter R ec overy C enter

Internet

Routers Stratus ftScalable Stora ge

Routers

Com mand C AD /Mes s age Switch database

Com mand C AD /Mes s age Switch database

Stratus ftScalable Stora ge

Responders

Com mand C AD /Mes s age Switch Apps/Comm

Com mand C AD /Mes s age Switch Apps/Comm Outside web users

Outside web users

All other Serve rs

WEB Query via VPN

PSAP

C all Takers Dispatchers

All other Serve rs PSAP

C all Takers Dispatchers

The overflow s ite mirrors primary s ite operations in near real-time and can take over complete operations in a very s hort period of time.

Government & Public Safety

face programs. This enables the transfer of information from the 9-1-1 center to more than 700 field mobile users. About 300 mobile data terminals are connected at any given time, but that number can increase dramatically during large-scale incidents that require additional police, fire, and EMS responders. The system also makes postdispatch updates available to several different records management systems, as well as to more than 400 Web users on demand.

ftServer

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P.7

Allegheny County Emergency Services 9-1-1 Division “Our first-hand experience with the previous Stratus UNIX servers had been first-rate and we fully expected the same experience from the new ftServer systems.”

Business Impact The job of first responders is challenging enough without having system interruptions that add seconds to onsite arrival in an emergency. Preventing unplanned downtime was a non-negotiable criterion in Allegheny County’s RFP process, and a primary reason for installing Stratus ftServer systems for its most critical applications.

“We simply cannot accept lost data, response-time degradation, incomplete information, inaccessibility to National Criminal Justice files, or delayed secondary notifications to emergency responders,” said Assistant Chief Thomas.

“These can severely undermine our effectiveness at carrying out our mission. You’ll hear this all the time, but only because it’s true: seconds are a precious commodity in the business of life safety, property protection, and crime prevention and investigation.”

In addition to hardware, the remote monitoring and management services from Stratus are key to preventing unplanned downtime and data loss. Using a real-time connection to Stratus' 24/7 global support team, the servers themselves notify the Customer Assistance Center (CAC) of the status of hundreds of critical operating conditions. In the event of a potential problem, ftServer systems self-heal, proactively ask for remote analysis, or utilize the server architecture's fault-tolerant features to eliminate failing modules without any application interruption.

“Stratus service technicians are tenacious and will not stop until everything is as it should be,” said Colberg.

“From the courteous and helpful customer assistance reps, to the knowledgeable and devoted engineers … even to our account representative, Stratus takes support to the highest levels. Dedication to detail while maintaining the lowest possible interruption to our operations is the hallmark of our experiences with Stratus professional services.”

“Prospective bidders had to complete a 700point response matrix. We subjected a number of suppliers and their products to exhaustive and thorough analyses. Based on our past experience with the uptime reliability of Stratus servers running mission-critical applications, we included a 99.99% uptime requirement in the RFP for the total solution.”

Gary J. Thomas Assistant Chief/9-1-1 Coordinator Allegheny County, Pennsylvania

P.8

Emergency Medical Care, Inc. Ensuring Disaster Preparedness with Stratus Uptime Assurance and TriTech Software

It’s a commitment that Emergency Medical Care takes seriously indeed, which is reflected in the high-performance ambulance service’s choices in computer-aided dispatch (CAD) and disaster recovery solutions: VisiCAD from TriTech Software Systems powered by the fault-tolerant ftServer system from Stratus Technologies.

Business objectives Emergency Medical Care put a comprehensive plan and infrastructure in place to be fully prepared should a disaster disrupt operations at its primary communications center. Central to that readiness is a backup communications center the ambulance service established to support key objectives including: ● Provide optimal level of service during routine operations ● Ensure continuity of emergency medical care response during disasters ● Serve as a test bed for new technologies.

The uptime solution Nova Scotia’s maritime geography brings the possibility for operations at Emergency Medical Care’s primary communications center to be interrupted by hurricanes.

Acknowledging this threat, the province provided a backup location sited further inland than the primary facility.

Other advantages of the alternate location include close proximity to the primary site to minimize travel time during an evacuation; a separate electrical grid in the event of power failures; and a redundant, dualentrance telecommunications voice and data network access point. The alternate communications center is equipped with backup generator power and building/network security, plus software and hardware similar to that used in the primary communications center.

Both in the primary communications center and in the backup site, Emergency Medical Care uses TriTech’s computeraided dispatch software to respond rapidly to emergency situations and effectively

SOLUTION PROFILE • Provides computer-aided dispatch at PSAP • Ensures disaster recovery capability at backup facility • Designed for 99.999% or greater server uptime PRODUCTS

ftServer

QUICK FACTS

• TriTech VisiCAD Command CAD • TriTech VisiCAD Command Disaster Recovery Solution • Microsoft® Windows Server® operating system • Stratus® ftServer® systems • EMC® RepliStor®

manage any requests for emergency medical transport. The robust TriTech CAD solution features an easy-to-use graphical-driven interface and an integrated digital mapping system for fast, accurate dispatch and resource management. This computer-aided dispatch solution is a critical application that Emergency Medical Care uses to consistently meet contractual response times specified by EHS of Nova Scotia.

software and hardware in place at the primary and backup sites, Emergency Medical Care staff is able to focus on operations and maintaining a high level of service to citizens.

Business Impact The staff at Emergency Medical Care conducts semi-annual evacuations from the primary communications center to the backup site to verify operational readiness in the event of disaster conditions. These planned evacuations, which are Category 1 tests, provide opportunities for the ambulance service provider to adjust operations and refine the plan on an ongoing basis.

In the backup site, the ambulance service provider uses the VisiCAD Command Disaster Recovery Solution, powered by EMC Corporation’s RepliStor, to replicate the primary CAD to the backup site in real time.

The VisiCAD Command solution remains online and fully available during data backup processes without disruption to end users In Emergency Medical Care’s first Category 3 and ensures continuous availability with evacuation emergency scenario disaster test, dubbed Operation Firestone, the cutover to updated information at the backup site.

VisiCAD Command and VisiCAD Command Complete backups of the Master, MSDB, Disaster Recovery Solution software and Messaging, System, and Streets databases Stratus hardware at the backup site was are performed on a daily basis, with system seamless. database transaction log backups occurring at shorter intervals, such as every 30 The backup location affords a test bed for new minutes. The disaster recovery solution technologies. Because the alternate and maximizes business continuity by providing primary sites use the same software and file, database, and volume-level protection; hardware configuration, it is possible to intelligent and rapid data recovery; and trans- conduct rigorous testing, evaluate performance, and incorporate any necessary actional consistent recovery of active data. changes prior to installation in the primary The mission-critical nature of these software site. Most importantly, the backup site applications led Emergency Medical Care to provides assurance to the residents of Nova select the continuously available, fault Scotia. With a fully functional redundant tolerant Stratus ftServer system to provide backup communications center – equipped 99.999% uptime assurance. Choosing with VisiCAD Command Disaster Recovery ftServer hardware allowed them to eliminate Solution software and the Stratus ftServer the possibility of failover, and to avoid the system – up-to-date and tested disaster ongoing administration needed to ensure preparedness is part of Emergency Medical that a multi-server cluster is properly config- Care’s plan. ured for high availability. With reliable

Government & Public Safety

Business situation Emergency Medical Care, Inc., a subsidiary of Medavie Blue Cross, performs a vital role as the contracted provider of ambulance services for the Emergency Health Services (EHS) System of Nova Scotia and the province’s only secondary public safety answering point (PSAP). To ensure the continuity of emergency medical care to residents, Emergency Medical Care has instituted a thorough disaster plan that includes maintaining a fully redundant backup site.

P.9

Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport Assured uptime for CAD enables police, fire, and emergency response at the world’s busiest airport Business situation More passengers travel through Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport than any other on the planet. Not only has HartsfieldJackson been number one in passengers for the past 13 years, but also for five years straight the airport has been the busiest in landings and takeoffs.

With that much activity, Hartsfield-Jackson stays ready to handle emergencies of all types. In 2010, the airport added a new Centralized Command and Control Center (C4) to expand its preparedness. The C4 provides a single point for managing incidents on its 4,700 acre campus, and one central place that people can call.

The C4 uses a computer aided dispatch (CAD) system to help speed police and fire department responses. Both the Atlanta Police Department and the Atlanta Fire Department keep units stationed at the airport.

And for the past five years, Hartsfield-Jackson has depended on Public Safety Systems Incorporated (PSSI) and Stratus Technologies to keep its CAD system running smoothly - with maximum uptime.

QUICK FACTS SOLUTION PROFILE Enables computer aided dispatch of police and fire units stationed at airport Serves the busiest airport in the world Provides centralized point of contact for 4,700 acre airport campus Integrates with the city’s CAD system Assures mission-critical uptime with Stratus® ftServer® system PRODUCTS Stratus ftServer system PSSI RESPONSE™ Computer Aided Dispatch (RESPONSE CAD) software Microsoft® Windows Server® SQL Server® database software SERVICES • Stratus Assured Availability Support

Business objectives

it would for an unattended bag.”

Before 2006, the airport was served by CAD from a different software provider.

When the system was due for replacement, it offered the chance to adopt the same PSSI software used by the City of Atlanta. Then the two CAD systems could work together effortlessly. For example, the airport CAD system could archive police and fire calls directly to the city’s records management (RMS) database.

Dispatch would also be less efficient if the CAD system were down. “Our dispatchers would have to rely a lot more on communication by phone and radio. They would also have to keep track of calls manually to be reentered for archiving later,” he said.

The change also called for a new server.

The systems integration firm that did the initial installation recommended a faulttolerant Stratus ftServer system for uptime assurance. The airport’s CAD administrator, Dan Negris, was familiar with the built-in resiliency provided by the ftServer design. He recalled, “Having researched Stratus before this for a different application, I was excited about the possibilities Stratus had over a cluster in terms of manageability.”

Uptime is crucial for the CAD system.

Negris explained, “CAD recommends the best response using the nearest police and fire units that are available. So for example, it sends a different recommendation for a passenger having a heart attack than

The PSSI and Stratus solution: Mission-critical CAD applications need a resilient platform. “Stratus’ 24/7 uptime assurance and proactive monitoring, paired with the proven reliability and efficiency of our RESPONSE CAD software, gives dispatchers the stability they need for continuous real-time access to vital information and communications,” said Linda Kossa, director of marketing at PSSI. Dispatchers at 14 workstations access RESPONSE CAD, which runs on the ftServer system. They track incidents, and send police, fire, and emergency medical services help to calls on airport property.

Dynamic mapping capability lets the dispatchers view the area of an incident and see where there are units available to respond. The system also provides access to Georgia Crime Information

Center/National Crime Information Center (GCIC/NCIC) records.

In addition, the system interacts with PSSI‘s RESPONSE In-Field software on mobile computer terminals that deliver information to police and fire personnel in their vehicles. PSSI’s ICIS™ In-Form lets these responders file incident reports using mobile computers.

RESPONSE CAD also links to the city’s ICIS Records Management System (ICIS RMS), which PSSI also provides. That gives authorized public safety personnel outside the airport access to incident information when they need it.

The CAD application uses the Microsoft Windows operating system and SQL Server database, which makes it a good fit for the fault-tolerant Stratus ftServer system.

The ftServer system builds in duplicate components. This design lets the system automatically ride through issues that would cause a conventional server to crash. And unlike using a server cluster for redundancy, the ftServer system doesn’t require IT administrators to use special software scripts and systems

P.10

The ftServer system uses standard technologies, and applications don’t have to be modified to benefit from the server’s uptime features. As a result, the airport gained more flexibility to tailor the CAD application.

PSSI customized the airport’s fire district alerting. Before when dispatchers needed to call fire or EMS personnel, they sent a tone that alerted an entire fire station.

Now the dispatchers alert zones in any of the five stations. “If we need a particular type of equipment, or to alert a certain group of people, we can do that discretely,” explained Negris. That gets the right help, to the right place, at the right time.

The industry-standard environment also accommodates small changes to the application that the airport operations team sometimes needs. Negris observed,

Business Impact Managing Hartsfield-Jackson’s CAD system over the past five years has made an impression on Negris. He has heard positive comments from the dispatchers as well.

“I’ve been very pleased with the performance of the Stratus hardware and the support I’ve gotten from them. And running the PSSI CAD has taken a lot of stress out of the picture,” Negris stated.

With daily responsibility for administering the CAD system, he observed, “Having that instant access to Stratus support is really useful.”

The real test is how successfully the ftServer supports uptime. “We have not experienced any unplanned downtime in five years,” said Negris. In addition, the CAD administrator notes that planned downtime has been quite limited. Scheduled downtime has been mostly for

Call-home monitoring is always on the job As an IT professional, Negris appreciates that the ftServer design makes managing uptime much easier. “I’ve dealt with clusters, but it’s nothing like the availability of a Stratus server. Maintaining the cluster so it will fail over correctly can be tricky,” he noted. “I like the redundancy that the Stratus hardware has. It keeps us running and we don’t miss a beat.”

The ftServer system’s self-diagnostics and predictive monitoring contribute to keeping uptime high without extra effort.

Negris said, “And what I really, really love is the phone home - to get a call from a Stratus technician telling me that, say, one

occasional application maintenance.

At Hartsfield-Jackson, impeccable CAD uptime has become part of the plan that keeps emergency response ready to go on any moment’s notice.

of our power supplies is down. They’re on top of things even after hours.”

On one occasion, the airport had to move the Stratus ftServer from one building to another. The server had to be offline briefly during the move, which interrupted the connection with the Stratus Customer Assistance Center (CAC).

Negris quickly got a call from the Stratus CAC to check on what seemed to be abnormal monitoring events. While there was no problem, he was reassured to know that the server’s call-home reporting and Stratus’ 24-hour monitoring are always there.

This support is more extensive than with the previous solution, and Negris’ department also saves money on system support costs by working with Stratus and PSSI.

“ I like the redundancy that the Stratus hardware has. It keeps us running and we don’t miss a beat. And what I really, really love is the phone home - to get a call from a technician telling me that, say, one of our power supplies is down. They’re on top of things even after hours” Dan Negris CAD Administrator, Department of Information Technology Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport

ftServer

Customized CAD

“Making routine changes in the SQL GUI [graphical user interface] is a whole lot easier than our previous system. “With our previous system, we had to notify the vendor every time we wanted to make a change. Now the supervisors can make a large percentage of the changes, and I can take care of anything they can’t do.”

Government & Public Safety

management procedures to ensure uptime.

P.11

MIS Systems Engineering Guaranteeing uptime all the time for UK Ambulance Services Business situation July 2006 saw the UK government consolidate the number of Ambulance Trusts covering England from 33 to 11. They introduced some challenging performance targets too, requiring 75% of all priority one calls to have a resource on scene within eight minutes from time of first ring in the Control Centre. Simultaneously, emergency calls made in England were on the up. Ambulance Command and Control Centres in the UK were under immense pressure; could their IT infrastructures cope?

Quick to recognise the potential impact of these changes, MIS Systems Engineering, whose existing Command and Control solution was in place in 59% of UK & Ireland Ambulance Services, began to survey the partnering landscape. Their customers told them: ‘we’re going to need a bigger boat.’ They were intent on building one.

Business objectives “The objective was to review our existing CAD solution and to quickly develop it into something that would deliver the exceptional levels of performance and availability demanded of our clients.

Failure to do so could cost lives,” Mark Appleyard, managing director at MIS System Engineering explains.

Downtime is just not an option for the ambulance service and MIS knew that the generic Dell®/ HP® data replication and clustering technology it had in place was no longer enough for the new ‘super’ Trusts. They knew they had to find an ultra-high availability solution and they had to do so quickly.

“We needed a rock solid foundation to underpin our software solutions.

Clusters don’t protect ‘in-memory’ data; if a node crashes there is a possibility that database structures could get corrupted. The ambulance service couldn’t afford that risk. In addition, clusters do not prevent downtime, they simply deal with it after the event, and even though a clustered Microsoft SQL Server® failover can happen quite quickly, the loss of service for even a

QUICK FACTS SOLUTION PROFILE Uptime assurance for UK ambulance command and control centres, due to extreme pressure from changing legislation and increasing demand PRODUCTS MIS’s ALERT C3 command and control system EISEC/ALSEC, advanced mobile data AVLS/GPS Embedded GIS Stratus® ftServer systems SERVICES • Stratus Support Services

few seconds can cause major operational difficulties for the ambulance control room staff. Also, occasionally, depending on the nature of the problem, a cluster may automatically failover for a non-critical problem.

Getting the configuration balance correct between automatic and manual failover events can be very tricky. With fewer ambulance services covering larger geographic regions, the risks were too high,” Mark explains.

“Then there were the complexities and costs of maintaining a cluster, in terms of skills for both MIS support technicians and the end user ICT staff. To guarantee continuous availability and to do so fast, we were going to need something else.”

Stratus ftServer systems “We knew we needed to find a highly resilient hardware infrastructure that eliminated single points of failure and downtime, including failovers. We needed guarantees that it would perform well during high levels of activity and we needed it to integrate seamlessly into the many third-party interfaces/systems

that encompass the ALERT C3 Command and Control System solution.

Such interfaces include EISEC/ALSEC, advanced mobile data, AVLS/GPS and a full embedded GIS which tracks over 500 vehicle movements at any given time with required sub-second responses,” advises Mark.

“The hardware also needed to be Intel® based and run industry standard software. Most of all, deployment had to be simple and the supplier had to have a proven track record of working in the high availability market with high profile businesses. I can not stress enough how crucial it was to ensure we chose the correct hardware supplier.

Any failure, at any level, could literally cost lives.”

Mark spent several months looking at the various technologies and supplier products before deciding on Stratus.

The main reason for choosing Stratus, he says, was that an ftServer® system looks and feels just like any other standard Intel server, but with added advantages.

“Fully fault-tolerant, redundant components mean the hardware keeps on

“What’s more, because ftServer is so easy to implement, deploy, support and manage, our systems engineers could use their existing skill sets. There was no need to retrain. This meant significant savings in terms of both money and time. It allowed us to develop a first to market ‘straight out of the box’ solution, without changing even a single line of code,” concludes Mark.

working with the Ambulance Services for over 25 years before we came along. They had built really good relationships with many of the Trusts through carefully listening to what they needed and responding quickly. This working style reflects ours and I look forward to celebrating the success of the many exciting developments we are currently working on together.”

About MIS Systems MIS Systems Engineering has been delivering system and network infrastructures with the highest levels of availability, fault-tolerance and resilience to the public sector since 1981. Based in custom built premises on the outskirts of Northwich, Cheshire, UK, MIS has built a niche business based on technical excellence, long-term relationships with its customers and a commitment to best practice customer support and services.

Business impact “Results have been outstanding.

Not only does the hardware comfortably deal with everything we throw at it, but there is still plenty of resource left over for future expansion, protecting our clients’ investments,” explains Mark.

“Thanks to Stratus and ftServer, we were able to develop our MIS ALERT C3 solution to be one of the quickest most efficient and reliable real-time Ambulance Command and Control System available, anywhere. A quick review of the Department of Health returns for Emergency Operation Centre (EOC) control room handling times clearly shows that organisations using ALERT C3 are consistently amongst the best performers both with regards to EOC times and overall operational performance.

“We chose ftServer because of the cast iron guarantee of 99.999+% uptime; the simplicity of installing,

implementing and supporting it (and the associated savings) and Stratus’s track record. On reflection, Stratus’s approach to business has helped us to define our success in this sector too. As a technical organisation, it is important we can speak to technical people. One of the things we like about Stratus is they give us direct access to people who can answer our questions.”

“From day one, Stratus made us feel like a partner, not just another customer. Their people have worked closely with ours, providing resources and expertise whenever required to help us fully test and benchmark our solutions before we make any commitments to our customers. This is vital for us to ensure we can deliver what we promise,” concludes Mark.

Andy Bailey, availability advisor with Stratus UK, picks up on this theme: “MIS had been successfully

“The Ambulance Service does a magnificent job, often in very difficult circumstances.

MIS understands that every second counts and can quite often save lives. That’s why we are focused on building MIS Command and Control system solutions with the best possible uptimes using Stratus hardware” Mark Appleyard Managing director MIS System Engineering

Government & Public Safety

running, even if something as critical s a processor fails. This is really important for us in achieving our zero downtime goals. Stratus servers constantly monitor themselves via ActiveService ™ technology, which automatically isolates and reports any potential issues to their global network of support engineers. This gave us absolute confidence that nothing could go wrong. Nothing did,” says Mark.

ftServer

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P.13

St. Charles County Department of Dispatch and Alarm Assured uptime for dynamic, cross-jurisdictional CAD speeds response time to save lives Business situation When a 911 emergency call comes in, every second can mean the difference between life or death, a total loss of property or saving irreplaceable belongings. In St. Charles County, Missouri, the Department of Dispatch and Alarm keenly understands the importance of time when responding to a critical situation, and meets the challenge head on with a robust, highly reliable computer-aided dispatch (CAD) system built on Stratus® ftServer®systems and TriTech Software Systems’ “TriTech” VisiCAD™ software.

QUICK FACTS SOLUTION PROFILE Countywide dispatch provides cross-jurisdictional service for 34 fire stations and 16 ambulance bases Responds to 40,000+ calls per year Always assigns closest unit to urgent incidents, including dynamic unit swap based on real-time location and status data Builds in uptime assurance

Dispatch and Alarm is unusual in that it is a county government organization that supports independently run fire and EMS districts, encompassing 34 fire stations and 16 ambulance bases strategically located across St. Charles County. In all, the Department is responsible for emergency communications for field units that protect more than 350,000 citizens.

PRODUCTS

Originally provided by city police dispatching on a pay-per-call basis, emergency dispatch services wanted to make sure its technologies and procedures could keep up with the demands of a growing population.

Input from fire chiefs and EMS personnel pointed to the need for a countywide dispatch system, and all agreed to allow cross-jurisdictional dispatch. The key then was finding the right CAD system flexible enough to support a wide range of emergency response plans, with the uptime required for flawless performance 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

SERVICES

Business objectives Dispatch and Alarm adopted TriTech’s VisiCAD for its highly flexible capabilities and initially implemented the software in a clustered server environment. As the cluster servers reached end of life and dispatch demands continued to rise, the Department looked for a solution that could assure maximum uptime without the complexity and maintenance overhead that a cluster requires. After collaborating with TriTech to research available options, Dispatch and Alarm implemented the Stratus ftServer system in 2002 and never looked back.

“We can have 120 mobile units available for assignment at any one time and need to know their exact locations so we can identify the one closest to the emergency,” explains Bob Watts, director, Department of Dispatch and Alarm. “We operate in a very dynamic environment, which means it’s critically important for us to keep our CAD software running around the clock.

And we have just one IT manager, so easy administration is essential.”

Stratus® ftServer® systems TriTech VisiCAD™ computer-aided dispatch software TriTech VisiNet Mobile™ wireless in-vehicle application Microsoft® Windows Server® 2008 operating system Microsoft SQL Server® 2008 database software

• Stratus Support Services • TriTech Support Services

Uptime is also important because the Department originates all the records for every emergency call, including address, incident details, billing information, medical records, etc.

“Downtime with our servers for any reason, even regular maintenance, poses significant problems,” notes Travis Hill, IT manager, Department of Dispatch and Alarm. “Emergencies can happen any time of day or night, so if we are not able to capture the information electronically, we’d have to go back and dig through the tapes and reassemble the information manually. It would be a very painful process.”

The TriTech and Stratus solution

With lives and property on the line, Dispatch and Alarm puts its trust in the Stratus ftServer system as the primary production server to run TriTech’s VisiCAD. VisiCAD captures data throughout each call, providing a comprehensive account of the situation with integrated mapping to support quick dispatch decisions. It is a flexible solution, enabling coordinated emergency response among

multiple agencies across multiple jurisdictions on a single system. Dispatch and Alarm also utilizes TriTech’s VisiNet Mobile™, a wireless application installed in every front-line fire and EMS vehicle. It allows the Department to extend the capabilities of VisiCAD to field personnel, providing them with instant access to real-time incident information while en route.

In addition, the Department has a second ftServer system for its data warehouse, which houses every call that’s ever been entered into the CAD system. It is the original Stratus server purchased for CAD and since repurposed following an upgrade to the latest ftServer system.

“We’ve been running our original ftServer system for nine years now with absolutely no downtime,” reports Hill.

“The only thing we ever had to do was replace one hard drive, which we did without stopping the system. And it’s been running continuously since without a problem.” Hill adds, “What’s great about the ftServer system is I never have to worry about it. Any time there’s been an issue Stratus has called me first. They know about the problem before I do and

“As a government organization, we have to manage our budgets responsibly,” says Watts. “We look at our investment in the TriTech/Stratus solution as an integral part of our life safety program.

It’s enabled us to serve the citizens of St. Charles County more promptly and efficiently.”

Adding to the flexibility is the “unit swap” capability in VisiCAD. With this feature, if a dispatcher initially assigns one unit to a call, but another unit becomes closer because they’ve just cleared a previous call, then the second unit can take over, saving precious seconds. “We use TriTech

as the judge and jury to determine if a unit becomes closer, even if it’s only by one second,” adds Watts. “That can often make a big difference in having a successful outcome.”

On-demand emergency response With TriTech, Dispatch and Alarm has exceptional flexibility to define and manage response plans that match the individual needs of each jurisdiction it serves. A key attribute of the system is the ability to assign the closest unit to the scene of an incident—even crossing jurisdictions when the situation is critical.

“We’ve created very dynamic response plans,” says Watts. “As a result, we can always assign the closest unit as the first priority. All our districts are on board—we all live by this rule.”

Business Impact The true test of any technology is how well it improves the effectiveness of the organization. In the case of St. Charles County Department of Dispatch and Alarm, the impact is more accurately measured in the number of lives saved.

Watts comments, “We use the TriTech and Stratus solution to dynamically adapt as changes occur, and to fine tune our own processes and operations to make sure that we always have the right response, that we’re getting there faster to the benefit of our citizens.”

“We handle around 40,000 calls for service each year and provide a tremendous amount of information to the field responders on every one,” he adds. “It takes a very strong and stable system, not only to produce that data, but also to make sure it’s available without fail. The responders just want to know that every time they step into their vehi-

The Department of Dispatch and Alarm can have 120 mobile units available for assignment at any one time and needs to know their exact locations so they can identify the one closest to the emergency.

cles, they’ll have the correct information, the most direct routing, and all the details they need to handle the incident—whether it’s a heart attack or a house fire. That’s what Stratus and TriTech do for us. There is no doubt in my mind that this technology has helped us save lives.”

“ We operate in a very dynamic environment, which means it’s critically important for us to keep our CAD software running around the clock. And we have just one IT manager, so easy administration is essential.”

Bob Watts Director, Department of Dispatch and Alarm St. Charles County, Missouri

Government & Public Safety

they usually fix it before I even realize there was anything going on.”

ftServer

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圣查尔斯县急救派遣和报警中心 确保跨越不同司法管辖区的计算机辅助调度系统的正常运行时间，缩短响应时间，拯救更多 宝贵生命 业务状况

概况浏览

当接入一个911急救电话，之后的每一秒对于呼救者而言即意味 着生与死的天壤之别，抑或是所有财产的付之一炬或是不可替 代的珍贵物品的完好无所。密苏里州圣查尔斯县的急救派遣和 报警中心深谙在处理应急状况过程中时间的重要性，基于 Stratus ftServer系统，TriTech软件系统TriTech VisiCAD软件建立的 计算机辅助派遣(CAD)系统功能强大，性能稳定，对急救派遣和 报警中心的日常工作起到非常大的作用。 急救派遣和报警中心的独特之处在于它是一个县政府机构，独 立支持消防和急救服务中心，包括分布于圣查尔斯县的34个消 防队和16个救护车服务中心。这个部门负责为现场单位进行紧 急通讯，保护着350,000多名市民的人身安全。 最初，紧急派遣服务中心根据市警察局的派遣指令提供相应服 务，并按照每次的呼叫服务收取费用，紧急派遣服务中心努力 确保其技术和处理程序满足随着人口数量增加而日益增长的服 务需求。消防部门的主管人员和急救服务中心的人员纷纷投入 资金建立一个覆盖全县的派遣系统，并同意跨越司法管辖区进 行派遣。当时的主要任务是找到适合的计算机辅助派遣系统， 用来支持一系列的紧急响应计划，同时确保终年不间断的24小 时正常运行时间。 发展目标 急救派遣和报警中心采用了 TriTech的VisiCAD,充分利用其较 强的适用性和功能性，并在一开 始就将这个软件运用于成簇服务 器环境中。随着成簇服务器逐渐 临近其使用寿命的终点以及与日 俱增的服务派遣需求，急救派遣 和报警中心不得不寻求一个解决 方案来确保正常运行时间的最大 化，同时尽可能地降低使用操作 的复杂性和维护成本。在与 TriTech共同合作研究各种可选方 案后，急救派遣和报警中心在 2002年决定采用Stratus ftServer 系统，并延续至今。 急救派遣和报警中心主任Bob Watts做出了详细的解释，“我们 共有120个移动装置可供同时调 遣，我们需要知道它们的准确位

解决方案的概要介绍 这个急救派遣中心覆盖了整个县，为全县34 个消防站和16个救护车中心提供跨越司法管 辖区的全方位服务； 每年对40,000多个业务呼叫做出应对； 派遣距离最近的单位抵达急救现场，根据实时 位置和状态数据进行调派； 内置式正常运行时间保障； 产品 Stratus ftServer系统 TriTech VisiCAD计算机辅助调度软件 TriTech VisiNet Mobile无线车内应用 微软Windows服务器2008运行系统 微软SQL服务器2008数据库软件 服务 • Stratus 可用性支持 • Stratus 专业服务

置后才能确定与现场距离最近的 急救车辆并派往现场。我们的工 作环境常常需要争分夺秒，因此 ，必须确保我们使用的计算机辅 助派遣软件始终处于正常的运行 状态，这一点非常重要。同时， 因为我们只有一名IT经理，所以 简单的管理模式必不可少。” 因为急救派遣和报警中心还需负 责对每一个紧急呼叫做好相关的 记录和存档，包括地址、事故详 细情况、账务信息和病史等，因 而确保正常运行时间显得尤为重 要。 急救派遣和报警中心IT经理Travis Hill补充道，“如果服务器发生故 障，即便是在普通的维护过程中 出现故障，也会导致严重后果。 紧急事件可能随时发生，不分昼

夜，如果我们无法从网络系统中 获取相关信息，则须人工翻阅历 史记录，梳理相关信息，这无疑 是个耗时耗力的过程。” TriTech和Stratus 解决方案 系统的正常运行关系着人们的生 命与财产安全，急救派遣和报警 中心充分信赖Stratus ftServer系 统并将其作为主要的实际执行服 务器，运行TriTech的VisiCAD。 VisiCAD可通过每一个呼叫电话 捕捉相关信息，全面了解事件情 况，并通过描图帮助快速做出派 遣指令。这个解决方案具有很大 的灵活性，通过一个系统即可对 不同辖区内的多个应急处理机构 进行调配，做出快速的应急响应 。急救派遣和报警中心还在每一 辆执行任务的消防和急救车辆安

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Hill分享了使用Stratus的心得体 会，“我们第一台ftServer系统运 行了整整9年的时间，从未发生 过任何故障。我们只需更换一 完成之前的呼叫服务后距离现 场距离更近，则刚完成任务的 单位可就近接手这项新任务， 节约宝贵时间。Watts补充说明 ，“TriTech就像是我们的裁判和 陪审团，判断和决定哪一个单位 距离更近，即便只是一秒之差， 但结果往往有着天壤之别。” 业务影响 对一项技术的真正考验是看它 如何改善机构的工作效率。对 于圣查尔斯县急救派遣和报警 中心而言，技术对于业务的影 响力可以通过被拯救的生命数 量来准确地衡量。 Watts曾作出过这样一番评论，“ 我们使用TriTech和Stratus的解 决方案来不断地适应 发生的各类变化，并且对我们 的工作流程进行适量地调整，

Watts也说道，“作为一个政府机 构，我们必须严格管理预算支 出。我们将在TriTech/Stratus解 决方案上的投资作为生命安全 保护措施费用中的一个组成部 分，这些投入将帮助我们更加 快速有效地为圣查尔斯县的居 民服务。”

确保做出准确的响应，更快地 达到现场，保护市民的最大利 益。” “我们每年大约处理40,000个呼 叫电话，针对每个突发事件为 现场工作人员提供了大量的信 息。一个强大而稳定的系统是 必不可少的，不仅需要生成相 关数据，而且还要保证系统的 随时可用性，不允许发生任何 故障。从派往事故现场的工作 人员上车的那一刻起，他便掌 握了所有的准确信息，包括最 直接的行车路线和处理事故所 需的详细信息(是突发心脏病或 是火灾事故)。Stratus和TriTech 为我们顺利开展工作提供了诸 多帮助。在我的内心深处一直 认为这样的技术支持在我们拯 救生命的过程中的功不可没。”

即时应急响应 使用TriTech后，应急派遣和报 警中心可以对快速有效地确定 和管理响应计划，满足每个紧 急事件的特定需求。系统的主 要特点就是可以指派最近的单 位前往事故现场，当情况危急 时，可以跨区域进行调遣。 Watts说，“我们制定了灵活的响 应计划，因此，我们可以派遣 距离最近的单位优先执行这项 任务。我们每一个区域的执行 单位都随时待命，这是我们的 工作基本准则。” 除了灵活性这个特点外， VisiCAD还具有 “交换”功能。如 果调度员一开始将某个单位安 排执行任务，但另一个单位在 关于TriTech软件系统 作为处于行业领先水平的公共 安全软件公司，TriTech Software Systems为9-1-1，执法部门 、消防和急救服务中心提供了 最新的综合解决方案。TriTech 还针对规模大小不一和不同类 别的市场提供相应的解决方案 ，成为美国最大规模的公共安 全解决方案服务供应商，客户 数量超过2500个。如需了解更 多 相 关 信 息 ， 可 登 陆 www.tritech.com

“我们第一台ftServer系统运行 了整整9年的时间，从未发生 过任何故障。” Travis Hill

IT Manager, Department of Dispatch and Alarm St. Charles County, Missouri

ftServer

此外，急救派遣和报警中心为 其数据库提供了第二个ftServer 系统，将输入计算机辅助派遣 系统中每一个呼叫电话信息储 存其中。这是为计算机辅助派 遣系统专门购买的Stratus服务 器，在将其进行升级为最新版 本的ftServer系统后，赋予了新 的用途。

个硬盘驱动，而整个更换的过 无需中断系统运行。系统运行 稳定，没有任何问题。ftServer 系统的可贵之处在于我从不需 要担心会发生故障。每次只要 稍有状况发生，Stratus便会第 一时间通知我。他们在我发现 问题之前就已经掌握了最新的 情况，往往在我意识到问题之 前就已经把问题妥善解决了。”

政府及公共安全

装 了 Tr i Te c h 的 无 线 应 用 程 序 VisiNet Mobile，将VisiCAD的功 能延伸至事故现场，为执行任 务的工作人员在途中提供实时 事故信息。

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上海市城投原水调度中心监控系统 为世界上最大规模的救护车服务机构之一确保计算机辅助调 工程概况 城投原水调度中心在上海市供水调度监测中心和城投原水管理系统的协调管理之下， 统一调度、监控、 协调和管理青草沙水源地原水系统、黄浦江上游引水系统和长江陈行水库引水系统，实现“两江并举、 三足鼎立”的原水供应战略格局。 为了促进上海市国民经济可持续性发展、保证上海市原水供水安全和 提高原水供水质量的重要性，该工 程为上海市三大水源系统建立一套 统一的、国内先进、国际一流水平的调度系统，系统实用、可靠、先 进、开放、经济，为实现“无人值 班，少人值守”的调度运行模式奠定基础。 系统结构 实行三级调度运行模式：总调度层、分调度层和现场层。城投原水调度中心设有三大原水系统的总调度 层。分调度共三个：青草沙原水系统分调度层、黄浦江上游引水系统分调度层和陈行水库引水系统分调 度层。除青草沙原水系统分调度层设在五号沟泵站内，其它两个分调度层均设在严桥泵站。 青草沙、陈行和黄浦江原水调度模块与总调度模块的不同之处在于总调度模块的主要工作更侧重于各水 系之间的协调管理，而青草沙、陈行和黄浦江原水调度模块更侧重于各自区域范围内的调节和控制。

城投原水调度系统层次结构图 城投原水调度中心接受接受上海市供 水调度监测中心和城投原水管理系统 的协调管理。 系统方案 从整体结构上，整个原水调度系统 分两大部分： 一部分是以SCADA系统为中心，集 成了管网地理信息系统、动态仿真 系统、专家调度决策系统、视频调 度系统、语音调度系统和调度管理 自动化系统的调度自动化系统。 另一部分是包含了生产管理与办公 自动化系统、WEB系统的管理信息化 系统。按照功能整个原水系统主要 分为以下几个子系统： • SCADA系统； • 地理信息系统GIS； • 仿真系统； • 专家调度决策系统； • 调度视频系统； • 语音调度系统； • 大屏幕系统； • 生产管理与办公自动化系统； • WEB系统。

在选择主机服务器平台时，一方面 从业务需求入手，要求平台能够稳 定高效的运行现有业务；另一方面 也要能够满足发展趋势所带来的新 需求。基于上述原则投标方案将推 荐先进、可靠、高效的主流容错服 务器ftServer系统机型，使其无论在 高处理能力、高可靠性，还是在高 可用性、扩展性等诸多方面处于领 先地位。

SCADA冗余服务器主动采集实时 数据,至少100,000 I/O 信息点进 行配置；冗余切换时间不多于2 秒。实时历史数据库服务器存储 系统所有的历史数据，保存的历 史数据>48月；配置FC SAN大型 存储系统，安装大型工业实时历 史数据库系统软件，对各类信息 进行实时记录、查询，建立设备 管理历史数据库，自动生成各类 统计报表，定期输出数据报表， 并将档案资料存盘保留。 城投原水调度中心监控系统当任 何数据库服务器发生故障时，不 应影响整个系统的正常工作。当 历史服务器故障时，实时数据应 确保不丢失、并保存相关数据至 历史服务器恢复工作，整个系统 运行以及系统性能不受影响。因

此选择最可靠的硬件级冗余容错 服务器ftServer系列产品。 A类服务器包括工业实时历史数 据库服务器、关系型数据库服务 器和文件服务器。选用美国 Stratus公司的ft-Server® 6300系 统和ftScalable SAN存储系统B类 服务器包括SCADA服务器、GIS 服务器、仿真服务器、决策支持 及专家调度服务器、调度管理服 务器、视频服务器、数据交换服 务器、无线通讯服务器。选用美 国Stratus公司的ft-Server® 4500 系统。 选择主流的MS Windows Server 2003操作系统，关系型数据库 软件为MS SQL SERVER 2005； 工业实时历史数据库软件选择 Wonderware Historian, Enter-

prise W/Cluster ; 调度计算平台软 件、调度执行平台软件、SCADA 服务器软件等应用软件选择南瑞 公司自主开发的ApplicationServer软件系统；SCADA客户端 及调度人机界面软件选择 InTouch for System Platform；通 讯软件选择南瑞自主产品DeviceIntegration Servers；调度报警 与事件检测平台软件模块为 SCADAlarm v6.0。

政府及公共安全

服务器与存储、软件系统选型

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Columbia Memorial Hospital Healthcare providers get 24/7 uptime assurance with Stratus Business situation Like its peers in New York State – and across the U.S. – Columbia Memorial Hospital is moving forward with an ambitious and necessary initiative to make electronic health records (EHRs) accessible across the many settings where patients receive treatment: the hospital campus, physicians’ offices, and local nursing homes.

A new EHR system was called for because ambulatory care had to be included, and hospital information systems traditionally have not extended to outpatient encounters. EHRs would have to serve over 200 clinicians, in more than 25 locations, who would access patient records over a secure Web interface on a 24/7 basis.

When the hospital received a grant under HEAL NY, part of New York State’s strategic health IT plan, the project became subject to detailed milestones and guidelines. Then the federal American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (ARRA) put other incentives on the table for “meaningful use” of EHRs. Being able to secure state and federal funding would depend on meeting an aggressive schedule.

And as is usually true, neither Columbia Memorial nor providers in its community had large IT teams with resources to go it alone: either to implement interoperable EHRs, or to assure clinicians of reliable access to patient information 24/7.

“The new EHR implementation had to fulfill challenging criteria,” said Cathy Crowley, Columbia’s chief information officer. “The answer was a solution combining: CCHIT® Certified® software for ambulatory EHRs, fault-tolerant servers and storage from Stratus, and virtualization software from VMware.”

Business objectives The ultimate goal of this project is patient centered care that results in improved quality, affordability, and outcomes for the people served. To support these priorities effectively, the information technology chosen had to help the hospital: • Deploy interoperable EHRs • Ensure reliable 24/7 access to digitized patient records for all stakeholders • Maintain proper governance and integrity of health data

QUICK FACTS SOLUTION PROFILE Private cloud SaaS infrastructure built for 99.999% or greater uptime Turnkey solution includes EHR software, servers, storage Implements virtualization for maximum cost savings, flexibility Serves over 200 clinicians in more than 25 locations PRODUCTS & SERVICES Stratus® ftServer® systems Stratus ftScalable™ storage VMware® vSphere™ virtualization software Microsoft® Windows® Server® operating system MySQL database software Stratus Assured Availability PlusSM

• Meet government funding milestones and benchmarks The uptime solution Selecting appropriate EHR software to cover ambulatory care was first on the decision-makers’ agenda. State funding stipulated the use of CCHIT Certified software. Another top-level concern: making sure the new EHR function had the uptime to ensure information access for timely patient care and clinical decision support.

Closely related was protecting health data from being lost or its integrity from being compromised, if a hardware or software malfunction occurred.

“The need for accessibility by large numbers of users in multiple locations — along with the cost to purchase and operate the EHR system — made server virtualization and software as a service (SaaS) attractive,” Crowley

“We were quick to recognize that ftServer support services systems offered the

reliability,

operation, support

simple

and VMware necessary

to

underpin a private cloud model for EHRs.” Cathy Crowley Chief Information Officer Columbia Memorial Hospital

Complexity had to be managed skillfully to make the project a success. Once the ambulatory EHR software was chosen, the hospital enlisted a capable systems integration firm to simplify planning and implementation.

About the same time, Crowley learned about fault-tolerant servers from Stratus Technologies that would prove instrumental in their approach.

“The ftServer systems allowed the Business Impact Four physical ftServer systems host 20 virtual machines (VMs) while the attached ftScalable storage hosts 7 terabytes of data. Another ftServer system runs VMware vCenter™ Server. This configuration keeps the management software for the internal cloud from being exposed to a single point of physical server failure — in the simplest manner possible.

What’s more, the hospital benefits from one-stop support for its VMware environment, Stratus servers, and storage. Stratus is providing remote-access serviceability and automatic all-home problem reporting that extends to both the Stratus hardware and the virtualization software layer.

hospital to take advantage of drop-in fault tolerance while being able to manage the cloud environment with standard VMware tools,” Crowley explained. The Stratus ftServer line pairs with VMware vSphere software to enable 99.999% or greater uptime for virtualized environments— which equates to less than five minutes of unscheduled downtime per year.

server functionality.

Features built into these Intel® processor-based servers keep the system running without server outage or data loss even in the event of a component failure. Components within ftServer systems operate in parallel with each other to provide automatic redundancy, active system monitoring and automated issue notification. For example, if a memory or processor module fails, the parallel module continues to function with no interruption to

To further simplify things, the hospital opted for Stratus ftScalable storage. Like other members of the ftServer family, these fault-tolerant storage systems are built for continuous uptime. Duplicate components, integrated automatic controller failover, and hot standby features combine with multi-path I/O support to ensure maximum data integrity and protection.

“Implementing EHRs using the virtualized, internal cloud model allows less physical hardware to serve more users, and minimizes the IT management burden,” noted Crowley.

“Selecting Stratus servers and storage is allowing the hospital to take advantage of the cost savings that come with this emerging model of delivery.” Although the ambulatory EHR initiative was a big project to take on, the mindful choices made to streamline the implementation are now proving to reduce risk and deliver results.

“We were quick to recognize that ftServer systems offered the reliability, simple operation, and VMware support necessary to underpin a private cloud model for EHRs,” Crowley continued. “And, we could purchase this hardware for a fraction of the cost of the total EHR solution.”

“Implementing EHRs using the virtualized, internal cloud model allows less physical hardware to serve more users, and minimizes the IT management burden.”

Cathy Crowley Chief Information Officer Columbia Memorial Hospital

Healthcare

said. “Virtualization and SaaS could form the basis for an internal cloud where the hospital would host the EHR software for itself and its associated physicians.” Self-hosting the cloud, instead of outsourcing, would in addition remove the discomfort over data governance and security.

Yet, these newer IT approaches were unfamiliar territory, as is the case for most hospitals.

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Pulse Systems Inc. Pulse Systems and Stratus Technologies offer a future-proof foundation for electronic health record (EHR) implementations

Business situation Pulse has been developing healthcare software for more than 20 years. It offers solutions for small, medium and large health care facilities, from local clinics to major teaching hospitals. When the 2008 Stimulus Act provided billions of dollars in incentive aid for healthcare facilities to migrate to electronic health records (EHR), Pulse Systems was ready. The company had been selling EHR systems for years, and its Pulse Complete EHR software already met or exceeded requirements to qualify for Stimulus Act payments in 2011.

Pulse solutions automate the healthcare process, including patient charts, scheduling and billing. Using customizable interfaces on mobile devices such as electronic tablets as their front end, Pulse Systems software gives practitioners access to chart information, medical images, schedules, medication histories, reference libraries, document repositories, pharmaceutical formularies, and personal task lists.

Despite the EHR software’s potential to cut costs and improve patient care, as well as stimulus incentives to convert to EHR, many healthcare organizations are slow to change.

One of their most persistent concerns is reliability, yet at the same time many medical organizations who convert to electronic health records hesitate to invest in high availability technology. Jon Herren, Pulse Systems’ field support manager says that’s often because they can’t reconcile purchase prices with the high cost and practice disruption that result when software goes offline.

“We strongly suggest all customers use some form of high availability, either through us or through someone else,” he said. “If an EHR server goes down, they can lose as much as a day and a half before the system is

QUICK FACTS PRODUCTS

Stratus Avance® high-availability software implemented on HP® ProLiant™ DL380 servers Stratus® fault-tolerant ftServer® systems Pulse Systems Pulse Complete Electronic Health Records software SERVICES

PulseWatch service Stratus “call home” support services

fixed. What might that cost?

Customers often complain about acquisition cost, but knowing the financial impact of an outage on their business will likely justify investing in high availability technology. They might never need it, but if they do need it and they don’t have it, they’re in trouble. An investment in uptime assurance is cost-effective insurance against the pains of downtime.”

Business strategies Pulse Systems recommends software and hardware products from Stratus Technologies to its customers because Stratus delivers uptime assurance in a way that prevents downtime and data loss. Unlike other approaches sometimes used to achieve higher levels of availability, Stratus products are simple to deploy,

"An investment in uptimeassurance is cost-effective insurance against the pains of downtime.”

Jon Herren Field Support Manager Pulse Systems, Inc.

protection against downtime.

As with Avance, the ftServer system’s resilient technology is backed by proactive availability management built into the server to monitor, diagnose and take preemptive action Stratus Avance software creates a against unplanned application downhigh availability computing platform time. from commodity servers. The price and performance features of Avance “Our larger customers may not have are targeted at smaller physician prac- many servers, but their expectation tices. An Avance platform surpasses for application availability is the the uptime assurance levels typically absolute possible minimum downprovided by cluster servers but with time. They are not comfortable with none of the complexity or opportu- even ten minutes of unscheduled nity for data loss. Pulse uses an downtime per incident. With a Avance system internally to support Stratus ftServer they can be assured of near perfect availability, on the its own business operations. order of about a minute of downFor the mid-size to larger hospitals time per year on average,” Herren and physician practices that rely on said.

Pulse EHR software to streamline back-office processes and facilitate Mid-Kansas Ear Nose and Throat delivery of patient services, an ftServer system may be an even Wichita-based Mid-Kansas Ear Nose better platform choice. The ftServer and Throat is a Pulse Systems client system is a combination of Stratus software and fully redundant hard- that uses an Avance platform to ware joined in a single server enclo- support its practice management sure that provides the industry’s best switching to the Avance platform, the practice has had no unscheduled downtime, Stephens said.

“We had a disk drive failure not too long ago and we didn’t notice anything had happened until Pulse called to say the drive was down and they were coming to swap it out.

There was no downtime at all,” she said. “With the previous system, we would have intermittent software issues. Something would go down and we’d have to schedule time for a fix. With Avance, everything is duplicated. Pulse will tell us before I know something went down because the system will still be working. I don’t have to be in the back room watching the server all the time to see if anything is going wrong.”

Business Impact The hourly salary cost of a fiveperson practice averages $933, and 10 times that in a 50-person practice, according to studies conducted by the AC Group, an IT research firm specializing in the healthcare industry. For each minute a practice’s EHR system is down, it takes more than three minutes to recover to pre-outage status. Therefore, an availability solution operating at 99.9 percent efficiency (nearly 45 minutes of unplanned downtime per month) can potentially have a salary impact of around $24,000 for a small office, and close to a quarter-million dollars for a larger practice in a single year.

and electronic health record (EHR) systems. Avance is installed on local servers. Uptime is critical, according to Administrator Jackie Stephens, because all patient information – medical history, images, prescriptions, treatment plans, appointment schedules, etc. – is electronic. Physicians, medical and business staff access the applications through laptops or desktops located throughout the practice.

Mid-Kansas ENT switched from a conventional platform to its Pulse Systems-maintained Avance-based platform in 2009 after a combined hardware/software failure knocked out the practice management and EHR systems for three days. Transcriptionists were forced to reproduce the two days of records from audio recordings on another server because of a bad backup tape. Since

Customers often complain about acquisition cost, but knowing the financial impact of an outage on their business will likely justify investing in highavailability technology.

They might never need it, but if they do need it and they don’t have it, they’re in trouble.

Jon Herren Field Support Manager Pulse Systems, Inc.

Healthcare

manage and maintain, with the products monitoring themselves, anticipating potential failures and correcting faults with no human intervention.

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Web-Capable Medical Information Network System Development: Ojikai Healthcare Corporation Limited Non-Stop Server Supports State-Of-Art Medical Information System Build On VMware

Business Challenge - Streamlining Workflow for a New Medical Facility

Many people suffer cardiac diseases. If these worsen, they could result in cardiac failures or cardiac infarction, leading to death. Ojikai is opening the Kobe Cardiovascular Clinic in the hope of saving these patients at the earliest stage possible. Also, as of April 2008, CT scans and MRIs of coronary arteries have additional points allocated for medical treatment compensation. Therefore, it was desirable to establish a medical facility with corresponding capacity.

Ojikai Kobe Cardiovascular Clinic is a cutting-edge medical centre, equipped with state-of-the-art medical devices, such as the latest 128 multi-slice CT scanner, which is the first in Western Japan, the top-level 1.5 Tesla MRI (32-channel coil), mammography, CR/DR, and ultrasonography. The clinic is structured so it can work with general hospitals by providing medical examinations, medical guidance and rehabilitation after treatment, in order to provide comprehensive medical services. With the latest 128 multi-slice CT scanner, coronary image acquisition is performed in four to five seconds. This is unlike a traditional 64 CT scanner, which requires a patient to hold his breath for 10 seconds or more depending on his heart rate. The speed results in less stress on patients, especially on the elderly, whilst providing high-quality imaging.

Similarly, with the new MRI with a 32-channel coil, image acquisition is performed in about 10 minutes. This is also significantly less time reduction that required for the previous model. Patients also benefit from the state-ofthe-art equipment in terms of cost reduction. For example, when a patient is hospitalised for 2-3 days for examination, it costs 15,000 yen per day for basic hospitalisation fees, on top of the examination fee. If hospitalisation is not required for the CT scan, the patient can save both time and money.

On the other hand, opening a clinic requires a substantial investment. To ensure the clinic could be run in a stable manner, Ojikai needed to find an efficient and sustainable mode of operation, without sacrificing patient treatment methods.

Platform Considerations - Requiring Robust Infrastructure for Virtualisation Environment Many processes in the medical field are conducted manually, such as confirming appointments by phone and fax, saving data to CD-R, and sending test results. Such methods limit workload capacity, and it is not possible to increase patient numbers. In addition, when imaging is performed with both CT scanner and MRI, there may be up to 400-500 films. Ojikai needed to deploy a medical information system that can efficiently process all the data from the state-of-art devices as quickly as possible.

For the mid-size to larger hospitals and physician practices that rely on Pulse EHR software to streamline back-office processes and facilitate delivery of patient services, an ftServer system may be an even better platform choice. The ftServer system is a combination of Stratus software and fully redundant hardware joined in a single server enclosure that provides the industry’s best protection against downtime.

As regards electronic health records: although many medical institutions, includ-

ing major hospitals, have introduced them thanks to a government subsidy, Mr. Hiroshi Kondo, Administration Assistant Director of Ojikai Healthcare Corporation Limited, says there are some problems: “Currently, the database for electronic health records is essentially a black box. Although some vendors recently began using a generic database, all vendors still treat the internal structure as a company secret. Therefore, you might enter data, yet as soon as it is in the system, it is not yours anymore. Also, the current electronic health records and systems do not support data transfers between physicians.” In response, Ojikai decided to develop and build a medical information system that solves existing issues with electronic health records.

This system is designed to facilitate communications between local clinics, hospitals and other medical facilities in future. If doctors can share electronic records and data, when a patient is referred to a different doctor, it will be easy for the new doctor to understand the patient’s treatment history, and to inform the original doctor about the patient.

“The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare is promoting medical care that is based on patients’ perspectives. We should practice medical care that shows our direction, collaborate with other medical professionals, and establish a system for smooth cooperation. Fortunately, we met Mr.

In Kobe, there is a medical organisation that provides community healthcare with five Ss: Service, Specialty, Smile, Study and Safety.It is the Ojikai Healthcare Corporation Limited.

Since its establishment 17 years ago, Ojikai has been based in Kobe, and providing medical services such as artificial dialysis and internal cardiovascular medicine.

Now, Ojikai is opening the Ojikai Kobe Cardiovascular Clinic, to provide a wide range of medical services, from prevention to early detection of potentially fatal cardiovascular diseases. A state-of-art medical information system has been developed and deployed for this new clinic.

OjikaiHealthcareCorporationLimited AdministrationAssistantDirector Mr.HiroshiKondo TrinityDesignCorporationLtd. President Mr.KenichiTanaka

Tanaka, the president of Trinity Design Corporation, who enthusiastically tackled these challenges,” says Mr. Kondo, reflecting his immense trust in Mr. Tanaka.

As Ojikai worked on building the system, they decided that – in addition to PACS (Picture Archiving and Communication System) and electronic health records – it was essential to include a medical accounting system that would dovetail with electronic health records, to enhance the efficiency of administrative work.

Mr. Kondo says, “We decided to start with the idea of deploying these three components on a single server, using virtualisation technology.” This meant the medical information system would require robust infrastructure.

Solution by Stratus - Non-Stop Server for Robust Virtualisation Environment Mr. Kondo explains how Ojikai arrived at the decision to use ftServer: “We had been using hardware provided by a large medical information system manufacturer, and had many problems in terms of maintenance and system enhancement. We were aware of ftServer, and when we saw it at a hospital show, we realised its benefits.”

For example, if PACS stops, Mr. Kondo notes that images cannot be processed, and

Mr. Kondo evaluates ftServer as follows: “Because ftServer is a non-stop server, and Stratus offers a monitoring service from a remote maintenance centre, where they screen signs of possible faults, there is far less burden for us to operate it. Ojikai Kobe Cardiovascular Clinic’s aim is to prevent illness, and this applies to IT as well. With ftServer, the system does not switch to the backup after a fault occurs, but is alerted to a sign there is a problem, and can keep running even if a problem occurs. As a bonus, we do not need to hire a specialised IT person who is familiar with the system.

We think of IT systems as though they were alive.”

The adaption of VMware is also new in the medical field. Mr. Kondo welcomes the arrival of the new era: “There are many kinds of OS used in medical facilities. I was hoping not possible to increase patient numbers. In addition, when imaging is performed with both CT scanner and MRI, there may be up to 400-500 films. Ojikai needed to deploy a medical information system that can tion.” Mr. Kondo describes how he built a strong relationship with the manufacturer, as well as the development partner, Trinity Design. As for Stratus: “They have experience in other industries, and their existing customers praise them highly. Therefore, our hopes were high. There are other vendors who have FT machines, but these are not their main products: should they discontinue FT machines in future, their support may also stop. By choosing a product from an experienced vendor that specialises in FT machines, we can have peace of mind. Also, it is reassuring to know that major Japanese vendors use Straus ftServers.”

Future Development - When Doctors Can Concentrate on Treatments, Patients Benefit “When introducing a new system, we must strive to reduce operational costs and improve efficiency from the viewpoint of TCO. However, this effort should not result in reduced quality of our services or treatments.

We would like our doctors to concentrate on treatment, rather than worry about costs. We believe that as a result, we will grow as Ojikai Group as a whole,” says Mr. Kondo.

to eventually consolidate them all. Then, with the arrival of VMware, I thought the time had come. It was natural that I wanted to utilise VMware. As a result, we could realise an ‘ecological’ system environment and save space.” Mr. Kondo also praises the combination of VMware and Stratus: “it gives us peace of mind when several manufacturers collaborate to offer a bundled product. This was one of the reasons we chose ftServer. I think that this may be the first medical information system in Japan to utilise virtualisation technology.”

“As this was the first case in Japan, we did not know what problems we might encounter. But whenever there was a challenge, we worked with the manufacture to find a solution.” Mr. Kondo describes how he built a strong relationship with the manufacturer, as well as the development partner, Trinity Design. As for Stratus: “They have experience in other industries, and their existing customers praise them highly.

Therefore, our hopes were high. There are other vendors who have FT machines, but these are not their main products: should they discontinue FT machines in future, their support may also stop. By choosing a product from an experienced vendor that specialises in FT machines, we can have peace of mind. Also, it is reassuring to know that major Japanese vendors use Straus ftServers.”

According to Mr. Kondo, Ojikai is planning to deploy the new system in its other facilities in future. “We are operating three clinics – Oji Clinic, Shioya Oji Clinic, and Ojikai Kobe Cardiovascular Clinic – in addition to three senior healthcare facilities. We would like to begin sharing patient information in these facilities first, then expand the system into two other senior homes with special care units: Yamate-Sakuraen and ShioyaSakuraen.

“One year from now, when one of our senior healthcare facilities is complete, we plan to move Oji Clinic to the top floor of the facility; we will then have both a senior healthcare facility and a clinic in the same building. Similarly, the Shioya Oji Clinic is right next to one of our senior homes with special care units, and both the clinic and home are working together smoothly.

Regulations do not allow us to combine these facilities. However, they are complementing each other within the regulations.

In this context, we plan to actively offer in-home care in future. We can probably establish the mutual supportive relationships among our facilities within a year. By that time, we would probably be thinking of partnerships with other, neighbouring clinics.”

Future Development - When Doctors Can Concentrate on Treatments, Patients Benefit The hourly salary cost of a five-person practice averages $933, and 10 times that in a 50-person practice, according to studies conducted by the AC Group, an IT research firm specializing in the healthcare industry.

For each minute a practice’s EHR system is down, it takes more than three minutes to recover to pre-outage status. Therefore, an availability solution operating at 99.9 percent efficiency (nearly 45 minutes of unplanned downtime per month) can potentially have a salary impact of around $24,000 for a small office, and close to a quarter-million dollars for a larger practice in a single year.

On the other hand, opening a clinic requires a substantial investment. To ensure the clinic could be run in a stable manner, Ojikai needed to find an efficient and sustainable mode of operation, without sacrificing patient treatment methods.

Platform Considerations - Requiring Robust Infrastructure for Virtualisation Environment Many processes in the medical field are conducted manually, such as confirming appointments by phone and fax, saving data to CD-R, and sending test results. Such methods limit workload capacity, and it is Mr. Kondo also plans to give presentations on the project’s achievements, including during academic conferences. “In Japan, even if you have a brilliant plan, if you don’t achieve anything, nobody recognises it,” he says. “We must achieve something – though it might be something very small – to prove a project’s viability rather than mere potential. We are committed to realising our plan and sharing our experiences. We will start small, and expand gradually and carefully.”

Finally, Mr. Kondo explains the philosophy behind Ojikai: “Our director believes that everyone deserves high-quality medical services and care.” Improving services from patients’ viewpoints leads to more repeat patients, solidifying the operational bottom line. Stratus non-stop server, ftServer, supports Ojikai’s infrastructure, which in turn supports its operational philosophy and community health care.

Healthcare

diagnostic processes could be affected. “We had previously built a medical information system with a cluster structure – and after switching to the backup, we had to rebuild the database structure. Hospital owners do not know how tedious this process is. They only know that it is safe because it switches to the backup. When this happens, we often have to work over night. However, because hospitals are open 24 hours a day, we cannot stop the system at all. Considering all these conditions, ftServer is an attractive choice.”

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Dubai Gold & Commodities Exchange (DGCX).

Uptime assurance drives Middle East’s core trading platform Business situation Dubai, known as the “City of Gold”, had been an international hub for the physical trade of gold (and other commodities) for over 100 years. Establishing an electronic derivatives trading platform was a logical step for the region and the local economy.

In November 2005, Dubai Gold & Commodities Exchange (DGCX), the region’s first electronic derivatives exchange was launched, with gold futures as its first contract. Enjoying 37% year on year growth for five years, DGCX upgraded its infrastructure this year, setting its sails for record growth.

Getting the right infrastructure in place from the start was imperative, according to Basab Banerjee, Chief Technology Officer for DGCX, hence the choice to host on a fault-tolerant Stratus ftServer system. Regularly reviewing and upgrading the infrastructure, ensuring its reputation as best-of-breed and its continuing ability to deliver the uptime and responsiveness upon which the organisation had grown, was always core to the business plan. So, five years later with a track record of 100% uptime and year on year growth of 37%, the decision to upgrade the ftServer system was logical.

Business objectives “DCGX is a technology-driven, de-mutual electronic derivatives exchange. We are committed to providing a world class, fully automated, state-of-the-art, electronic trading platform accessible from anywhere in the world,” advises Mr. Banerjee.

“We have over 230 members from all over the world accessing our markets using various means of communications. Our reputation absolutely depends on guaranteed uptime and response time. Even a few seconds downtime or a few millisecond’s latency could result in severe financial implications for our members. We simply cannot afford the risk.”

QUICK FACTS SOLUTION PROFILE

Middle East’s first electronic derivatives exchange and clearing house, launched 2005 Provides fully automated, state-of-the-art global trading and clearing platform Real-time data processing and assured uptime vital to success Today, Middle East’s leading derivatives exchange and clearing house PRODUCTS

Stratus® ftServer systems MicrosoftWindows Server operating system FT India’s state-of-the-art trading application incorporating: order and risk management system; order matching engine and broadcast engine SERVICES

Stratus Support Services

As such, identifying the buying criteria for DGCX’s hardware platform was pretty straightforward.

“Our core components, like the order management system, order matching engine and broadcast engine are highly process and memory intensive. Any hardware platform needed to fulfil our requirements for smooth exchange operations,” Explains Mr Banerjee.

These requirements were: • High availability (zero downtime) • Capacity to support high intensive real-time data processing (zero latency) • Scalability • Ease of operation

"DCGX is a technologydriven, de-mutual electronic derivatives

exchange. We

are committed to providing a world class, fully automated, state-of-the-art, electronic

trading

platform

accessible from anywhere in the world.”

Basab Banerjee Chief Technology Officer DGCX

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“It was the right time for DGCX to upgrade to the next-generation ftServer system. Powered by Intel® Xeon® processors, it provides the no-compromise, high-performance processing power that is required by the most demanding missioncritical transaction processing applications. It is the server chosen when even a millisecond latency or downtime counts,” advises Maged Shaker, Stratus Technologies account manager. the previous year’s volume. With average daily volumes also rising by 51% and set to increase, it looks like Basab Banerjee’s assessment that it was the right time to upgrade was absolutely on the money.

About DGCX DGCX is an initiative of the Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC), Financial Technologies (India) Limited and the Multi Commodity Exchange of India Limited (MCX).

The Management team of DGCX comprises senior personnel from the commodities, securities and financial services industries bringing a wealth of experience and expertise to ensure the success of DGCX. www.dgcx.ae

“Migration was seamless and now that Stratus has a local office, we feel confident that the level of local product knowledge and support, both directly from Status and via its partners in the region, will become better still.”

Business Impact Although other platforms were available upon which to host DGCX’s trading application, DGCX, and its members, had enjoyed the peace of mind which came with 100% uptime since its launch.

Upgrading to the new ftServer system ensured DGCX had the processing power to continue its ambitious growth path with the assurance of uptime all the time and zero latency.

Indeed, May 2011 saw DGCX announce a record year to date, reflecting a total volume of 1.15 million contracts, valued at US $56.13 billion, a 55% increase on

Customers often complain about acquisition cost, but knowing the financial impact of an outage on their business will likely justify investing in highavailability technology.

They might never need it, but if they do need it and they don’t have it, they’re in trouble.

Jon Herren Field Support Manager Pulse Systems, Inc.

ftServer

Stratus fitted the bill in 2005.

Research and experience informed DGCX that Stratus was still the right choice in 2011. Upgrading to Stratus’ top-of-the-line ftServer system would enable the continuing success of the exchange and its members.

“ We plan to upgrade our hardware platform every 5 years. Growing 37 per cent year on year since 2005, fuelled by our reputation in terms of accessibility, availability and uptime, we had a lot to protect.

The new ftServer system increases our processing speed and memory, reducing latency at every processing stage. It was absolutely the right choice at the right time,” adds Mr Banerjee.

Financial Service

The Stratus ftServer solution

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Elavon, Inc. Elavon Keeps VMware® Virtualization at Peak Reliability with Stratus Uptime Assurance

Business situation “Elevating payments...worldwide.” You would expect a company using that tagline to treat the availability and reliability of its payment systems as a priority. When that enterprise is Elavon, you would be absolutely right.

Rated as the number one processing network by MasterCard® for speed, availability, and reliability, Elavon, Inc. provides end-to-end payment processing services to more than one million merchants in the United States, Europe, and Canada.

Recently Elavon decided the time was right to leverage server virtualization, where possible, for the usual reasons: such as consolidating workloads onto fewer physical servers, gaining more flexibility to provision applications, saving on energy costs, and increasing application availability during planned upgrades.

Exceptional reliability had to be part of the plan, however, when it came to virtualizing a number of customer-facing quality assurance (QA) and user-acceptance testing (UAT) applications. For this set of highly visible applications, Stratus ftServer systems and VMware Infrastructure 3 were chosen to assure the flawless operation the company sought. “Stratus ftServer systems and VMware are an ideal mission-critical combination,” said Frank Bolling, vice president of systems and technology.

Business objectives The words “mission critical” define Elavon’s business needs: • Support payment products with the most reliable network in the industry • Handle transactions from thousands of international locations, 24/7 • Incorporate redundancy into every processing system across the enterprise • Obtain the right availability, with the right performance, at the right price • Benefit from virtualization wherever practical

QUICK FACTS SOLUTION PROFILE

Sustains industry-leading availability and reliability Handles end-to-end payment processing Serves more than one million merchants internationally Uses VMware virtualization for customerfacing test and support applications PRODUCTS

Stratus® ftServer® systems VMware Infrastructure 3 Microsoft® Windows Server® operating system Stratus ftServer V Series and Continuum® systems Stratus VOS operating system SERVICES

Stratus support services Stratus professional services

The Stratus uptime solution Elavon’s long history with Stratus servers instilled the necessary confidence to move ahead with virtualizing the QA and UAT applications. The company started using Stratus Continuous Availability Servers™ not long after its founding in 1991 as NOVA Information Systems in Atlanta.

Like earlier generations of Stratus systems the company has used, their newest fault tolerant ftServer systems are engineered with Continuous Processing® features – lockstep redundant hardware, failsafe system software, and ActiveService™ capabilities – that ensure uptime and protect data integrity. Applications need not be modified in any way to benefit from this availability protection. The ftServer family has surpassed

"Stratus’ proven reliability gave us the confidence to proceed with virtualizing our critical customerfacing test and support applications.”

Frank Bolling Vice President of Systems and Technology Elavon, Inc.

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every Stratus system. What’s more, this level of redundancy is achieved without doubling the software license fees, as would be the case for any software that requires active/active licensing on a cluster.

“Virtualizing the QA and UAT applications has helped us reduce costs over a non-virtualized environment, and the Stratus ftServer systems increase protection against the unplanned downtime that would cause our customers to lose confidence and put business at risk,” Bolling said.

Stratus service has executed to the same high standard. Since day one, Stratus Support Services have provided 24/7, proactive uptime protection together with the Con-

tinuous Availability Servers’ selfmonitoring and automatic problem reporting. Elavon’s IT team has also called on the expertise of Stratus Professional Services to handle tasks such as performance analysis and application development support over the years.

Elavon’s business has grown and changed since its early days, as has the technology the company uses to enable it. Today, for the appropriate QA and UAT applications, virtualization enables fast and flexible provisioning and minimizes the need to acquire additional physical servers – yet still delivers the assurance that Elavon customers will experience the reliability and performance they expect.

Not only have the Stratus Continuous Availability Servers lived up to their uptime promise, but also they have kept total cost of ownership (TCO) under control because of the redundant components built into

“…the Stratus ftServer systems increase protection against the unplanned downtime that would cause our customers to lose confidence and put business at risk.”

Frank Bolling Vice President of Systems and Technology Elavon, Inc.

ftServer

Business Impact

Financial Service

99.999% uptime at customer sites worldwide.

Most of Elavon’s Stratus Continuous Availability Servers are ftServer Unlike clustered servers that are systems running the Microsoft® more complex to configure and Windows Server® operating manage, uptime assurance tech- system. Some of these servers nologies are built into the hard- drive customer-facing QA and UAT ware, system software, and proac- applications; others run tive availability management e-commerce and gift card applicafeatures found in every Stratus tions. system. Processing continues uninThe company continues to use terrupted, even in the event of a Stratus Continuum and ftServer V component failure, without downSeries systems to run its trusted time or data loss. That gives the payment authorization application Elavon IT team a simpler way to based on the Stratus VOS operating meet their mandate to incorporate system. “The VOS-based authorizafail-safe redundancy into payment tion system written by the foundprocessing and key customer-facing ers here is one of the best applicasystems. tions I’ve ever been involved with.

“It’s better for the administrator to It’s one of the reasons that we’ve have the availability controlled by been recognized by MasterCard as the hardware and system software the best processor in the industry,” at a microcode and firmware level,” Bolling stated. said Bolling.

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Makro, South Africa Uptime assurance future-proofs leading retailer’s EFT credit and debit card processing infrastructure

Business situation

Makro South Africa (SA) had hosted its credit and debit card processing service on Stratus® ftServer® systems since their previous server failed them for two hours in 2005. This failure cost the business over one million rand, not to mention its hard-earned brand reputation. At the time, Makro had been quick to understand that their ftServer system would soon pay for itself. It did.

When in 2011 Makro SA came to replace the infrastructure and to re-architect the payment processing service to get into a more active/ active environment, it was decision time. Did the organisation still need their Stratus ftServer systems?

Business objectives Makro SA had enjoyed 100 per cent uptime since moving to an ftServer platform in 2005. However six years on, Makro SA decided to do a technology refresh to protect its business from other failures, such as data centre connectivity or networking within the data centre, or connectivity to its acquirers. Even though Makro SA had experienced the impact of downtime back in 2005, and had enjoyed the peace of mind provided by Stratus, they questioned whether the additional expense was necessary in the new active/active infrastructure.

Business impact Stasha Battye, who runs the InStore and Service Department of Makro SA’s technology solutions provider UCS Solutions, describes Makro’s journey:

“Makro was on another vendor’s server before Stratus. It went down for two hours one day, costing considerable financial and reputational damage.

Determined to find an answer, I went to a Postilion user group meeting and saw a presentation on ftServer systems and their superior availability. I knew what we had to do. We had to host on an ftServer platform.

Although Makro were surprised by the price, they felt comfortable. They understood that the Stratus ftServer system would pay for itself.

Having suffered the severe consequences of downtime, UCS Solutions decided to take a belt-and-braces approach to optimising the system for Makro.

Stasha explains: “We took the previous server and used it as a hot-swap server. It stayed next to the Stratus ftServer, on all the time, backing up for the Stratus server. But we never had to use it. So

QUICK FACTS SOLUTION PROFILE ACI Postilion Payments running active/active on Stratus ftServer systems PRODUCTS Stratus® ftServer® systems EFT Credit and Debit Card Processing service SERVICES Stratus Support Services

what we did was use it to prove that if we lost the Stratus Server, which we never did, we could revert to that environment.

And if we were doing upgrades we would do them on the other server, do a back up on it, make sure it was stable and, if it was, then go back to Stratus. “We gave Makro the comfort that there was extreme disaster recovery in place and that original server, which had failed them in 2005, stayed there until we moved to an active/active architecture in August last year. We never once had to use it.

“After five years of continuous availability, Makro became concerned that the Stratus ftServer system was more expensive than the previous server and they needed to mitigate this in some way.

They never questioned that they didn’t get the service they deserved for the cost.

They knew they were getting more than they were paying and more from Stratus; they simply questioned whether, in the type of trading environment that drove everyone to look for any cost savings possible and in the face of a wider technology refresh, they really needed

that amount of cover.”

Such corner cutting was not unfamiliar territory. Indeed, UCS Solutions itself needed, on occasion, to be reminded of the importance of continuous availability.

Stasha explains: “Makro’s position is not unusual. We’ve even had conversations within our own organisation around upgrading a data centre and shutting it down for the weekend, the assumption being that no transactions take place over weekends. We point out why we need our server up. It is surprising how long it takes us to persuade them. With Stratus there is no discussion. They’re in the business of making sure that you have continuous availability and they definitely go above and beyond in terms of service and support.

“For example, last year we had to put in a secondary server for a FMCG chain. The system ran on a server from another vendor and we couldn’t get it to work.

Stratus stepped in and provided us with a loan server. We might have gold or platinum status with this different vendor, but they would not have given us a fifty thousand rand server and allow us

“With Stratus it is just what they do. It’s very hard to quantify the impact of partnering with them but we are quite ferocious in our support for them.”

Pieter Schoeman, IT and projects Director for Makro SA, finds it slightly easier to quantify the impact: “Makro SA initially implemented Stratus in 2005, as a hardware infrastructure for our EFT Credit and Debit Card Processing service. I can say that in the six years that it was in operation we never, ever had a moment’s downtime due to hardware failure. It is very, very stable and a very reliable infrastructure platform to operate on. When we came to replace the infrastructure and also to re-architect the service to get into a more active/active environment, we questioned the need to stay with Stratus.

“The decision in the end was to go with the Stratus infrastructure again as it does allow us peace of mind for our service and also to service our customers in our stores.

“The fact that Stratus ftServer actually monitors itself and phones home if it detects a problem, is a big benefit for us.

So there’s not only external monitoring taking place, also internal, in that the infrastructure monitors itself and highlights any issues that need to be addressed.

“Downtime costs us our reputation.

Reputation is a big thing for us. Customers literally abandon trollies and of course what happens in our stores is that queues in the checkout lanes build up extremely quickly, so the time to clear your customers through the stores go from a minute to literally half an hour.

“Although we have quite a few point of sale lanes in our stores, we’re just not able to deal with these customer issues if the infrastructure is not available. So it is actually very difficult to say what it will cost us if this service is not available both from a loss of sales and reputation point of view.” Stasha explains more: “Uptime Assurance is important to Makro as they’d suffer financially as well as reputationally from even a minute’s downtime. The statistics show that six out of ten Makro customers in South

Africa pay with cards. For every minute down you are turning six out of ten customers away. Makro have 16 stores in South Africa and downtime would cost them a considerable amount of money running in to the millions. It can be as much as eight million to twentyfive million rand in two to three hours they would lose, not to mention their reputation with the customers who have travelled, often for hours, spent one to two hours in the store and are spending an average of above 1800 rand per trolley.”

Once Pieter had done the sums he did not find it too hard to persuade his business to stick with Stratus. Pieter concludes: “All I can say is that to have this service running on a Stratus Server really gives us the confidence of 99.999 percent uptime. The Stratus ftServer system really does what it says on the box. It provides uptime assurance and total peace of mind.”

Active/Active Architecture using Stratus ftServer systems

Data Center A

Credit/Debit Card Transactions

Active Bridge

Office

Realtime

WAN Normalize Trans ac tions

Realtime data synchronization

Alternate comms

Network Normalize Transactions

WAN Credit/Debit Card Transactions

Active Bridge

Data Center B

Realtime Office

Issuer

Financial Service

to keep it installed four months because we were in a pickle with a client that had nothing to do with them.

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Sheetz, Inc. Mission-critical transaction processing and cost savings add up to success for progressive c-store chain

Business situation

QUICK FACTS

The bright exterior of a Sheetz convenience store is a welcome site for people on the go in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, and North Carolina. At about 380 store locations, patrons refuel themselves with freshly made sandwiches, salads, snacks and baked goods, and refuel their vehicles with well-priced gasoline at pumps sheltered under extended canopies.

Consistently introducing customer-friendly innovations has made the Altoona, Pennsylvania chain an industry leader and a roadside favorite. In 2010 the company rose to number 79 on the Forbes list of largest private U.S. companies.

With more than $5 billion in annual sales, family-owned Sheetz is watched closely by competitors. It’s consistently judged as “one of the best places” to work. And, although food service is just part of the company’s business, CEO and President, Stan Sheetz, was designated one of the ten most innovative people in the restaurant industry by QSR magazine, a leading trade publication.

Today, the Sheetz Bros. Kitchen, a $46 million state-of-the-art facility, produces fresh, readyto- eat products for all of the company’s stores.

Business objectives The Sheetz ethic of “Total Customer Focus” is visible across all areas of its operations. Stores accept a broad choice of e-payments for purchases: including credit cards, debit cards, fleet cards, and its own gift cards.

• Support 24/7/365 customer trans actions in-house — reliably and quickly • Ensure mission-critical service levels and immediate loyalty program fulfillment • Accommodate growth in transaction loads • Implement a disaster recovery solution that leverages live SQL Server data replication • Develop an infrastructure that could support future HyperV virtu alization initiatives The need to handle customer transac-

SOLUTION PROFILE

Sustains industry-leading availability and reliability Handles end-to-end payment processing Serves more than one million merchants internationally Uses VMware virtualization for customerfacing test and support applications PRODUCTS

Stratus® ftServer® systems VMware Infrastructure 3 Microsoft® Windows Server® operating system Stratus ftServer V Series and Continuum® systems Stratus VOS operating system SERVICES

Stratus support services Stratus professional services

tions reliably and quickly is a prime reason that Sheetz selected Stratus ftServer systems running Windows Server and ACI Worldwide’s Retail Commerce Server payments software.

Automatic uptime features are built into Stratus’ fault-tolerant architecture. Active Upgrade software and 24/7 support services make upgrades and maintenance simple and easy. “In short, Stratus offers the ideal platform for handling transaction switching in-house,” said Randy Pielmeier, Payments System Administrator for Sheetz.

“Our Stratus ftServer systems deliver industry leading uptime assurance and maximum performance for mission-critical Windows applications. Because we have such a solid base for EFT switching, we are in the drivers’ seat in terms of supporting more stores and adding new functionality.”

In 2008, Sheetz implemented a pilot

loyalty program using ACI’s Retail Commerce Server loyalty application.

“We view the tracking and fulillment of loyalty awards as mission-critical.

Our pilot program quickly became a reality due to ftServer and SQL Server’s reliability, performance and query features,” adds Pielmeier.

Convenience is key Non-cash payment options account for the majority of the chain’s sales. “First and foremost, it’s about completing customer transactions. Sheetz stores are open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. If we cannot accept credit card payments and the customer does not have cash on hand, we lose the sale — and maybe even the customer,” said Pielmeier.

The negative impact on customer service and revenue could be considerable if Sheetz’s EFT switching were interrupted during a peak period. That’s why combining the ultra-reliable Stratus server with ACI’s Windows-

tions, about 25 per year, and then builds a sales volume per store that outperforms the industry average by double or triple.

“Our new Stratus systems deliver four times the performance of the previous generation. This will enable us to keep up with our rapid growth and future plans for Hyper-V™ virtualization,” said Pielmeier.

Business Impact The ability to readily achieve comprehensive uptime assurance makes it practical for Sheetz to handle transaction switching in-house. It also allowed them to reap ongoing savings because there were no third-party fees required to rout payment transactions between the stores and the appropriate processors.

“We’ve upgraded our payments infrastructure without any issue and I expect this time to be no different.” said Pielmeier. “Each

Enhanced Disaster Recovery Recently, Sheetz replaced its backup server with a new Stratus ftServer system. This allowed them to leverage an ACI software feature that splits live transaction loads between the two servers.

Half of the transactions are sent to the resident server and the other half are sent to a second server located 20 miles away. In a disaster scenario, all transactions are automaticallly handled by the unaffected system.

“SQL Server data replication synchronizes all of the transaction data via simultaneous updates to both server databases. This new configuration gives us extra disaster recovery protection and eliminates the need for a backup server,” said Pielmeier.

Keeping up with growth The need to accommodate growth in transaction load is another extremely important concern.

Sheetz continues to open new loca-

time, deployment has compared favorably with installing a conventional server. Everything has gone according to plan, which is very important for this application.”

Sheetz has found managing Stratus’ industrystandard ftServer systems to be on a par with ordinary Windows servers that don’t offer as much uptime protection.

And, as they’ve done in the past, Sheetz has engaged Stratus to provide training in the system’s new features.

Ease of day-to-day operation frees up time for the IT staff. They can focus on supporting the pacesetting c-store chain’s mission “to provide fast and friendly service, and quality products in clean and convenient locations.”

Pielmeier concluded, “Flawless EFT is an essential part of our roadmap for success. And, Stratus, ACI and Microsoft have been there to help us all along the way.”

“Our new Stratus systems deliver four times the performance of the previous generation. This will enable us to keep pace with our rapid growth and future plans for Hyper-V virtualization.”

Randy Pielmeier Payments System Administrator Sheetz, Inc.

Financial Service

based Retail Commerce Server and cost-justifiable. solution and Windows SQL Server 2008 database software had such “Stratus ftServer systems give us tremendous appeal. the uptime performance of traditional proprietary fault-tolerant technology on an Intel®-based 24/7 uptime to go platform that runs Windows appliDelivering 99.999% and greater cations,” said Pielmeier. uptime, the Stratus ftServer platform automatically prevents down- Reducing planned downtime time and data loss for Microsoft Those are big advantages, but it Windows-based applications and doesn’t stop there. Sheetz also databases. In contrast to alterna- uses Stratus Active Upgrade techtive solutions, Stratus’ industry- nology to reduce planned downleading uptime technology is time. This one-of-a-kind technolinstant, affordable and uncompli- ogy takes uptime assurance to a cated. There’s no need for applica- whole new level. tion modification, specialized system management, proprietary Active Upgrade technology allows systems or complex hardware and customers to install upgrades taking the system down. software configurations.

The without This applies to operating systems, reliability of a fault-tolerant system applications, service packs, is a clear advantage for payments patches and more. Once the processing and loyalty solutions. upgrades are completed, the Stratus, a proven leader in this system automatically synchronizes market segment, has made fault the changes in a matter of tolerance for Windows-based appli- seconds. cations both technically attractive

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South Carolina Federal Credit Union Financial institution brings ATM management in-house with Fiserv and Stratus

Business situation South Carolina Federal Credit Union has come a long way since the 1930s when a group of shipyard workers founded a credit union for fellow employees at the Charleston Navy Yard. Now a communitychartered credit union open to all, South Carolina Federal stands among the 100 largest in the U.S., with more than $1.4 billion in assets and over 150,000 members. Member-focused service has remained a constant through seven decades of change and growth.

After years of outsourcing the management of its 80 automated teller machines, South Carolina Federal needed more flexibility to deliver electronic services to credit union members at its ATMs. Outsourced ATM management did not lend itself to customizing service at the cardholder level.

Not only were customization opportunities limited, but also any change request had to be submitted to the third-party service bureau 30 days or more in advance.

Bringing management in-house would let the credit union take direct control over service delivery at the ATM: everything from one-toone promotional offers, to displaying machine status updates, to integration with member relationship management (MRM).

Business objectives In addition to the overall goal of flexible service delivery, the credit union mapped out a number of specific objectives for bringing ATM management in-house: Enable one-to-one service to members Save on transaction fees and telecommunications costs Maintain highly reliable service Support business continuity and disaster recovery Provide return on investment by paying for itself To ensure success, the credit union conducted an extensive evaluation of technology suppliers that included site visits to other credit unions. One choice rose to the top: LynxGate ATM management soft-

QUICK FACTS SOLUTION PROFILE

In-house ATM management enables flexible service delivery Driven by servers that approach 99.9999% uptime Supports 80 ATMs at branch and remote locations Intercept processing helps solution pay for itself PRODUCTS

Fiserv LynxGate® ATM management software Stratus® ftServer® systems Stratus ftScalable™ storage Microsoft® Windows Server® operating system Microsoft SQL Server® database software SERVICES

Stratus support services

ware from Fiserv, paired with fault-tolerant servers and storage from Stratus Technologies.

The ATM management solution “There are quite a few things we wanted: new flexibility, reduced costs, added functionality, more personalized member service,” said Arthur Harper, the credit union’s vice president of electronic services.

Reducing planned downtime “Flexibility means we want the ability to set menu options for denominations that can be withdrawn at the ATM, and to set velocity limits (how much cash can be withdrawn) at the cardholder level. We wanted the ability to drive our own messages to the ATM. We also wanted to integrate our ATMs with our MRM system.

And we needed an in-house ATM management solution that would let us do all that,” he explained.

In addition, South Carolina Federal

wanted to use more of the advanced functionality of its Diebold Opteva® ATMs to enhance self-service for members.

Fiserv, Inc. is supplying the LynxGate ATM management suite, which integrates into South Carolina Federal’s existing network and host environment. Easy to use in-house controls will allow staff to customize screens and promotional messages in minutes.

credit union chose the ftServer family of Intel® processorbased servers from Stratus Technologies to provide full-function fault-tolerant computing right out of the box. Software applications immediately benefit from server availability approaching 99.9999%. Said Drew Foley, LynxGate business director at Fiserv, “In a world of increasing uptime expectations, Stratus makes sense for savvy financial institutions.”

To keep service levels high, LynxGate monitors the network and provides staff with alerts about ATM status and performance. LynxGate is built on a standard Microsoft Windows® operating system and the SQL Server database, a familiar environment for Features built into ftServer technical personnel. systems keep the system running without a server outage or South Carolina Federal also con- data loss even in the event of a sidered the best way to ensure component failure. Compothe reliability of in-house man- nents inside the servers operagement. Protecting uptime ate in parallel with each other with some form of redundancy to provide automatic redunis a best practice in transaction dancy, active system monitorprocessing systems.

But ing, and automated call-home common techniques, such as problem reporting. The credit clustering multiple servers, union is complementing its demand considerable skill. The ftServer systems with Stratus place – one for production, and one at a remote location for testing and disaster recovery – will provide added business continuity assurance.

Another major advantage is in the future plan: enabling reliable one-to-one member service at the ATM. While a member waits for a card transaction to process, for example, she could be presented with a pre-approved rate for an auto loan based on her profile. If interested, she would press “yes” to have a branch service representative follow up.

“We are counting on the Fiserv and Stratus solution to help us get where we want to be,” said Harper.

“In a world of increasing uptime expectations, Stratus makes sense for savvy financial institutions.”

Drew Foley LynxGate Business Director Fiserv, Inc.

ftScalable storage, similarly designed to provide continuous uptime assurance. The credit union is phasing in the Fiserv and Stratus ATM management solution, with plans to have all of its 80 ATMs cut over.

Business Impact Lower costs are expected to pay for the in-house ATM management solution during its first year of operation. Eliminating third-party fees for on-us transactions (transactions made by credit union members) and a reduction in telecommunications charges paid to the service bureau will produce most of the savings.

Because database changes can be made on the fly, coordinating ATM moves or adding locations will no longer require 30 days advance notice. And, having two ftServer systems in

“There are quite a few things we wanted: new flexibility, reduced costs, added functionality, more personalized member service. ...We are counting on the Fiserv and Stratus solution to help us get where we want to be” Arthur Harper Vice President, Electronic Services South Carolina Federal Credit Union

Financial Service

Transactions by the credit union’s cardholders at its ATMs will be intercepted and routed directly to its host system for authorization processing. When the core processor is unavailable, LynxGate is able to perform authorization to ensure 24/7 service.

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Strategic Payments Services 24/7 uptime for mission-critical ATM and POS processing in Australia Business situation In only a few years, Strategic Payments Services of Sydney has built an electronic payments processing business from the ground up. SPS develops and runs card processing and transaction switching services for retailers and banks throughout Australia. In 2011, the company is expected to process more than 350 million point-of-sale, ATM, and Internet payment transactions.

Business objectives SPS processes transactions for Bendigo and Adelaide Bank, MasterCard and Customers ATM, Australia’s largest ATM deployer.

Soon it will also process transactions for Cuscal Limited, a leading business-to-business provider of wholesale banking and transactional banking services to most of Australia’s credit unions.

A joint venture between MasterCard and Bendigo and Adelaide Bank, SPS set out from the start to provide best-in-class payments processing services. The goal was to set a new standard for outsourced payment services in the Australian market. Many payments systems in the region ran on older technology, which couldn’t adapt to the ways that retailers, banks, and consumers would want to use electronic payments in the future.

Business objectives The stakeholders believed they had to raise the bar on availability, reliability, and service.

As a new venture, SPS was free to design every part of its technology framework to suit the objectives.

A number of things were important to the business from a technical perspective: Enable mission-critical service levels Use industry-standard and open systems technologies to keep costs down Offer the flexibility for new and innovative services Scale easily to handle growth “Uptime is an issue we take seriously,” noted David Campbell, the company’s chief information officer. “Every second that we have to be down is a second we’re not processing transactions for clients. Hence, we’re not making revenue.”

QUICK FACTS SOLUTION PROFILE

POS and ATM card processing and transaction switching services for retailers and financial institutions throughout Australia Processes more than 350 million transactions annually Exceeds 99.995% service uptime Built-in uptime assurance with Stratus® ftServer® systems PRODUCTS

Stratus® ftServer systems ACI payments processing and switching software Microsoft® Windows Server® operating system Microsoft SQL Server® database software VMware® vSphere® virtualization

SERVICES

Stratus Support Services Stratus Professional Services

Because SPS had to have maximum uptime assurance, the company quickly narrowed down the options for its payments processing platform.

Fault-tolerant Stratus ftServer systems and ACI Corporation’s payments software had the advantage. They both use the Microsoft Windows operating system instead of the proprietary environments used for legacy payments processing applications.

Proven in the field to perform at the industry’s highest level of uptime, Stratus ftServer systems prevent downtime and data loss for Microsoft Windows-based applications and databases.

Using ftServer systems gives organizations maximum availability without having to change their applications.

Their IT people don’t have to learn special systems management procedures, or maintain complicated hardware and software configurations.

That makes fault tolerance for Windows applications easy to costjustify and manage. And they get the flexibility and savings that comes with

using industry-standard, rather than proprietary, technology.

After choosing ftServer systems, SPS worked closely with uptime experts at Stratus Technologies to establish the payments processing center. The company started with six ftServer systems: two for each of the primary production, quality assurance, and disaster recovery environments. One server in each environment processes card transactions; the other handles backoffice reporting and settlement.

Storage area networks (SANs)provide cross-site data replication.

Then SPS expanded its use of Stratus servers to take on transaction switching, using ftServer systems at its production and recovery sites to communicate with all domestic transaction acquirers and issuers.

(Transaction acquirers are financial institutions that receive card transactions from merchants, while Issuers authorize the funds associated with a card.) ACI Corporation provides the switching software as well as the card processing software.

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Campbell said that using virtual servers on their Stratus hardware adds another dimension of uptime assurance. “We rely on the Stratus hardware to keep the server and ESX environment running and functioning. If the application dies, we bring up another virtual machine.”

A partner in support Stratus has delivered a full range of system support and professional services to the payments processor from the start, all helping SPS achieve the best uptime possible. It’s imperative that SPS keep both unplanned and planned downtime to a minimum.

zone. We have a logistics challenge in performing maintenance because clients need our service 24/7.”

SPS depends on the proactive availability management that Stratus builds into its ftServer support model.

Besides redundant components that eliminate single points of failure in the servers, this problem prevention includes server self-diagnostics that automatically trigger a call home to the Stratus support center to report any abnormal condition.

Campbell said, “Any time there’s been any issue at all, Stratus has been very helpful. We know that if we ever have to go through any system dumps and log reports, Stratus has incredible intellectual property in that space. And they’re very good at narrowing down the exact problem.”

They also keep a backup image of the ACI switch software in a virtual machine, which sits on the same physical ftServer as their primary

“We also support Internet Payment Gateway Services through our system,” explained Campbell. “So our business isn’t limited to a single time

SPS has also engaged Stratus to help deploy new ftServer systems, and to assist in implementing VMware virtualization on the mission-critical servers.

“The use of the Stratus support and sales staff has been valuable to us,” commented Campbell. “They’ve helped us source other products, such as Prognosis to monitor and manage all of our switching services.

So we get good service, good help, and access to a wider community through the Stratus people.”

Campbell appreciates that much like SPS does in its own business practices, Stratus treats the relationship between the two companies as a partnership. “The whole philosophy at SPS is we want to work with partners. If our clients succeed, we succeed. And in our experience, Stratus has been a mission-critical partner.”

“Uptime is an issue we take seriously.

Every second that we have to be down is a second we’re not processing transactions for clients. Hence, we’re not making revenue.”

Business impact The results speak for themselves.

“When we look at uptime, we look at what we have provided our clients over the past 12 months. Our rolling 12-month uptime average at the moment is 99.995%. We do very well with that, and our team is very focused,” Campbell said. The payments processing platform has also kept up with fast growth and change during the last five years.

Besides processing higher transaction volumes, SPS is successfully delivering new services and serving an expanding client base.

David Campbell Chief Information Officer Strategic Payment Services

ftServer

SPS is also taking advantage of virtualization in its mission-critical environment. The Stratus servers offer more processing capacity than the company needed purely for payments processing. So Campbell and his team decided to use a VMware ESX virtual machine for the SQL Server database associated with their application. This fits with the company’s policy of “one server, one function.” The separation supports security and lockdown practices that are important in the payments business.

instance. That way, they can go to the switching software in the second VM in case there’s an application error, or when the VM needs to be updated.

Financial Service

SPS also uses ACI and Stratus to drive more than 16,000 POS devices and 2,000 ATMs for retailers and banks.

Those transaction streams come to the ftServer systems for processing, whether through IP, dial-up, or wireless general packet radio service (GPRS) links.

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National Commodity & Derivatives Exchange Limited (NCDEX) Growing commodities exchange counts on Stratus servers for reliable online trading

Business situation The National Commodity & Derivatives Exchange Limited (NCDEX) is a professionally managed online multi-commodity exchange backed by a group of India’s leading financial institutions. Located in Mumbai, the exchange has been instrumental in modernizing how the country’s wealth of agricultural products trade on both the spot and futures markets.

Currently trading daily are contracts in some 36 commodities, including cotton, mustard seed, and raw jute, as well as precious metals. And from the day this growing exchange began operating on December 15, 2003, NCDEX has counted on the reliability of Stratus‚ systems for its mission-critical core trading application.

Business objectives The exchange’s specifications required a robust, fault-tolerant, tested, and scalable hardware platform to support the core commodities trading application provided by OMX Technology of Stockholm, Sweden. NSE.IT was the systems integrator responsible for the complete solution implementation.

Another of NCDEX’s prime requirements was a very large trading window, spanning from 10 a.m. until after midnight because of linkages with international exchanges. Also important to the exchange was that its server provider would relate to them more as a business partner, rather than solely a hardware supplier.

After assessing the possibilities, officials chose fault-tolerant servers from Stratus Technologies based on their market reputation and proven performance across other large exchanges including an NCDEX stakeholder, the National Stock Exchange of India.

“Stratus technology has already proven its credibility in the area of online equity and derivatives trading at the National Stock Exchange, and therefore has remained our preferred choice for the commodities sector,” says Chandra Shekhar, Head of IT, NCDEX.

QUICK FACTS SOLUTION PROFILE Online multi-commodity exchange in India Driven by fault-tolerant Stratus servers Large trading volumes and time window Have relied on Stratus to support their core trading application since their 2003 openin Ongoing success of the system has led the exchange to continually increase its investment in new generations of Stratus products and services PRODUCTS Stratus Continuum and V Series VOS and OpenVOS Operating Systems Commodities trading application from OMX Technology SERVICES Stratus support services

Stratus solution The exchange faced the extra pressure of a short three month schedule for the initial implementation of the trading system. Stratus servers running the VOS operating system were originally installed. NCDEX officials described the successful deployment as “a record achievement” because of its speed, which helped inspire the confidence to expand trading capabilities from just a few commodities to nearly 40 in a year’s time.

“We take comfort in the hardware resiliency Stratus provides, and the software resiliency of VMware,” said Mahoney. “The ftServer is more than technology.

It’s peace of mind.”

Uptime is a valued commodity The exchange has high expectations of uptime for its online commodities trading application: more than 99.999%. In addition to the need for availability at all times, the online trading application is time- and

delay-sensitive as well. A failure or disruption would halt the trading engine, interrupt ing the entire business operations of the exchange. Credibility and reputation would be at risk in addition to the financial impact of transactions that could not be executed, according to officials.

Users have been pleased with dependable access to online trading. In addition to the reliability record, changes and upgrades to the system have been smooth and nondisruptive to the user community. This has helped to fuel the growth of commodities trading in India, exchange officials note

The fault-tolerant servers have brought economic advantages as well. Because Stratus servers are specifically engineered to provide 99.999% or greater uptime, return on investment has been quicker because reliability considerations are addressed within the servers themselves. ROI has been comparatively better than competing products, according to NCDEX.

With fault-tolerant Stratus servers to count on, the exchange is well- repared to sustain its mission “to provide a world-class commodity exchange platform for market participants to trade in a wide spectrum of commodity derivatives driven by best global practices, technology, professionalism, and transparency.”

Users have been pleased with dependable access to online trading. In addition to the reliability record, changes and upgrades to the system have been smooth and nondisruptive to the user community. This has helped to fuel the growth of commodities trading in India, exchange officials note.

Significantly, NCDEX has also been using the online trading system to help support advances in commodities trading. The nation’s agricultural markets are spread across some 7,000 local marketplaces, which traditionally did not permit timely spot pricing, which in turn affected traders’ decisions on futures. The exchange introduced a method for discovering near real-time spot prices that represent the thousands of dispersed marketplaces; this pricing is then reflected in the online trading system.

Its accomplishments have led NCDEX to triple its original investment in Stratus systems. The trading application is moving from Continuum servers to Stratus’ Intel®-based ftServer® V Series models. This enables the exchange to continue using the trusted Stratus VOS environment while upgrading to higher processing performance.

NCDEX officials described the successful deployment as “ a record achievement” because of its speed, which helped inspire the confidence to expand trading capabilities from just a few commodities to nearly 40 in a year’ s time.

NCDEX Trading Platform

VSAT Based TWS Risk Mgmt System

Firewall

Leased Line Based TWS

Virus Wall Internet Based TWS

Clearing / Settlement System

Trading Member Network

Core Trading Platform - Stratus Info-vendors and Price-dissemination subcribers

Hub

Extranet

Market Intermediaries (Warehouses & Mandis)

Firewall Infofeed Communication and security layer

Middleware

Financial Service

Fast ROI

World-class platform

Ethernet

The Stratus servers have performed according to plan since they were installed. They have maintained uninterrupted operation, scaled up with growth in commodities and transactions, and clocked new peak transaction loads. Today the trading system processes as many as 200,000 transactions per day for 8,000 users from terminals at 500 sites across the nation.

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Westpac Institutional Bank Virtual infrastructure for critical financial application leaves no margin for error

Business situation Money never rests. Deposits, settlements, transfers, payments, investments, and purchases race across global networks to satisfy fiduciary commitments, only to be sent off again and again. This is how bond interest is paid, raw materials are purchased, payrolls are met, and grocers’ shelves are stocked. This is how economies function.

Whether a transaction is a $20 ATM withdrawal or multimillion dollar funds transfer, it crosses networks that are owned and operated by service providers. Ostensibly, service providers assume responsibility for assuring the money arrives where and when it’s supposed to. As with most services, variables such as consistency, reliability, attitude, and customer commitment will stress service-level quality.

Westpac Institutional Bank manages the financial needs of corporate, institutional, and government clients with interests in Australia and New Zealand. Exceeding customer expectations is at the core of its mission, as it is with each division of the Westpac Group, Australia’s oldest financial institution and a top-five listed company on the Australian Securities Exchange Limited.

Having earned its clients’ trust over decades, Westpac Institutional Bank launched a managed file transfer application in 2007, called Westpac Integrated Banking Service (WIBS), to take responsibility for driving clients’ daily payments and receivables, and other financial data. Using WIBS, customers send and receive critical files between their systems and Westpac’s via straight-through processing. Files include real-time or batched payments, receivables data, or a range of other financial information.

QUICK FACTS SOLUTION PROFILE Customer-facing file transfer service with transaction values exceeding AUD$1.25M per minute Virtualization platform supports 13 virtual machines and replaces 20 physical servers plus storage devices SLA commitment: total solution availability of 99.99 percent Reduces utility and operational costs, contributing to “greener” operation PRODUCTS Stratus® ftServer® fault-tolerant servers with ftScalable™ storage array for fibre channel SAN VMware® vSphere™ 4 software with VMotion™ technology VMware® vSphere™ 4 software with VMotion™ technology SERVICES Stratus support services

Business objectives The bank wanted to design a new front-end processing system to run WIBS, along with a dozen other critical applications, in a virtual production infrastructure.

System resiliency was a primary concern, both because clients interact directly with the file transfer application and, now, with virtualization, the platform would support many critical applications on less hardware. Furthermore, the system also had to seamlessly integrate with Westpac’s back-end banking systems. The client-facing nature of this application combined with the design requirements made the hardware evaluation criteria clear:

“The ftServer is more than technology. It’s peace of mind.”

Leigh Mahoney Executive Director, Core Banking and Transactional Services Westpac Institutional Bank

Fast, available, and dependable: the front-end servers needed resiliency and configuration simplicity designed in A technology provider willing to guarantee performance: the vendor had to match the bank’s own commitment to deliver exceptional SLAs to its clients Augment availability features of VMware vSphere 4 software: consolidating applications and data management on less hardware required “belt and suspenders” availability for the software, servers, and storage, in order to guarantee 99.99 percent availability While the evaluation criteria may have been clear, it was felt that familiar highavailability solutions fell short of the mark.

He researched the current state of fault-tolerant technology, expecting to find hardware enclosures the size of refrigerators and two of everything cabled together. Instead, he found a compact single server, with complete redundancy pre-engineered in and taking up just 4U (16 centimeters/seven inches) of standard rack space. The Stratus ftServer system was powered by current Intel® processors and supported both Windows and Linux® applications, as well as VMware vSphere 4 software.

“I was very surprised. Then I started pulling components out of a running machine and it just kept going. This was a real value-add solution, especially when coupled with VMware.”

a.m. and 5 p.m., each processing minute may actually represent three to five times more transaction dollar value that would not complete if WIBS was offline.

Since first implementing the new virtual infrastructure for WIBS, Westpac has had no unplanned downtime. Mahoney says that he has been alerted by Stratus customer service that something in the server needed attention, but the platform has never stopped running. “That’s how it’s supposed to work. We sometimes even get a call asking if we knew our Internet connection was down, which is something Stratus is not even responsible for. We don’t call Stratus, they call us. Service like that allows me to attend to more important things in my life, such as my family, because I know the machinery will not let me down.”

“Measuring effectiveness in terms of whether the system is up and running undervalues the importance of the service. The only meaningful measure is, can the customer use it,” said Mahoney. “At the heart of our client relationship is a fundamental trust that transactions will execute the first time, every time.”

“At the heart of our client relationship is a fundamental trust that transactions will execute the first time, every time.” Leigh Mahoney

Executive Director, Core Banking and Transactional Services Westpac Institutional Bank

The WIBS application now runs as one of seven virtual machines on two ftServer dual quad-core servers configured as a VMware cluster. A third ftServer system supports six more virtual machines. Combined, the three servers represent most of the production server infrastructure

for the Web and application layers of the architecture; the dataase layer is separated out for security reasons and runs on an alternative back end.

Additional applications include help desk, security, proxy servers to integrate front- and back-end rocessing, and other proprietary applications. The ftServer systems connect via fibre to a Stratus ftScalable storage-based high-availability SAN. The new virtualized infrastructure eliminates 20 individual servers and several storage devices. “We take comfort in the hardware resiliency Stratus provides, and the software resiliency of VMware,” said Mahoney.

“The ftServer is more than technology. It’s peace of mind.”

Business impact Westpac Institutional Bank’s WIBS services approximately 100 banking clients. These clients send or receive 300,000 workflows monthly containing AUD$40BN of payments, or an average of $1.262M per minute/day.

Since most transfers occur between 8

“We don’t call Stratus [customer service], they call us. Service like that allows me to attend to more important things in my life, such as my family, because I know the machinery will not let me down.”

Leigh Mahoney Executive Director, Core Banking and Transactional Services Westpac Institutional Bank

Financial Service

A surprising uptime assurance solution from Stratus The challenge of finding better alternatives for platform availability fell to Leigh Mahoney, executive director of core banking and transactional services for Westpac Institutional Bank. He had experience using additional hardware to achieve resiliency, but doubling up on servers and storage was not the direction 2 “[The Stratus ftServer system]…was a real value-add solution, especially when coupled with VMware.” Leigh Mahoney Executive Director, Core Banking and Transactional Services Westpac Institutional Bank Uptime.

All the time. he wanted to go for WIBS and virtualization. This traditional clustering approach meant greater management time and effort to monitor, patch, and control individual nodes; and more power, air conditioning, and rack space. “It is not very efficient and it’s hard to manage,” said Mahoney.

ftServer

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H2OSatellite Uptime assurance opens new horizons for maritime communications company Business situation H2OSatellite has been an established provider of IT communication systems to the maritime industry since 1998. With over 3000 ships already equipped with their innovative robust solutions, the company has an established reputation for excellence. Focussing fully on the specific needs of customers, and on finding best practice fixes by keeping ahead of the curve on both IT innovations and maritime legalities, is just how they do things at H2OSatellite. So, when a potential customer coming to them with a problem called downtime, coincided with a recent discovery in their research and development programme, they were quick to design and implement a solution.

The solution, H2OUptime, not only solved this customer’s unplanned downtime issues, it also revealed new horizons for H2OSatellite …

QUICK FACTS SOLUTION PROFILE Stratus® uptime assurance enables new product innovation, opening up the whole shipping market for H2OSatellite PRODUCTS Stratus® ftServer® systems SERVICES • H2OSatellite

“System failure on a ship can have massive commercial, financial, human and safety consequences in today's world.”

Robert Kenworthy Managing Director H2OSatellite

Business objectives H2OUptime, H2OSatellite’s new marinised server network, came about following a period of research and development focussed on finding a way to replace the high-risk PC networks common to most ships, with a more secure and resilient network system.

First findings suggested the way forward was a central server and thin client architecture. Indeed a competitor was already offering a solution based on networking two servers and replicating data between them. This approach would address security issues, such as vulnerability to viruses. It would also, however, introduce two new issues: resilience (and the associated risk of downtime) and operational complexity. Further research uncovered clustering as an option. This though, whilst partly addressing the resilience issue, still introduced operational complexity.

Lee Black, IT systems manager at H2OSatellite explains:“The problem

with introducing a central server and thin client architecture is that if the server fails, it can take anywhere from thirty minutes to three and a half hours to get the environment back up and running – and that’s if there’s someone onboard who knows what to do. Most ships do not carry IT managers. Most shipping companies simply cannot afford the risk of downtime. “Thinking around this issue, searching for an alternative solution, we came across Stratus and its suite of fault tolerant servers. The architecture of fault tolerant servers removes the failure restart scenario (downtime) and introduces operational simplicity. At the same time, a customer using such a central server thin client set up came to us with a problem. Their server kept failing and the associated downtime was costing them dearly. How could we help?

“So, whilst the specific objective for this client, initially, was to provide guaranteed uptime, the solution we finally delivered did more than just

guarantee uptime. It delivered a technically elegant solution. Our customer loves the fact that, if there is a failure, nobody on board has to do anything at all. The fault-tolerant architecture simply rides through the failure. All the crew has to do is receive a call from one of our support team scheduling delivery of a new component at their next port of call.”

The solution, which has since been branded H2OUptime, impacts deeper than just assuring uptime and operational simplicity though, as H2OSatellite’s founder and managing director Robert Kenworthy explains.

Business Impact “The impact for H2O customers is enormous.

“A ship’s communications network is very, very vulnerable. Ships by their nature are physically isolated when at sea. Not many ships have IT Managers aboard, so if anything goes wrong it can be catastrophic.“And

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date systems, we are now selling a full scale marinised server network; we now have the whole market as prospects,” concludes Rob. The first ship with H2OUptime installed, left port October 14 2011.

After a trial period on land, the ship owner was delighted with the reliability and simplicity of the solution. With H2O’s SOS support team available 24/7, the knowledge that all the captain has to do if there is any IT issue whatsoever is make one call, is a great source of reassurance. And with a whole new sales pipeline to explore, H2OSatellite is delighted too.

About H2OSatellite H2OSatellite is the complete maritime communications partner with more than 2200 ships already relying on its fully integrated, simple and cost effective solution. Comprising a full suite of packages from commercial messaging, spam, virus protection and crew messaging, to hardware

”Take the latter requirement: notice of departure and arrival. If a ship fails to provide this, it is not allowed in US waters. The potential loss of income this can cause for just one ship is up to $33,000 per day. When you add to this the human impact on crew and other passengers of being unable to communicate with loved ones on land, or access entertainment onboard, plus the potential risks of the ship not receiving a crucial safety related message during even a split second of unplanned downtime, and it is clear that not many ship owners are going to want to risk downtime.

“With H2OUptime, they no longer have to,” concludes Rob. H2OUptime is also set to make a massive impact on H2OSatellite’s own business, as Paul Veares, business manager with Stratus Technologies explains: “H2OUptime effectively gives H2OSatellite access to the whole shipping market – all 35,000 vessels – all owned by innovation junkies. With new satellite bandwidth due to become available in 2014, they’re already looking for ways to get the most out of their IT systems. To get the most, they’ll need the peace of mind that only comes with uptime all the time guaranteed. H2OUptime is the only solution on the market to deliver this.”

“Whereas before we were selling email systems and anti virus packages and our prospects were ships that hadn’t got any, or had not got up to

sales installation and airtime H2OSatellite enable their customers to communicate via any transmission package available, including major satellite systems such as Inmarsat, Iridium and VSAT and also GSM, Broadband and ISDN. Since 1998, when the business started as Global Technology LTD, the company has been in the vanguard of satellite communications software development, offering customers industry leading returns on their communications investment. Key to the company’s success is its focus on providing technology with a human face via its market leading 24/7 365 customer support, and a genuinely personal touch that ensures each customer has a solution that is tailored for their specific needs.

H2OSatellite is head quartered in the UK and has a comprehensive network of partners with offices worldwide.

“ So, whilst the specific objective for this client, initially, was to provide guaranteed uptime, the solution we finally delivered did more than just guarantee uptime.

It delivered a technically elegant solution.”

Lee Black IT Systems Manager H2OSatellite

ftServer

“We realized a few years ago that there was a huge need for a safer way to build communication networks on ships, and that while the server and thin client architecture answered some of the issues, it did not offer a complete solution. It was not until we came across Stratus and ftServer that we realized we could actually do something that would push networks down the secure server route, without introducing the risk of downtime.

The fact thata client came to us with exactly this problem gave us all the momentum we needed to create a first class, first-to-market solution.

“System failure on a ship can have massive commercial, financial, human and safety consequences in today’s world. Super yachts, super tankers, tankers, cruise-liners and super containers, for example, all rely on emails to communicate engine performance, cargo status, notice of arrival to the US coast guard (new legislation introduced since 9/11), for example.

Travel, Transportation,& Logistics

plenty can go wrong: passengers and crew members bring memory sticks and DVDs on board, which could contain any number of viruses. Inserting these into PCs networkedtogether is a high-risk strategy.

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H2OSatellite 确保正常运行时间为海上通信公司开拓新视野 业务状况 H2O自1998年开始致力于为航运业提供IT通信系统。公司的 3000多艘船已配备新型稳健的解决方案，公司也因此在业内 赢得了较高的声誉。H2OSatellite在IT技术创新和履行法律 义务方面始终处于 领先地位，从而满足客户的特定需求并 为 其寻找到最佳的解决方案。因此，当有潜在客户带着被称为 “系统故障时间” 的问题找到H2OSatellite, 而这正好与其 在研发项目中最新的一项发现不谋而合时，他们很快地设计 并实施了一个解决方案。 这项解决方案---H2OUptime不仅解决了这个客户的意外系统 故障，而且为H2OSatellite开拓了新的视野……

概况浏览 解决方案的概要介绍 Stratus的正常运行时间保证实现了新的产品 更新，为H2OSatellite开启了整个航运市场。 产品 Stratus ftServer系统 客户架构 服务 • H2OUptime

“船上的系统故障在现如今可能对业务、 经济、人员和安全造成巨大的损失。” Robert Kenworthy Managing Director H2OSatellite

发展目标 H2OUptime是H2OSatellite在 经过长期 的研发后新推出的船用 服务器网络，用于寻找一个方式 来替代被大多数船只 所常用的高 风险个人电脑网络并配备 了更安 全、更灵活的网络系统。

障，可能需要花上30分钟乃至3 个半小时来使 系统恢复运行，而 且前提是必须有会相 关操作的人 员在现场。而通常，大部分 的船 只都不会配备IT经理。大部分的 海 运公司根本无法承受发生系统 故障时间 的风险。

根据最初的发现，需要改进的是 一个中 央服务器和瘦客户端架构 。实际上已经 有一个竞争者提供 解决方案，将两台服 务器进行联 网，并可进行数据的复制。 这个 方案可以解决安全性问题，如对 病毒的防御。但它也可能会引来 两个新的 问题，即迅速恢复的能 力（系统故障的 相关风险）和运 行复杂性。进一步研究 发现集群 也是一个的选项，尽管可以部 分 实现自动恢复功能，但还是会导 致运 行复杂性。H2OSatellite的 IT系统经理，Lee Black 解释， “引起有关中央服务器和客户架 构的问题在于如果服务器发生故

“在努力思考这个问题，寻求一 个有效 的解决方案的时候，我们 偶然了解到了Stratus及其容错 服务器产品。容错服务器的架构 消除了故障重启的情况(系统故 障时间)并且实现了运行简单化 。与此同 时，使用这款中央服务 器瘦客户端的一 个客户带着问题 找到了我们。他们的服务器仍发 生故障，由此造成的故障时间 使 他们蒙受了巨大的损失。我们如 何来 帮助这样的客户呢？” 因此，尽管这个客户最初的目标 是提供 正常运行时间保障，我们 最终向其提供 的解决方案在满足

其需要的同时超越了 其最初的目 标。我们的解决方案有着完 美的 技术支持和保障。客户对此结果 也 非常地满意，一旦发生系统故 障，在场 的人员无需采取任何措 施。这个容错架 构可以轻易地跨 越这个故障。船上的工 作人员只 需接听我们技术支持工作小组 成 员打来的电话，告知新的部件将 在下 一个停靠港口送达。” H2OSatellite创始人和总经理 -Robert Kenworthy补充说明， 这个解决方案自 从被标榜成为 H2OUptime后，其影响力不仅 仅局限于确保正常运行时间和运 行简单化。 业务影响 “对H2O的客户的影响是巨大的。 “轮船的通信网络非常地脆弱。 由于其 本身的特殊性质，在海上 航行时基本与 外界隔离。一般而 言，船上很少会有IT经理，因此，

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“我们在多年前就已经意识到非 常需要 一个更安全的方式来建立 船上的通信网络。尽管服务器和 瘦客户端架构能够妥善处理一些 问题，但它无法提供一个完 整的 解决方案，直至我们了解到Stratus和ftServer，我们意识到实际 上可以将 网络融入到安全的服务 器路径，而不会 导致发生系统故 障的风险。当客户遇到 同样的问 题并找到我们时，更促使我们设 法创造一个率先进入市场的完美 解决 方案。

“以后一项要求为例，即出发 和抵达通知，船只无法及时发 出此类通知是美国水上管理部 分明令禁止的。由此导致的一 只船的每天潜在收益损失就可 高达 $33000。此外，这样的故 障对于船员和其他乘客而言也 都有着不可小觑的影响，他们 将无法与心爱的人进行通信沟 通，或是无法享用船上的娱乐 设施，也有可能导致船只无法 接收到重要的安全信息，即便 只是发生了一瞬间的意外系统

Rob总结得出了一个结论：“尽 管之前我们销售的是电子邮件 系统和防病毒工具，当时我们 的发展前景针对我们尚未拥有 的船只和最新的系统，如今我 们提供的是整套的海上服务器 网络，我们将整个市场作为我 们的发展目标。”

关于H2OSatellite H2OSatellite是一家完备的海上 通信服务供应商，超过2200艘 船只选择了由其提供的操作简单 并且具有较高成本效率的一体化 解决方案。凭借从商业信息传递 、垃圾邮件屏蔽、病毒防护和船 员信息沟通到硬件销售安装和通 话记录的一整套服务产品， H2OSatellite通过传输工作实现 其客户与外界之间的通信和沟通 ，包括主要的卫星系统， 如 Inmarsat ,Iridium和VSAT及 GSM, 宽带和ISDN。自1998年 公司以Global Technology LTD 开始开展业务起，公司就已成为 卫星通信软件开发的先锋，为客 户在通信领域的投资赢得了处于 行业领先水平的高回报。公司之 所以能够取得这样的成功主要在 于其始终为客户提供了先进的技 术和周到的服务，工作人员提供 全天24小时的技术支持并派遣专 人为客户提供服务，确保每一个

第一艘安装H2OUptime的船只 于2011年 10月14日离开港口。 在经历了陆地上的试用期后，船 主对这个解决方案的可靠性和简 便性非常满意。拥有H2O的SOS 支持服务团队全天24小时的服务 后，如果发生IT系统问题，船只 只需拨打一个电话，这就是我们 的 服 务 承 诺 和 保 证 。 H2OSatellite对于这个全新的销 售网络的探索也表示欣然接受。

故障，毫无疑问，大部分的船 主都不希望承担发生系统故障 的风险。 “使用H2OUptime后，他们不 再需要担心发生系统故障。 ”Rob进行了总结。 H2OUptime对H2OSatellite的 业务也存在较大的影响力， Stratus Technologies的业务经 理Paul Veares解释道， “H2Uptime为H2OSatellite开启 了整个海运市场的大门，35000艘 船只的拥有者都是对创新有着执 着追求的人。随着卫星带宽将在 2014年广泛推行，他们已经开始 努力寻找有效方式来最大程度地 利用他们的IT系统。为了尽可能地 发挥作用，他们需要始终确保系 统的正常运行时间。H2OUptime 是目前市场上唯一的一个解决方 案可以实现这样的目标。” 客户所拥有的解决方案是为其独 身定制的，从而满足其特定的需 求。H2OSatellite的总部位于英 国，不仅如此，公司在全球各地 都设有办事处，服务网络覆盖全 球各地。

“因此，尽管这个客户最初的目 标是提供正常运行时间保障，我 们最终向其提供的解决方案在满 足其需要的同时超越了其最初的 目标。我们的解决方案有着完美 的技术支持和保障。”

Lee Black IT Systems Manager H2OSatellite

ftServer

“船上会发生各种状况，如乘 客和船员 会将存储棒和DVD带 上船，这些东西常常会含有各 类病毒。将这些外置软件插入 联网的个人电脑将导致很大的 风险。

“船上的系统故障在现如今可 能对业务 、经济、人员和安全 造成巨大的损失。超级游艇、 超级油轮、油轮、豪华游轮 和 超级集装箱货船都依赖电子邮 件来向美国海岸警卫队汇报引 擎的运行性能、货物状态和通 知到达时间(自发生911事 件后 实行的新法规要求)。

交通运输/物流

如果发生任何故障，导致的后果 将是极为严重的。

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Pitney Bowes Inc. Stratus ftServer systems deliver continuous uptime for high-volume mail customers

Business situation What happens if enterprises can’t produce important mailings — such as account statements and monthly invoices — on time? Late invoices can interfere with an enterprise’s cash flow. Delayed account statements can hurt customer service. Also, production mail departments often must meet committed service level agreements (SLAs), or risk steep financial penalties and forfeit bonus compensation.

Fortunately many large organizations are able to effectively banish such worries. Their production mail operations instead focus on saving time, reducing costs, increasing quality, and benefiting from one-to-one messaging. They count on Pitney Bowes Inc., the world’s leading provider of integrated mail and document management solutions. Based in Stamford, Conn. this global enterprise makes business communications more efficient and effective with a diverse range of products and services.

One of Pitney Bowes’ offerings is the Direct Connect™ Inserter Control System, which enables enterprises to monitor, control, and customize each piece in high-volume mailings. The system controls the insertion of mail pieces into envelopes, completing the final step in a process that must always meet a hard deadline. Turnaround time is a matter of So when Pitney Bowes decided to migrate its Direct Connect software to Microsoft Windows environment, Stratus ftServer systems were chosen to deliver what the company and its clients needed. hours. Moreover, processing must be able to run non-stop throughout the production cycle.

Business objectives Pitney Bowes identified two top requirements for their new server platform: Uninterrupted processing for the Microsoft Windows-based Direct Connect application Operational simplicity, manageability, and serviceability that would ease the IT support burden at customer locations “Recognize that we’re in the business of delivering end-to-end document messaging solutions — not components — and the server is one of many integral components to our overall suite of solutions,” says Gene Pritchard, director, systems integration and support at Pitney Bowes’ Document Messaging Technologies unit. “Therefore, it is absolutely imperative that we deploy proven component technology throughout our suite of solutions.”

QUICK FACTS SOLUTION PROFILE

World leader in integrated mail and document management systems Enables enterprises to monitor, control, and customize each piece in high-volume mailings.

Helps customers save time, reduce costs and benefit from one-to-one messagingStratus® ftServer® systems ensure continuous uptime and simplicity of operation for deadline-based communications services PRODUCTS

Stratus ftServer systems Direct Connect™ Inserter Control System Microsoft® Windows Server® operating system

SERVICES

Stratus Support Services

Developed, integrated, and supported by Pitney Bowes, the Direct Connect application usually serves as part of a sophisticated mailing solution that operates at clients’ premises. This software platform not only controls the real-time operation of mail insertion equipment, but also handles the processing that reconciles job specifications against actual results, regenerates missing mail pieces, and prints personalized messages on each envelope. Satisfied clients include banks, financial services firms, insurance companies, state agencies, and direct mailers.

The Direct Connect software was originally implemented as a cluster.

“The clustered servers worked well when they were properly configured, but correctly configuring them required expertise that most people didn’t have,” says Eric Howard, infrastructure specialist at Pitney Bowes.

“Simply put, the proven ability to perform flawlessly is the reason that we chose Stratus as our preferred server platform, as the server technology and support infrastructure are second to none.”

Gene Pritchard Director, Systems Integration and Support Pitney Bowes Document Messaging Technologies

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High-availability server clusters looked appealing at first. Clusters consist of two or more servers and software that permits switchover when there is a problem. This failover transfers processing from the affected server node to another server in the cluster. A big drawback, however, is that downtime is guaranteed while recovery is not. For the Direct Connect application, the interruption in processing was unacceptable.

Because of their fault-tolerant architecture and built-in redundancy, ftServer systems experience zero failover time if a hardware problem arises. Plus, they are easy to deploy and simple to manage, even in remote or “light’s out” locations. As such, they more than fit the bill for Pitney Bowes.

administration.

Built-in robustness provides a major advantage because the Direct Connect system must perform with little or no IT attention at the sites where it is installed.

Pritchard comments, “Simply put, the proven ability to perform flawlessly is the reason that we choose Stratus as our preferred server platform, as the server technology and support infrastructure are second to none.”

The ftServer line features Stratus ActiveService™ capabilities ideal for these circumstances. First, ftServer systems constantly monitor their own operation. If trouble is detected, processing continues uninterrupted while the server isolates the condition and automatically opens a call telling the Stratus Customer Assistance Center (CAC) exactly what action to take.

The dual requirements for uninterrupted processing and simplicity of operation led the Pitney Bowes team to Stratus Technologies. The Stratus ftServer series offered an alternative to clusters: an industry-standard, fault-tolerant family of Intel® processor-based servers designed for Windows environments.

Engineered for uptime that exceeds 99.999%, ftServer systems transparently bring the protection of faulttolerant computing to applications that use Windows server operating systems.

Applications need not be modified to take advantage of the servers Automated Uptime™ features. And, in contrast with clusters, ensuring reliability involves neither special configuration and testing nor labor-intensive

CAC alerts the Pitney Bowes support team so a customer service representative can respond appropriately.

timely mail communications at the “Other companies out there lowest cost possible. Trusted ftServer don’t have this kind of real-time, systems support that goal.

These proactive alerts are important for shortterm problem resolution, in addition to preventing abnormal conditions from mushrooming into downtime. “Having the CAC available is huge,” observes Howard. “Techs from Stratus will walk through problem resolution with customer service representatives who are on site. Stratus always goes the extra mile to help, even when it’s not their problem.”

“Other companies out there don’t have this kind of real-time, high-availability solution. Others may claim similarities, but there’s nothing as robust as ftServer systems in terms of uptime and service,” Howard comments.

Business impact Pitney Bowes has installed Stratus ftServer systems — different models spanning a range of processing power — at multiple customer sites. The deployments have been similar to installing any other standard Windows server platform.

From the clients’ point of view, not having to think about reliability is optimal. Direct Connect clients simply want to produce the most accurate,

He concludes, “From a business perspective, choosing the ftServer systems is one of the smartest things we’ve done.

Security is preserved because the servers initiate and deposit the call over a secure, online connection. The Stratus

high-availability solution. Others may claim similarities, but there’s nothing as robust as ftServer systems in terms of uptime and service.” Eric Howard

Infrastructure Specialist Pitney Bowes Document Messaging Technologies

ftServer

Highest reliability, least maintenance Pitney Bowes has installed eight Stratus ftServer systems — different models spanning a range of processing power — at customer sites so far. The deployments have been similar to installing any other standard Windows server.

Travel,Transportation & Logistics

As a result, Pitney Bowes clients’ IT organizations were interested in having a Windows operating system base that would be familiar to their personnel. This prompted Pitney Bowes’ technical team to thoroughly evaluate other server platforms to run the application.

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Robotic Parking Systems, Inc. System resilience and proactive monitoring drive automated parking

Business situation Robotic Parking Systems is out to change the way the world parks cars. And, in the process, improve urban land use, cut polluting auto emissions, and adhere to LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design) green building construction and operation metrics.

Drive into a street-level “terminal” at a Robotic Parking garage, shut off the ignition, and exit your vehicle. The system automatically does the parking for you. It is premium valet service without the valet. Instead of a person driving up and down a network of concrete ramps and circling parking levels in search of an open space, the control-system network knows exactly where to place a car.

Behind the scenes, sophisticated software controls the platforms, lifts, motors, sensors, and other mechanical gear that transport the car to an open slot in a multi-story steel shelving system.

Different size bays accommodate sedans and SUVs, improving space utilization. When you are ready to leave, the system locates your vehicle and returns it to a ground level exit terminal – facing in the correct direction. Retrieving a car takes one to three minutes; each entry/exit gate can handle 30 cars per hour on average.

These garages take up only half the space of a traditional car park, making land available for green space, additional parking, or other development options. A facility can be standalone, below a building or above a building so long as there is adequate access to entry/exit terminals. Interior lighting and HVAC are not needed where the cars are parked. Compared to a traditional enclosed car park, a Robotic Parking operation uses 50 percent less power per cycle (car in/car out).

Robotic Parking created the first automated parking facility in the Middle East, in Dubai, UAE with 765 spaces.

Another 1200-space underground garage is planned for Dubai, with a third in Abu Dhabi with 325 spaces.

Garages are in Clearwater, FL and Hoboken, NJ USA, as well.

“True redundancy translates into a greater level of reliability and ensures uninterrupted operations.” Royce Monteverdi

CEO, Robotic Parking systems

QUICK FACTS SOLUTION PROFILE

Automatic car parking optimizes land use, cuts auto emissions, promotes ‘green’ urban development Continuous systems availability critical to flawless execution and customer satisfaction Includes a primary data center and a secondary site for disaster recovery Total redundancy, proactive monitoring built in to all IT and mechanical operations to prevent failure, and enable preventative PRODUCTS

Stratus ftServer systems GE Fanuc Intelligent Platforms Proficy HMI/SCADA-CIMPLICITY software Microsoft® Windows Server® operating system Microsoft SQL Server® database software

Business objectives Robotic Parking operations are technology driven. According to company CEO Royce Monteverdi, the entire system is engineered with redundancy to the extreme.

For example, not only are there two motors on a single machine, there are two machines each with redundant motors. Both can perform the same task at the same time. If one machine requires maintenance or repair, the back-up is already operating to keep cars moving in and out of the garage.

The same philosophy applies to software and hardware powering command and control operations.

Two complete systems with redundant servers, programmable logic controls, and network cabling ensure that a worst case scenario — cars can’t be retrieved because of a system failure — doesn’t happen. Backing all that up is an emergency power generator with automatic transfer switch

that kicks in if there’s a power outage.“True redundancy translates into a greater level of reliability and ensures uninterrupted operations,” said Monteverdi. “No single failure will ever result in the system being inoperable. Uptime of the system is unprecedented.”

Partnering for Prevention GE CIMPLICITY automation software powersthe garages. It is a client/server based visualization and control solution with detailed HMI (human machines interface) graphics screens. Operators “see” every movement and car location on display terminals in real time and can perform supervisory system tasks as needed. The software’s data store records the rotation of every wheel, bearing, gearbox and motor, making information about needed maintenance or repairs immediately available online to the service department. Data from approximately 35,000 input points, as well

resources to preemptively protect against downtime and data loss. If a problem is detected, the software isolates the offending component from the application and other system resources. The uptime layer may decide to return the component to service, or it may determine there’s a more serious issue at hand. From the user perspective, it’s simple and automatic, requiring no human intervention.

information to the uptime experts to make the fix and avoid a repeat. All the while applications continue to run, and business continues to operate, with no intervention from your IT team.

“Flawless operation and consistent performance are critical aspects to new business development, just as they are in day-to-day operations and customer satisfaction. In both contexts, I count on Stratus uptime assurancetohelpcarrytheday.”

Business impact Even with its highly sophisticated and environmentally responsible design, together with advanced IT systems technology, development cost for a Robotic Parking Systems facility is less than a traditional car park that has none of the advantages.

“When you factor in the additional revenuegenerating potential of our parking solution in a typical urban environment, it will always result in a net development profit for the total project compared to conventional car parks,” said Monteverdi. More projects are in planning stages in several countries. Track record and proof-of-concept are important benchmarks in winning new contracts. “Flawless operation and consistent performance are critical

aspects to new business development, just as they are in day-to-day operations and customer satisfaction. In both contexts, I count on Stratus uptime assurance to help carry the day.”

The second unique dimension is proactive availability management. Stratus availability technicians or authorized partners can access the system and automated uptime layer over a secure global network. Technology experts are at the ready 24/7 to remotely diagnose and remediate more complex issues.

Everything a service technician can do onsite, Stratus proactive availability management does remotely, with no waiting several hours for a repair technician to show up, hopefully with the right part to get your business back online.

The technology layer will capture the root cause of problems, and report the

CIMPLICITY Redundancy Two complete systems with redundant servers, programmable logic controls, and network cabling ensure that a worst case scenario — cars can’t be retrieved because of a system failure — doesn’t happen.

Backing all that up is an emergency power generator with automatic transfer switch that kicks in if there’s a power outage.

Travel,Transportation & Logistics

as input from customers driving in, are Two is Better than One stored to Microsoft SQL server database. Like every operational and mechanical aspect in these garages, ftServer CIMPLICITY software provides up systems are completely redundant to five different alarm messaging within a single enclosure. The big classifications. These early warn- difference from other high availability ing indicators and alarms can iden- server solutions is that Stratus tify deteriorating conditions servers are designed to prevent before a malfunction can occur. failures from occurring, rather than Alerts are forwarded automatically recover from failure after the fact. to technicians’ beepers, cell There is no system failover or data phones or terminal screen, with loss. ftServer systems come up to three locations receiving pre-configured and ready to work, simultaneous notification. with no application modification, proprietary systems, or complex It was GE that brought Stratus hardware or software. ftServer systems to the attention of Robotic Parking Systems as the Stratus ftServer systems have two ideal hardware platform to host features no other server solution in CIMPLICITY software. These servers the world has: an automated uptime support mission-critical applica- software layer and proactive availtions around the world, delivering ability management and monitoring. better than 99.999 percent uptime guaranteed in 24/7 operation. In The automated uptime layer is essen2010, the average downtime of an tially embedded level-one managed ftServer unit across the entire service. It constantly monitors more installed base was just 62 seconds. than 500 system components and sensors, and manages system

ftServer

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Tohan Co., Ltd. Tohan’s Okegawa SCM Center introduces innovations to book distribution in Japan, accelerating delivery of goods and reducing returns.

Business Challenge - Streamlining Book Distribution and Building Information Hub With the consignment sales system, publishers bear the risks and costs for up to 40% returns, small to medium-sized bookstores struggle to stock good selections of popular titles, and consumers find it hard to find the books they want, with long waits for specially-ordered titles… In order to solve various problems in the traditional book distribution system, Tohan, the leading book distribution company, built the Tohan Okegawa SCM Center, one of the world’s largest book distribution centres.

In Okegawa SCM Center, Tohan has consolidated order processing and return accepting facilities, and combined all inventories that were traditionally stored in each branch. In addition, various publishers’ shared warehouses have been also consolidated into this facility.

Okegawa SCM Center is a gigantic distribution hub, where all book distribution cycles are completed within the facility. What was the purpose of this consolidation? Mr. Hiroshi Tochigi, an operating officer and the director of Tohan’s Logistics Division, explains as follows: “As consumers’ needs diversify, 80,000 new titles are published and 800,000 titles are distributed every year. The problem is that, as a result, the gap between readers’ needs and product offering is gradually widening.”

Because of the gap, many books are returned to publishers. Currently, the return rate is rapidly approaching 40%. Mr. Tochigi says that, if they don’t find a solution, the entire industry would face operational hardships.

“As a wholesaler that connects 4,000 publishers and 27,000 bookstores, Tohan plays the role of information hub. Therefore, we believe that we can serve readers better by building a core book SCM, and reducing waste and loss as much as possible. That is the goal of this project.”

Currently, the book distribution industry is facing an urgent need to optimise the control of market inventory, by capturing real-time information, such as product supply information for bookstores across Japan, information on daily sales at bookstores, and information about returns from retailers. The main purpose of Okegawa SCM Center is to provide infrastructure for the industry-wide effort.

Tohan has built one of the world’s largest book distribution centres, consolidating and streamlining complex book distribution.

CTC’s proven IT infrastructure development and Stratus ftServer – which provides nonstop, high reliability – support the large distribution centre’s 24/7 operations.

Tohan, a leading book distribution company, has consolidated shipping and return operations by building a large distribution centre, which connects publishers and bookstores across Japan.

This SCM centre introduces innovations to book distribution, by accelerating product distribution, reducing distribution costs, and offering marketing information. Stratus non-stop server, ftServer, supports its 24/7 operations.

“In order to satisfy the industry’s needs, we needed technology that would keep this huge facility running without any downtime – the facility has as many as 106,811 process control points.”

The Okegawa SCM Center is a large distribution hub that connects more than 27,000 bookstores and 4,000 publishers across Japan. Every day, the centre handles 2,500,000 books, orders and returns. Advanced automation and streamlined work processes are required for all its operations, including sorting orders, examination of returned items, and shipping and receiving of inventory.

Mr. Hiromi Sato, the assistant manager of the Logistics Division says: “In order to keep products moving in the facility, we spent time designing work processes. As a result, we have developed our own distribution system, which moves products in a timely manner.” For example, let’s look at the order sorting system. Once a book enters a distribution line, its destination is determined by a barcode, and

Tohan Co., Ltd Operating Officer Director of Logistics Division Mr. Hiroshi Tochigi

a conveyor carries the book to the chute for the destination bookstore, where the book exits the line. When all books ordered by the bookstore are collected, all books at the chute are packed by a staff member, and placed on another conveyor. All these work processes are controlled by Windows servers, allowing 45,000 books per hour to be sorted. “Our concern was the reliability of the server. With the new system, even one second of system downtime could result in a significant loss.”

“With a clustered system, it would take 20 to 30 seconds to switch to a backup system. That would be too slow. Therefore, we chose a non-stop server.”

Solution by Stratus - Non-Stop Server That Satisfies Mission Critical Demands In the Okegawa centre, many kinds of information systems are deployed, including purchase/order processing systems, and inventory control systems.

Within the multi-vendor system in which UNIX servers and other companies’ Windows servers are also reliability, availability and service level for the system.”

“We would like more people to read books. In particular, we would like our children - who hold the future of Japan – to enjoy reading books, which is different from enjoying images or sounds, and develop intellectual qualities. For this reason, we continue to provide the complete distribution process, until a book reaches an individual reader.”

When a book reaches its reader, the book is given life. In order to give each book life, and for books to enrich the country, Tohan’s Life of Books Project continues.

The ftServer supports this project through the book distribution system.

reliability in the production system. Mr. Hiroaki Kuwana, Retail Business Sales Division 1 of Itochu Techno-Solutions, says: “One second of downtime would not have a significant impact on regular office systems. However, when it comes to a large book distribution system such as Tohan’s, it could cause a major problem. Therefore, it would have been impossible to realise this high-level of reliability without Stratus ftServer.”

deployed, ftServers are mainly used at mission-critical points, such as sorting systems, conveyor systems, and automated warehouses, in order to control distribution facilities.

“We use different servers depending on work processes,” explains Mr. Sato.

“Where the priority is low, we use other companies’ Windows servers and UNIX cluster configurations. Where the priority is highest, we use ftServers.” ftServer’s technology for high availability is very different from that of regular IA servers. On the software side, the causes of system crashes are completely eliminated by enhanced device drivers and other measures. On the hardware side, all components provide redundancy, including CPU, memory, disk, and IO system. Therefore, even if a fault occurs, the system keeps running without operation downtime.

Future Development Plan - Giving Books a Life: Tohan’s “Life of Books Project” The system was deployed in stages. In 2005, the return centre and the shared inventory centre opened, followed by the ordered goods centre in January 2007.

Since becoming operational, the new system has run steadily. Yet although the current system and operations are satisfactory, Mr. Sato does not think his work is done:“The work processes will evolve based on the new system and technology. I would like to pursue higher

Itochu Techno-Solutions was responsible for utilising the ftServer’s high Tohan Order Process System Schematic View

Tohan Host Computer

ftServer®4300 system (Automated Warehouse Control Server)

Upper-Level Order Processing System ftServer®4300 system (Conveyor Server) SW-HUB Media Converter

SW-HUB Media Converter

SW-HUB Media Converter

SW-HUB Media Converter

Processing Floor [Sorting Area]

SW-HUB Media Converter

Folding Distribution Slip Issuing Line Container Line Supply Controller Controller Controller

SW-HUB Media Converter Processing Floor [Automated Warehouse]

Processing Floor [Conveyor]

Automated Conveyor Warehouse Status Page Printer Sorter Monitor Control PC Control PC Control PC Control PC

SW-HUB Media Converter

SW-HUB Media Converter

SW-HUB Media Converter

Rejection PC (Automated Warehouse)

Receiving Controller

Rejection PC (Conveyor)

Page Printer Controller

Input PC

Input PC

Desktop Labeller Automatic Labeller

Desktop Labeller Automatic Labeller

Input Controller

6 sets

PLC Controller

Input Controller

6 sets

PLC Controller

PLC Controller

PLC PLC PLC [Sequencer] [Sequencer] [Sequencer]

PLC (Sequencer): Sequence Controller (Controls sequence)

Sorter Gathering PC Control PC

Page Printer

UPS X 9 Receiving PC

5 sets

Automated Warehouse Control PC

Automated Warehouse Controller

Page Printer

Gathering Controller Receiving Controller

4 sets

Shipping Controller

Controller

Travel, Transportation,& Logistics

All books on conveyors are tracked by barcodes. If the system were to stop, and the tracking information is lost, it would not be possible to tell which book is located where on the conveyors. In that case, all books on conveyors must be collected, and re-entered into lines. Of course, if it takes time to restore the server, business downtime also increases.

Meanwhile, all workers remain idle.

ftServer

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Tohan Co.,Ltd 对日本的图书物流进行创新的东贩桶川SCM中心。交货速度的提高和退货的减少。 业务课题 - 图书物流的效率提升和资讯中心的建立 在委托销售制度下，出版社承担了达到40%的退货风险和成本 ；中小型书店总是为无法搜罗所有畅销图书而烦恼；消费者买 不到自己想要的图书，即使预定也要等待很久......。为了解决 传统图书物流的各种问题，图书物流的最大经销商日本东贩株 式会社提出了，建设世界最大规模的图书物流中心“东贩桶川 SCM中心”。 桶川SCM中心，将以前分别设立的订购品中心、退货中心和存 放于各分公司的商品库存连接到一起。并对各出版社的联合库 存中心等进行了整合，图书物流的所有环节都在这个巨大的物 流中心内完成。对于整合的目的，日本东贩株式会社的执行董 事、物流部长枥木裕史先生解释道：“消费者的需求日趋多样 ，每年发行的新刊书籍约8万种，每年物流图书的种类达到80万 种。问题在于，读者需求和商品供给的错配正在逐渐扩大。”

日本东贩株式会社对复杂的图书物 流进行了整合、效率提升，并建立 了世界上最大的图书物流中心。24 小时365天连续运作的大型物流中心 的业务，依赖于具有IT基础架构实 际业绩的CTC和高可靠性的不间断 型Stratus ftServer的支持。 图书物流大型经销商的日本东贩株 式会社，对图书的配送及退货的业 务功能进行了整合，建立了连接全 国出版社和书店的大型物流中心。 该SCM中心对商品供给的及时性、 物流成本的降低、市场信息的提供 等图书物流进行了革新，其24小时 365天的物流业务，依赖于Stratus 的不间断型服务器ftServer的支持。

由于错配，很多图书被退回到出版商。目前，退货率接近40％ 。枥木部长说到，如果这种状态持续下去，整个行业的经营将 出现困难。

“作为一家连接4,000家出版社 和27,000家书店的批发商，东贩 处于信息中心的位置。通过建立 一个以批发为核心的图书SCM， 彻底消除浪费和损耗，为读者提 供更高质量的服务。这就是本项 目的使命。” 目前，图书物流行业的首要任务 是，实时掌握全国销售店铺的商 品供给信息、各店铺每天的销售 信息、以及零售店的退货信息， 最合理地控制市场库存。为整个 行业提供一个基础设施是桶川 SCM中心的最大目的。 “为实现这个目标，就需要有支 持制程控制点多达106,811点的 大型设备不间断运行的技术。” 平台的课题 - 1秒都不能停止运 行的物流系统 桶川SCM中心，是一家连接日本 全国超过27,000家书店和4,000

家出版社的大型物流中心。每天 经由中心发送和退回的图书，合 计多达250万册。订购图书的分 拣、被退回图书的检查、库存品 的出入库等等，所有这些工作， 必须要有高度的自动化和有效的 业务步骤。物流部助理经理佐藤 广美女士说到:“为了不使商品 滞留在物流中心内，设计工作花 费了很长时间。最后，自主开发 了物流系统，建立了实时管理商 品运行系统。” 例如，订购图书的分拣系统。图 书一旦进入物流线，就按照条形 码确定目的地，由传送带输送至 通向书店的滑槽。当书店订购的 图书全部齐备后，工作人员就将 滑槽出口堆放起来的图书装箱， 并放到搬运传送带上。这一系列 的工作均由Windows服务器控制 ，每小时可分拣图书约45,000册 。“问题就是服务器的可靠性。 这种新系统，即使1秒钟的系统

Tohan Co., Ltd 日本东贩株式会社 执行董事 物流部长 枥木裕史先生 Operating Officer Director of Logistics Division Mr. Hiroshi Tochigi

故障就可能导致巨大的损失。” 传送带上所有的图书都是按照条 形码实施跟踪，如果系统停止， 跟踪信息将会中断，所有图书应 搬运到传送带的何处无从知晓。 发生这种情况时，必须回收传送 带上的全部商品，重新分配。还 有，服务器的恢复处理需要时间 ，业务停止时间就变得更长了。 在此期间，现场员工只有等待。 “系统切换需要20～30秒的集 群架构，无法满足要求。因此， 我们选择了不间断型服务器。” 这就是Stratus ftServer。 Stratus的解决方案 - 满足关键性 任务要求的不间断型服务器 物流中心内，有订货及库存管理等 多种信息系统。在UNIX服务器及 其他公司的Windows服务器被广 泛使用的多供应商系统中， ftServer主要用于关键任务点，如 控制分拣系统、传送系统、自动化

ftServer的高可用性技术，与一 般的IA服务器有很大差异。在 软件方面，通过强化设备驱动 程序，彻底排除系统故障的主 要原因。硬件的所有组件全部 采用冗余结构，即使发生故障 ，由于CPU、存储器、磁盘及 IO系统都已冗余化，系统将持 续运行，不会出现业务中断。 伊藤忠Techno-Solutions株式 会社将ftServer的高可用性用在 了现场系统中。 该公司的零售业务营业部第１ 部的桑名弘明先生说到：“1秒 钟的系统故障对普通的办公系

统并没有什么影响，但对于东 贩这样的大型图书物流系统来 说，就成了很大的问题。因此 ，没有Stratus ftServer，就不 可能实现这种可靠性。”系统 开发分阶段地进行。2005年的 退货中心、联合库存中心依次 开始运行，2007年1月订购品 中心也开始了运行。 今后的发展计划- 给图书以生命 。东贩的“图书生命工程” 运行至今，系统持续稳定。但 是，佐藤助理经理认为，即便 现在的系统及业务令人满意， 但这绝不是终点。

最后，枥木部长的结论是： “我们希望有更多人看书。特 别是，支撑日本未来的孩子们 ，能够体验有别于图像和声音 的读书的快乐和培育出智慧的 素质。为此，我们将继续提供 完整的物流过程，将每一本书 送到每一个读者手中。”当图 书到达读者手中，第一次被注 入了生命。给予所有图书以生 命，以图书滋润国家，东贩的 “图书生命工程”从未停止。 这样的图书物流系统，依赖于 ftServer的持久支持。

“依靠新系统和新技术，现场 的工作方法也将进一步优化。 关于系统方面，更高的可靠性 、可用性、服务水平是永恒的 追求。”

日本东贩株式会社订购系统概念图

ftServer®4300 system (传送带服务器)

SW-HUB 媒体转换器

SW-HUB 媒体转换器

SW-HUB 媒体转换器 SW-HUB 媒体转换器

作业楼 [分拣区]

自动仓库 分拣管理 传送带管理 管理PC PC PC

ftServer®4300 system (自动仓库管理服务器)

上层订单处理系统

东贩主机

SW-HUB 媒体转换器 SW-HUB 媒体转换器

作业楼 [传送带]

SW-HUB 媒体转换器

折叠式集 装箱供应 控制器

物流线 控制器

开票线 控制器

SW-HUB 媒体转换器

作业楼 [自动仓库]

拒绝PC (自动仓库)

状态监控 页式打印机 管理PC

SW-HUB 媒体转换器

拒绝PC (传送带)

入库 控制器

页式打印机 控制器 输入PC

输入PC

台式标签机

台式标签机

自动标 签机

自动标 签机

输入控制器

输入控制器

6 sets

6 sets

PLC控制器

PLC控制器

PLC控制器

PLC [定序器]

PLC [定序器]

PLC [定序器]

PLC(定序器) 顺序控制器 (控制顺序)

分拣 管理PC

收集PC

页式打印机

UPS X 9 入库PC

5 sets

自动仓库 管理PC

自动仓库 控制器

页式打印机

收集控制器 入库控制器 出库控制器

4 sets

控制器

交通运输/物流

仓库等现场的物流设备。“服务 器根据业务内容分别使用。重要 性较低的地方使用其他的Windows服务器及UNIX的集群架构 ，ftServer用在最重要的地方。” （佐藤助理经理）

ftServer

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容错服务器在智能交通监控系统中的应用 2010上海世博会浦东浦西市政道路交通监控系统 中国2010年上海世界博览 会(Expo 2010)，是第41届 世界博览会。于2010年5 月1日至10月31日期间， 在中国上海市举行。此次 世博会也是由中国举办的 首届世界博览会。上海世 博会以“城市，让生活更 美好”(Better City, Better Life)为主题，总投资达450 亿人民币，创造了世界博 览会史上最大规模记录。 同时超越7000万的参观人 数也创下了历届世博之最

工程原理介绍 该项目66个路口通过特征软 件的编写在控制策略方面应满 足区域路网协调控制，能够提 供信息采集与发布要求，能够 提高路网通行能力，减少延误 和停车次数，满足世博园区道 路协调控制需求。 数据采集软件通过控制中 心提供的专用的数据采集 接口-SCATS ITSPort，采 集路口的交通信息。地区 主控制器用于分析路口控 制器送来的车流数据，确 定控制策略，并对本区域 各路口进行实时控制，同 时把收集到的所有数据送 到控制中心作为运行记录 并用于脱机分析。路口控 制器主要是采集分析检测

项目概述 FACTS 世 博 会 浦 东 浦 西 市 政QUICK 道路交 通监控系统工程，利用 SCATS系统，提取了上海世博园区主要道路交通信息， 实现地面道路交通信息采集和区域交通信号自适应控制 ，解决世博园区交叉口的安全、通行效率等问题。 本工程进一步提高SCATS信息系统覆盖范围，为上海市 交通信息发布奠定良好基础。 ftServer系统使用极具弹性、 特别设计的专门技术，整合全 天候24/7监察服务，提供全面 连续运行时间。

器提供的交通数据，并传 送到地区主控制器，同时 接受地区主控制器的指令 ，控制本路口信号。

方案配置 容错ft2600服务器，48套数 据光机、相应集线器等设备； 46台路口摄像机及配套传输、 字符叠加、录像显示及切换矩 阵等； 1套4小时UPS； 48个电源箱；

230个检测线圈； 218套无线电磁检测器； 机柜，网络、办公设备； 软件集成； 管线、管道租赁等配套工程。

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三：配置系统管理软件ftSSS ，实现对服务器硬件设备全方 位的管理； 四：同时支持主流的操作系统 Windows、Linux和Vmware ，支持全球主动服务网络ASN 的接入，实现7x24小时远程监 控系统运行状况。

ftServer

二：具备故障自我检测、隔离 和恢复功能，所有关键部件均 可以模块化的方式进行热插拔 更换。CPU/MEM、IO设备、 电源甚至主板出现故障时，均 可不停机进行更换。硬件故障 导致的非计划停机时间控制在 每年1分钟以内。

选择容错服务器的理由：

交通运输/物流

一：采用部件级冗余的工业标 准容错服务器，服务器系统可 靠性设计要求达到99.9998% 以上，电源、CPU、内存、 I/O控制单元、主机母版等组件 均采用冗余配置。CPU/MEM 集 成 锁 步 ( L o c k- S t e p ) 技 术 ， 硬件故障发生时系统无需切换 ，采用最新intelQPI架构，系 统性能显著提升。

系统拓扑图

ftServer系统是专为执行 关键任务应用的机构而设 计，保护客户时刻防备停 机及数据损失等意外。

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Isuzu Motors Limited Reliable, scalable manufacturing execution with Stratus®ftServer®systems

Business situation One of the world’s largest producers of trucks, Tokyo-based Isuzu Motors Limited, is also a leader in manufacturing diesel engines for trucks and buses. Isuzu’s facility in Fujisawa, Japan is one of the company’s main production points for building its SUVs, mid-sized trucks, and a pickup truck line that serves a joint venture with General Motors.

A plan to replace an outdated production management system led the factory’s Information Systems Planning team to reconsider the existing approach. The existing system did not cover the press processing and resin molding operations that produce components for use on the assembly lines. Production planning had been heavily dependent on human input in these areas. A new manufacturing execution system (MES) was needed to optimize efficiency and responsiveness.

Based on positive experience with an earlier fault-tolerant system from Stratus Technologies, decision-makers were convinced that Stratus® ftServer® systems running Microsoft Windows Server would deliver the reliability, performance, and scalability the job demanded.

Business objectives Adding new value was the goal: Increase efficiency in the press processing and resin molding factories Automate the scheduling process Provide flexibility to support unique processes Support operations with high performance and scalability Implement a robust and reliable system The Stratus uptime solution “The line stops when the server stops, so reliability is absolutely required for the server,” says Mr. Kazunari Fukasawa, manager, Information Systems Planning at Isuzu.

Other approaches to increasing server reliability were considered before the ftServer systems were chosen. The technical staff had previous experience with a coldstandby system, but the loss of data and production while manually switching to the backup system

QUICK FACTS SOLUTION PROFILE

Manufacturing execution system (MES) for automotive manufacturing Implemented for press processing and resin molding Improved efficiency and schedule adherence Downtime is unacceptable; operations depend on MES IT INFRASTRUCTURE

Stratus® ftServer® systems running Microsoft® Windows® Server® operating system

SERVICES

MCFrame/AEParts by Toyo Business Engineering

SYSTEMS INTEGRATION

QUALICA Inc.

was not acceptable. The team was also keen to eliminate the chance for problems associated with human error that come with complicated solutions like server clustering.

Stratus ftServer systems are a family of ultrareliable Intel® processor-based server hardware for Microsoft Windows Server and Red Hat® Enterprise Linux® operating systems. As a result, users gain the advantages of a faulttolerant family of servers with load-and-go implementation simplicity.

The ftServer architecture safeguards uptime with built-in Continuous Processing® features – including lockstep redundant hardware, failsafe system software, and ActiveService™ capabilities – all integrated within the server. As a result, applications need no modifications to benefit from “five nines” or better uptime, or 99.999% and higher, delivered by the Stratus ftServer systems family.

In addition to reliability, performance and scalability are equally essential for the components manufacturing execution system at Fujisawa. By its nature the MES application processes a huge amount of data. Stratus ftServer systems are engineered with the necessary processing performance and optional CPU and memory upgrades can be seamlessly added.

Isuzu’s systems integration partner for the project was QUALICA Inc., which focuses on system development in the manufacturing market. QUALICA recommended purchasing off-the-shelf packaged software rather than developing a custom solution.

This strategy also increased system stability and lowered project costs.

“The line stops when the server stops, so reliability is absolutely required for the server.”

Mr. Kazunari Fukasawa Manager, Information Systems Planning Isuzu Motors Limited

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Both QUALICA and Isuzu rate the ftServer implementation a success.

Observes Mr. Kitada (QUALICA), “Unlike a cluster, it is not necessary to be conscious of the system redundancy, so my team can concentrate on implementing and configuring the software. The ftServer system is better for system developers.”

QUALICA notes that the ftServer systems also helped shorten their development schedule. “Since the ftServer system is managed the same as a standalone Windows server, it was easy for us to use,” reports Mr. Motoki Kitada, Business Planning, Outsourcing Department at Mr. Fukasawa (Isuzu) concludes, “If QUALICA. a problem occurs, the ftServer system keeps running without interBusiness impact ruption. Stratus ftServer systems Isuzu’s Fujisawa facility established a are the best answer for a production control center for its components site with mission-critical business operations, giving them the ability to applications.” manage their own lines. An ftServerbased MES server running MCFrame/AEParts generates a production plan and sends the instructions to multiple lines in the Mr. Kazunari Fukasawa press processing and resin molding Manager, Information Systems Planning factories. Production data is transIsuzu Motors Limited

ftServer

ferred from point of production (POP) terminals to a second ftServer system functioning as a POP server, and is reconciled with the production plan data.

“Stratus ftServer systems are the best answer for a production site with mission-critical business applications.”

Mr. Kazunari Fukasawa Manager, Information Systems Planning Isuzu Motors Limited

Mr. Motoki Kitada Business Planning Outsourcing Department Qualica Inc.

ISUZU Manufacturing Execution System Configuration Data Center

Materials supplier

Storage

Production Management System Server “Takumi-kun”

Control Center POP Server

Press Processing Factory

Delivery Entry

Resin Molding Factory Molding Line

Press Processing Line

Site Office

“Takumi-kun”: T his B od y A s s e m bly F a c tory system smoothly manages in-house component production processes that need artisan's skills: press stamping, resin forming

Delivery Entry

Site Office Shipping

Ve h ic le A s s e m bly F a c tory

Manufacturing & Utilities

MCFrame/AEParts by Toyo Business Engineering was chosen because it could be easily configured to meet the needs of Isuzu’s unique processes in the press processing and resin molding factories. Like the ftServer systems, the application was tested and proven reliable and scalable.

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KapStone Paper and Packaging Manufacturing rolls non-stop at leading North American paper company

Business situation KapStone Paper and Packaging makes unbleached kraft paper that goes into the packages, wraps, and surfaces that are part of everyday life. The company’s production is converted into everything from gift boxes, to paper bags, to subsurfaces for laminate countertops and furniture. Two mills in Charleston, South Carolina and Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina operate around the clock and together are capable of producing 1.3 million tons of paper annually.

When KapStone bought the two Carolina mills from their previous owners, each mill had a manufacturing execution system (MES) that had been in place for nearly 20 years. The facilities were already looking at technology to replace the outdated systems.

Business objectives Explained CIO Christophe Deslandes, “We had to get off the legacy system. That’s why we selected software from MAJIQ. And we had to get new hardware as well.” Elixir®, from pulp and paper enterprise software specialist MAJIQ Inc. of Redmond, Washington is

the corporate standard for sales order processing (SOP) and MES at other KapStone facilities.

QUICK FACTS SOLUTION PROFILE

Sales order processing (SOP) and manufacturing execution system (MES) for paper mill Enables order management, roll production and inventory management, domestic/ international shipping, and invoicing Supports 882,000 tons of production capacity Helps ensure 24/7 operation Approaches 100% uptime PRODUCTS

Stratus® ftServer® system Stratus ftScalable™ storage MAJIQ Elixir® SOP/MES software Microsoft® Windows Server® operating system Microsoft SQL Server® database software

SERVICES

Stratus support services

Charleston, the larger of the two mills, would be first to replace both its MES software and computer server. Objectives included:

“We considered a conventional server, a cluster, etc. for our server solution. But for the 7 x 24 x 365 operation, we were looking for the best uptime assurance we could get,” said Emerson Beach, director of IT operations at KapStone.

Minimize unplanned and planned downtime to support 24/7 production lines Implement the new system in the shortest amount of time Standardize on the same MES application as the rest of KapStone, if possible

Based on years of experience at other mills, MAJIQ was able to recommend ftServer systems from Stratus Technologies. MAJIQ is a Stratus reseller. “The teams that Stratus and MAJIQ had working together really made a big difference to us,” Beach noted.

Uptime assurance was the most important consideration by far, according to KapStone. Plant management was understandably wary of making a change, because the mills had not used a Windows server for a mission-critical manufacturing application before.

Proven to perform at the computer industry’s highest level of uptime, Stratus ftServer systems prevent server downtime and loss of critical data for Microsoft Windows-based applications and databases. ftServer systems build in redundant components that serve as active spares.

These duplicate components keep the system running in the event of a

problem without anyone having to take action. And, there’s no interruption or data loss.

Stratus ftServer systems also use selfdiagnostic technology and proactive monitoring to automatically report potential problems and isolate issues fast.

Uptime equals time and money Exactly why does uptime matter so much to KapStone? Beach explained, “If the MES system stops, we can make reels of paper coming off the paper machines for a little while. But we can’t cut the rolls to match our orders because the size of the pieces comes from the Elixir system. So we only have a little time before we’d have to shut down the paper machines.”

“The long-term supplier partnership between MAJIQ and Stratus helps give KapStone the confidence that their chosen solution is viable Steve Latham for years to come.”

President MAJIQ

Specifically configured MES in just months KapStone also wanted to avoid having the project stretch out for years. Yet Charleston wanted to use roll tracking, which required integrating Elixir with PLCs (programmable Deslandes spelled out what an hour of logic controllers) that interface with downtime can cost. “It’s about and control the paper machines and $33,000 an hour, per machine. You wrap lines on the production floor. never recover that because you’re running 24/7.” If Charleston’s three In addition, Charleston has the production lines were affected, the advantage of sitting next to a seaport impact would be nearly $100,000 for freight terminal. That puts the mill in every hour lost. the position to handle its own international shipping instead of always Restarting the production lines is a going through a freight forwarder or significant effort because of the physi- a broker like most mills. cal and mechanical factors involved. MAJIQ provided some product develStarting up the paper machines and opment to Elixir to better meet the making sure they run properly can international shipping requirements take hours, according to Deslandes. while making the process more efficient. The team from MAJIQ man“Investing in a solution built for maxi- aged to implement Elixir in less than mum uptime takes the risk out of the 10 months even with the configuraequation,” Deslandes stated. “With tion and some product development. the ftServer system, we were able to tell plant management that we’re Deslandes observed, “Being able to putting in a system built not to shut implement the application and the down. It gave them confidence. It’s required product development like mainframe-based reliability.” within months, instead of years like

some of our competitors, is an important advantage we got (and continue to get) with MAJIQ. We’ll already be on the next version of our application by the time others only have their first project done.”

ftScalable storage, and MAJIQ Elixir software since December 2009. The Elixir system supports Charleston’s entire production capacity of 882,000 tons of paper annually. Beach described the results. “With the Elixir software and ftServer hardware, we’re able to provide the highest level of availability for the Charleston paper mill.” System uptime is exceptionally high, approaching 100%. Server reliability compares well with the previous MES. Plus, the ftServer system monitors its own operation and contains problems that would bring other servers to a halt. “We haven’t had any hardware issues that have affected production. And we’re very impressed with that,” said Beach.

“Being able to implement the application and product development within months, instead of years like some of our competitors, is an important advantage we got with MAJIQs.”

MAJIQ application in 2012-and that server will also be an ftServer system.

“We went through the same reflection,” stated Deslandes. “Do we go with Stratus, with a cluster, or an ordinary server? Everything said and done, the cost differential is not huge. And having a redundant machine makes sense.”

Beach added, “Being able to show the mill that we’re buying newer technology but we’ll still have the same sort of uptime makes a difference on the production floor.”

With the Elixir software and ftServer hardware, we’re able to He added, “By and large, when there provide the highest level of is a server issue we hear from Stratus availability for the Charleston before we actually even know about paper mill.” it, unless we happen to go up into the computer room and see a red light here or there. The ftServer system keeps going.”

As for the Roanoke Rapids mill, that plant will get a new server to run the

Emerson Beach Director of IT Operations KapStone Paper and Packaging Corporation

Deploying the ftServer hardware was a “plug and play” experience. “We had time to do burn-in for many weeks to make sure the server was well-stabilized before going into production. And the fact that we didn’t have to build a cluster and synchronize it [cluster nodes] helped,” said Deslandes.

Steve Latham, president of MAJIQ, added, “KapStone has an information technology strategy that fits nicely with MAJIQ’s and Stratus’ strengths.

The long-term supplier partnership between MAJIQ and Stratus helps give KapStone the confidence that their chosen solution is viable for years to come.”

Business impact The Charleston mill has been using the ftServer hardware, fault-tolerant

Christophe Deslandes CIO KapStone Paper and Packaging Corporation

Manufacturing & Utilities

“In the mill, the amount of downtime they felt able to handle was very minimal,” added Beach. “And the new system would be compared to the old VAX Alpha system that performed well.”

ftServer

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Pinellas County Utilities Virtualizing critical Wonderware automation solutions with confidence

Business situation Pinellas County (FL) Utilities delivers 71 million gallons of clean water and treats 30 million gallons of wastewater daily for one million year-round residents and 4.2 million visitors to St. Petersburg and the county’s 23 other communities. To do that, it manages 2,000 miles of pipe, 13 well fields, five surface water sources, three wastewater treatment facilities, and 350 lift stations.

Maintaining consistently high service levels in the face of a shrinking tax base, government funding, and staffing is a constant challenge. To help keep everything running smoothly, Pinellas County Utilities (PCU) relies on a supervisory control and data acquisition(SCADA) system from Wonderware that monitors some 20,000 individual “objects” such as valves, pumps, temperature gauges, etc. When the county installed the system in 1999 for Y2K compliance, it took that opportunity to free itself from inflexible, expensive proprietary technology. In addition to improving systemwide monitoring and management, the new system enabled problems to get addressed faster, field technicians to accomplish more, and tighter overhead expense control.

Technicians remotely access and adjust data at any object data point from anywhere any time, via the Internet, handheld and mobile devices, thin clients, and computer nodes. PCU management can also securely access and analyze realtime and historical information via an Internet portal. The resulting trend and numerical data analyses and comprehensive data reporting help them to optimize performance and decision-making.

Business objectives The utility’s value-added reseller partner, InSource Solutions, implemented a thin-client server system based on the Microsoft .NET framework using three pairs of Stratus ftServer systems at three geographically dispersed controller sites. Each server in a pair supports three critical applications. One runs ACP ThinServer, Microsoft Terminal Services, and Wonderware InTouch HMI (human machine interface) software. Wonderware’s Ob ject

QUICK FACTS SOLUTION PROFILE

Uptime, all the time solutions availability Plug-and-play operational simplicity A best-of-breed automation platform PRODUCTS

Wonderware® Application Server Wonderware Historian Wonderware Information Server Wonderware I/O Device Integration Server Wonderware InTouch® HMI, and Object Server ACP ThinServer Microsoft® Terminal Services VMware® vSphere™ virtualization Stratus® ftServer® systems Stratus support services

Server, I/O Device Integration Server, and Historian Server software run on the other.

without worry, knowing it would be safe to run critical utility applications on a virtual environment.

The three sites are connected to a central control room, which hosts the Galaxy Repository (the SCADA system’s Microsoft SQL Server® database for all Wonderware software) and the Wonderware Information Server, each on its own general-purpose x86 server. In early 2009, these two servers were five years old and due for replacement.

As in 1999, SCADA supervisor Ken Osborne saw an opportunity to invest in new technology.

“Keeping the water on is a public health and safety issue. We can’t tolerate any downtime,” said Osborne. “Our operation has relied on Stratus systems for about ten years with no unscheduled downtime caused by a server failure. Parts occasionally need replacement, 2 “Our operation has relied on Stratus systems for about ten years with no unscheduled downtime caused by a server failure.” Ken Osborne SCADA supervisor Pinellas County Utilities Uptime. All the time. but the server and applications never stop running.

Replacing clustered failover servers with ftServers saved us a lot of money and simplified the entire operation. I’ve never looked back.”

Instead of new servers, Osborne believed that virtualization software could leverage past technology investments, reduce costs, and protect services today, and yield future savings and operational improvements. Firsthand experience with Stratus uptime assurance and support gave him the confidence to move ahead

“Our operation has relied on Stratus systems for about ten years with no unscheduled downtime caused by a server failure.”

Ken Osborne SCADA supervisor Pinellas County Utilities

That was then, VMware virtualization is now. Osborne knew the Galaxy application alone was not sufficiently critical to justify the investment. However, adding Terminal Server for mobile HMIs together with the I/O Device Integration Server application to the mix, several benefits emerged: Centralizing remote access to the entire SCADA system was Business impact Had he used server clusters instead of ftServer systems, Osborne figures the virtualization project cost would have doubled and taken weeks longer to implement.

“When you compare the total cost of a fault-tolerant server solution to building a cluster, the investment is really a wash,” he said.

“The fault-tolerant server is also more flexible and much simpler than buying many individual x86 servers. For me, the big benefit is support. Having Stratus engineers monitor and protect my server 24/7 costs less and is better than hiring a full-time technician. The server always runs and we never lose a thing. That’s peace of mind.”

“For me, the big benefit is support.

Having Stratus engineers monitor and protect my server 24/7 costs less and is better than hiring a full-time technician. The server always runs and we never lose a thing. That’s peace of mind” Ken Osborne SCADA supervisor Pinellas County Utilities

more efficient than dividing it among the three controller sites.

Running three high-value services on three virtual machines protected by a single ftServer improved overall system integrity and flexibility and made economic sense.

With a virtualization platform in place, consolidating other applications and introducing new ones would be a matter of simply creating a new virtual machine and putting applications to work immediately.

“I can foresee a time when the SCADA operation runs entirely on virtual machines and three fault-tolerant servers,” said Osborne about his current eight-server infrastructure.

“That option didn’t exist a decade ago. Our decisions then proved to be the right ones in every regard and today we’re smarter about our virtualization strategy because of it.”

The Information Server running on the second x86 server eventually would get its own ftServer system.

The county was implementing a high-speed wireless network to which many employees would have access. Running this application on a continuously available platform was essential, given that it would be servicing the county at large. But more importantly placing a firewall between the SCADA system and the county-wide network would be more secure.

“Keeping the water on is a public health and safety issue. We can’t tolerate any downtime. ... Replacing clustered failover servers with ftServers saved us a lot of money and simplified the entire operation. I’ve never looked backs.”

Ken Osborne SCADA supervisor Pinellas County Utilities

Manufacturing & Utilities

The uptime assurance solution The three primary control centers are core to PCU’s ability to service the county, so each has ftServer systems installed. The Wonderware Galaxy Repository Server and the Information Server in the central control room are also important.

However, the 1999 infrastructure design enabled the three controller sites to continue operating if the central repository went offline.

Similarly, an Information Server outage would temporarily halt access to system-wide data, but field operations would not be affected. It was decided ordinary servers could handle the job.

ftServer

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Rexam BCNA Perfect Plants depend on SAP software and Stratus Servers to address planned and unplanned downtime

Business situation When a consumer pops the top on a refreshing beverage, there’s a good chance the can was manufactured by Rexam—the world’s biggest maker of beverage cans and the fourth largest consumer packaging company. The global company’s largest business is Rexam Beverage Can North America (BCNA), based in Chicago.

This long-time user of SAP® Business Suite applications wanted to take its manufacturing IT strategy to the next level. Functionality already customized in SAP R/3® software was enhanced and moved to the plant outside the corporate instance of the software.

This allowed manufacturing data to be collected and reported on even when the central SAP application was inaccessible because the wide area network was down,or due to a software patch or system upgrade in the data center. With its 17 manufacturing plants running close to full capacity, downtime was plainly not acceptable.

While continuous availability of the data and transaction screens is vital, Rexam BCNA also needed to achieve its goals without the expense of deploying IT people at its manufacturing sites. Careful evaluation led Rexam BCNA to choose Stratus® ftServer® systems as the hardware platform for deploying the SAP® xApp™ Manufacturing Integration and Intelligence (SAP xMII) composite application, used to integrate manufacturing transactions with the SAP ERP application. The ftServer systems also drive the Acumence Plant Analytics Server, used to monitor operations and resolve manufacturing exceptions in real time.

Business objectives Rexam established an aggressive set of project goals: Address planned and unplanned systems downtime with local survivability Create a “lean MES” framework that uses SAP solutions for both central planning and execution

QUICK FACTS SOLUTION PROFILE “Lean MES” distributes key transactions to plants Addresses planned and unplanned downtime with local survivability Integrates seamlessly with SAP R/3 software Supports world-class quality and efficiency PRODUCTS

Platform for 17-site deployment (per site): (1) ftServer system for SAP xMII (1) ftServer system for Plant Analytics (1) ftScalable™ storage for Plant Analytics Installation, training, remote monitoring and maintenance services SAP xMII composite application Oracle® 10i database Acumence Plant Analytics Server Microsoft® Windows Server® OS SYSTEM INTEGRATION

Tata Consultancy Services

Integrate seamlessly with SAP R/3 software Enhance information sharing across multiple systems Reduce customization in SAP R/3 by moving functionality to the SAP xMII composite application at the plants The Availability Solution Rexam BCNA evaluated several alternatives for enhancing the availability of SAP transaction screens at its plants. Adding a second instance of SAP R/3 infrastructure at the enterprise level to accommodate system upgrades and maintenance would only help address planned downtime. Complexity and cost also ruled out a third-party manufacturing execution system (MES) with its own database at each plant connected to SAP R/3 software via an enterprise application (EAI) tool.

The right solution came into focus when exploring the capa-

bilities of SAP’s newest offerings including the SAP xMII composite application. Combining these with a local database, project integrator Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) created a system that provided user-friendly screens at the shop floor, which under normal circumstances, synchronously updated SAP R/3 software running in the data center.

In the event the SAP R/3 application was down or the WAN was not available, plant personnel could still access their transaction screens. Transactions would be stored and later forwarded when the SAP ERP system was back online.

“This is proving to be a very affordable solution which delivers key benefits to the business.”

Paul Martin CIO Rexam PLC

Stratus ftServer systems are a family of ultra-reliable Intel® processor-based server hardware for Microsoft Windows Server and Red Hat® Enterprise Linux® operating systems.

ers to safeguard uptime and data. Applications need not be modified in any way to benefit from superior availability protection. The ftServer family has delivered over 99.999% uptime at Stratus customer sites worldwide. “We are taking this step to make sure that transactions are always available,” said John Niemzyk, vice president and CIO, Rexam BCNA. We decided the ftServer system is the right platform for maintaining this critical link between the corporate instance and our plants.”

Continuous Processing® features — including lockstep redundant hardware, failsafe system software, and ActiveService™ capabilities — are built into the serv“This is proving to be a very affordable solution which delivers key benefits to the business,” said Paul Martin, CIO of parent company Rexam PLC. “Success has been about proper planning and getting the right partners in place.”

“It was also very critical to us that Stratus servers did not require intervention from an IT person at the plant, either for problem resolution or to manage the application.”

Ganesh Iyer Manager, SAP Application Development Rexam BCNA

Business impact Rexam’s MES solution, built using the SAP xMII composite application running on Stratus ftServer systems, dramatically reduces both planned and unplanned downtime. Moving customizations from the SAP R/3 software to the plant enables corporate agility by allowing more frequent updates of the SAP R/3 application. What’s more, using SAP solutions for both manufacturing execution and central planning will facilitate information sharing, collaboration, and dissemination of best practices. Transactions retain a familiar look and feel so shop-floor operators don’t have to be retrained. The solution also provides an easyto-use toolkit for creating and optimizing transaction screens — important for supplying information to operators, while trimming the number of screens and keystrokes.

“We decided the ftServer system is the right platform for maintaining this critical link between the corporate instance and our plants.”

John Niemzyk Vice President and CIO Rexam BCNA

Manufacturing & Utilities

Rexam BCNA considered building clusters, before selecting Stratus fault-tolerant servers, but clusters would pose ongoing management challenges they wanted to avoid. “We were looking for ‘five nines’ of availability,” said Ganesh Iyer, manager, SAP Application Development at Rexam BCNA. “It was also very critical to us that Stratus servers did not require intervention from an IT person at the plant, either for problem resolution or to manage the application.”

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Sika Sarnafil Real-time data intelligence using SAPsoftware on Stratus servers

Business situation

With more than 140 years of experience in the construction industry, Sika Sarnafil has built a reputation for designing and producing high-quality products for its customers around the world. No where is this more evident than within the company’s North American subsidiary which manufactures innovative thermoplastic roofing, waterproofing membranes, and system solutions for new building construction and renovation projects.

To maintain its competitive edge, Sika Sarnafil has historically used technology to maintain state-of-the-art operations within its manufacturing plants. The company continued with that tradition when it recently made the decision to shift how it collected and shared production data from its U.S. manufacturing site.

Previously, the company used a shop-floor data collection system to capture and transmit manufacturing data once a day to its SAP enterprise resource planning (ERP) application running in its main data center in Germany. To improve its decision-making processes, the company decided to implement a solution that offered real-time data connectivity between its manufacturing operations and its main headquarters.

The company chose a solution featuring the SAP® xApp™ Manufacturing Integration and Intelligence (SAP MII) composite application, which enables companies to link a wide variety of shop floor applications to their ERP system.

Designed to help companies gather real-time manufacturing intelligence pulled from plant operations, SAP MII requires a continuously available hardware platform. For Sika Sarnafil, the choice was easy – it selected the Stratus ftServer system, a hardware platform that delivers both faulttolerant availability and the plugand-play simplicity that companies need to successfully deploy SAP MII. Business objectives Sika Sarnafil implemented SAP MII on a continuously available Stratus ftServer platform to enable it to: Gain real-time visibility to all data affecting its manufacturing operations

QUICK FACTS SOLUTION PROFILE

Real-time connectivity between its manufacturing plant and the corporate SAP instance Timely information enables world-class quality and operational efficiency Stratus® ftServer® platform minimizes the risk of downtime Plug-and-play platform simplicity limits

PRODUCTS

Stratus® ftServer system at each SAP® MII composite application Rockwell Automation RSSQL software Microsoft Windows Server® operating system Microsoft SQL Server® database software

SYSTEM INTEGRATION

Stratus support services Tata Consultancy Services

Monitor the factory floor more efficiently Minimize the chance of any unplanned system outages Improve information sharing across its various plant and headquarters systems Speed up its decisionmaking processes The Availability Solution According to Greg Scheidemantel, manager of Sika Sarnafil’s U.S. manufacturing plant in Canton, Massachusetts, although network outages and system crashes happened occasionally in the past, they had never affected the ability of the plant to perform. However, once Sika Sarnafil made the decision to move to real-time, two-way information exchange, company officials knew that any type of outage could have a significant effect on operations.

“We made continuous availability a project requirement because unplanned downtime for our MII application is not acceptable,” said Scheidemantel. “At the recommendation of our solution integrator, Tata Consultancy Services, we evaluated Stratus and felt very comfortable selecting the ftServer platform because of its field-proven track record in manufacturing industries.”

“We wanted this to be a lights-off system.We have one person for our IT infrastructure here and his main responsibility is the upkeep of the network in the U.S. If possible, we wanted this to have little to no impact on him.”

Greg Scheidemantel, Manager U.S. manufacturing plant Sika Sarnafil

For Sika Sarnafil, the ftServer platform has proven to be the right solution to address its business concerns. “We needed a system we could consider bulletproof so we didn’t lose any data,” Scheidemantel concluded. “In the research we did, Stratus came up as number one in reliability.”

Business impact Sika Sarnafil’s factory-floor solution featuring the SAP MII composite application has enabled the company to improve its operational efficiencies and focus its efforts on growing the business. In addition, the plugand-play simplicity of the Stratus ftServer makes it an easyto-manage platform for applicaStratus systems make continuous tions running in the company’s uptime easy to afford and maintain remote plants, outside its main by using standard Intel® server data center. components and off-the-shelf

“At the recommendation of our solution integrator, Tata Consultancy Services, we evaluated Stratus and felt very comfortable selecting the ftServer platform because of its field-proven track record in manufacturing industriesy.”

“We wanted this to be a lights-off system,” Scheidemantel said. “We have one person for our IT infrastructure here and his main responsibility is the upkeep of the network in the United States If possible, we wanted this to have little to no impact on him.” Stratus ftServer systems proved to be the answer to both concerns.

Greg Scheidemantel, Manager U.S. manufacturing plant Sika Sarnafil

Travel,Transportation & Logistics

Microsoft® Windows® and Red Hat® Enterprise Linux® operating systems. In addition, Stratus’ ftServer architecture integrates redundant hardware components, with Automated Uptime™ Layer software technology and ActiveService™ capabilities to prevent unplanned downtime and data loss caused by server component failure. The result is a platform that offers the 99.999+% uptime that SAP MII requires in order to continuously process transactions.

In addition, like most other manufacturers, Sika Sarnafil is faced with the difficult task of maintaining its IT infrastructure with limited personnel. The company has a centralized European-based IT group that maintains its corporate SAP implementation, with remote IT personnel located around the world. At the Canton plant, one IT professional is responsible for maintaining the manufacturing operations, as well as supporting 250 employees across the U.S.

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Hitachi Information Systems Ltd. Hitachi Information Systems’ EDI service connects 6,000 companies With virtualisation and ftServer, Hitachi Information Systems delivers high-quality availability Business Challenge - Preventing Service Downtime That Can Impact Customers’ Businesses Since its foundation in 1959, Hitachi Information Systems has been offering solutions based on customers’ needs. Their one-stop EDI Service, EDIWorks, is an EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) system that is built on their 50 years of experience and technologies, and is capable of simultaneously processing several standards, such as Japan Electronic Industry Development Association (JEIDA) and company specific standard(s). The Senri Datacenter, where EDIWorks is in operation, is an ISO20000 and ISO27001 certified urban datacenter with the highest levels of safety and security in Japan, supporting the safe and secure EDI service.

EDIWorks connects more than 6,000 companies, and processes 75,000,000 transactions per month. If the service were to shut down, many of their customers would be forced to halt their businesses. Therefore, Hitachi Information Systems gave top priority to high-level system reliability and service robustness. They have been constantly seeking ways to improve service availability, and on renewing their system because the servers were aging, they made improved reliability one of the key goals.

Platform Considerations Improving Availability of Single-Point Servers Hitachi Information Systems has been ensuring availability of EDIWorks by distributing applications on several servers: For Web servers, they built a distributed environment with a network load balancer. For batch processes that are typically considered hard to perform in a distributed environment, they developed middleware internally, in order to realise a distributed environment. Thus, they had used various methods to deal with availabilityand performance-related issues.

On the other hand, some components, such as database and EDI gateways, existed as single-point servers (servers that could not be distributed because of their configurations); these became the main focus of improvement efforts as part of the system renewal. In 2004, when EDIWorks was made completely open, and in 2006 when there was a series of system enhancements, Hitachi Information

Hitachi Information Systems has adopted VMware and Stratus ftServer for its EDI Service, “EDIWorks”, which connects 6,000 companies, delivering high-quality availability in their mission-critical business.

Hitachi Information Systems’ one-stop EDI service, EDWorks, is an inter-industry business-to-business electronic data interchange service. With a combination of VMware virtualisation technology and non-stop server, ftServer, Hitachi Information Systems delivers higher availability and service levels for their customers.

Systems examined ways to improve service availability, and introduced clustered configuration and N+1 standby. However, Mr. Mineyuki Tamura, chief engineer at Kansai Branch of Hitachi Information Systems, who is in charge of EDIWorks software/platform design, says this structure had several problems: “No matter what kind of problem we have, we would like to recover the system within 30 minutes after the problem occurs.

However, with N+1 standby, it takes 15 minutes to launch the OS, and at least 30 minutes from problem detection to recovery. So we were not comfortable with implementing N+1 standby for single-point servers. In addition, when used as a failover configuration for a cluster, it had inherent structural problems that reduced its reliability.”

Mr. Tamura continues regarding the problems of clustered configurations: “For example, when we apply a vendor’s security patch to a clustered configuration, the procedure is relatively complex. When the procedure is complex, it is

Hitachi Information Systems Inc. Kansai Branch System Division 2 Platform Design Department Chief Engineer

prone to mistakes, and could result in prolonged recovery time. For us, this could be fatal, as it could be a direct cause of service shutdown.

However, if we don’t apply the patch, the security level would be lower than optimum, and we have to operate the system in a risky state. Besides, it is hard to accurately simulate a clustered configuration in a test environment. Until we actually apply a patch, we don’t know what will happen afterwards.

We view it as a very risky configuration, as we always strive for higher service availability.”

In order to pursue higher availability, Hitachi Information Systems had been validating virtualisation technology since 2006.

They had concluded that virtualisation technology, represented by VMware, would deliver higher availability and convenience in fault recovery and analysis of underlying causes, hardware maintenance, and applying patches. Unlike a clustered configuration, if a problem occurs after a patch is applied to a virtu-

Solution by Stratus - Providing comprehensive support for both non-stop server and VMware, which deliver strong virtualisation In a virtualised environment, the number of physical hardware components decreases, and, as a result, a fault in a single component would have a wider impact.

In order to solve this problem, Hitachi Information Systems considered it essential to have nonstop servers that would offer redundancy for all hardware components. They found a

“Our main concern about virtualisation was the reduction of disk I/O performance caused by the

Future Development Plan Pursuing high-quality availability in order to support customers’ businesses Three ftServers have been deployed in EDIWorks, and multiple single-point servers, including

Hitachi Information Systems One-Stop EDI Service, EDIWorks, System Schematic View Batch Server (BS) Web Server (WS) Manufacturing

Distribution

Internet

Hitachi Information Systems continues to pursue higher service availability in order to earn their customers’ trust. They believe this is the key to their growth. Stratus non-stopserver, ftServer, is supporting Hitachi Information Systems’ EDIWorks, and the businesses of their 6,000 customers.

As for the concern about fault isolation, because virtualisation would obscure the distinction between hardware- and VMwareresponsible areas, it seemed possible there would be a delay in the fault recovery process. “In order to make the distinction clear, we requested that Stratus cover VMware as part of their technical support,” says Mr. Tamura. “And their answer was ‘yes’. The proposal from Stratus was exactly what we wanted.”

overhead. Through a validation process, we expected that the performance reduction would remain within the acceptable range. However, we were still very concerned about how much of previous performance we would be able to maintain. Stratus shared our concern, and in their proposal, they made recommendations not only about their own products, but also about a RAID1+0 structure configured with optimal disks using different products from several vendors. As a result, we could maintain better than expected system performance.”

Hitachi Information Systems was deeply impressed by Stratus’ competency in proposing an optimum solution.

Batch Service

database and EDI gateways, are currently running on VMware. The deployment process was very smooth, and the system has been running problem-free since the deployment. Currently, additional servers resulting from business expansion are deployed on the ftServers. Hitachi Information Systems is planning to virtualise existing single-point servers and, eventually, 14 virtual servers will be running on the ftServer.

potential choice in Stratus ftServer bundled with VMware.

One of their concerns was the cost, because non-stop servers typically cost more than regular servers. However, they could reduce the cost per logical server through virtualisation; as a result, it turned out that cost was not a major problem.

Hitachi Information SE

Manufacturing & Utilities

alised environment, the system can be easily reverted to the previous state and recovered.

However, there were three technical problems with virtualisation.

First, virtualisation increases impacts of system faults. Secondly, it is difficult to isolate a problem in a virtualised environment. And, finally, the disk I/O performance decreases in a virtualised environment.

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株式会社日立信息系统 日立信息系统的EDI服务连接着6,000家公司 依靠虚拟化和ftServer， 简单实现高质量可用性

业务的课题 - 防止导致顾客业务停止的服务中断

日立信息系统自1959年成立以来，始终致力于提供满 足顾客需要的解决方案。一站式EDI服务“EDIWorks”，是建立在该公司创业50年积累的经验技术 之上的EDI（企业间数据交换）系统，对日本电子工 业振兴协会(JEIDA)标准规格及企业特定规格等多种规 格，实现了同时处理。该公司“EDIWorks”运转的 千里数据中心，是取得ISO20000/ISO27001认证的 、兼备日本国内最高等级的安全性和防御性的城市型 数据中心，支持着安全可靠的EDI服务。

连接6,000家公司的日立信息系 统的EDI服务“EDIWorks”采用 了VMware和Stratus ftServer 。核心业务实现高质量可用性。 日立信息系统的一站式EDI服务 “EDWorks”是不分行业的、通 用的企业间数据交换服务。依靠 VMware的虚拟化技术和不间断 型服务器ftServer的组合，实现 了更高可用性及对顾客的更高服 务水平。

“EDIWorks”连接的企业超过6,000家，每月处理量 达到了7,500万件的规模，如果服务发生故障出现中 断，将使众多顾客的业务随之停止。因此，该公司最 重视的是高水平上的可靠性保证和服务的可靠性。该 公司的方针是不断追求更高的可用性，服务器老化时 的系统修订也是以保证可靠性作为最重要的课题。

平台的课题 - 提高单点服 务器的可用性 “EDIWorks”是通过将应 用程序分散到数个服务器 上以提高可用性。对于 We b ， 采 用 网 络 负 载 平 衡 器来构建分散环境，对于 分散中较难的批作业处理 采用本公司开发的中间件 来实现分散环境等，利用 各种手段解决了可用性和 性能的问题。 另一方面，数据库及EDI网 关等部分功能作为单点服 务器（构造上无法构建分 散环境的服务器），是系 统修订中主要改进点。在 “EDIWorks”完全开放化 的2004年、进行设备增强 的2006年都对可用性的提 高进行了讨论，采用了集 群架构和N+1备份。但是 ，“EDIWorks”中担任软

件和平台设计的该公司关 西分公司主任工程师田村 峰幸先生说，这样的架构 有几个问题。“无论怎样 的故障，总希望在发生后 30分钟以内能够恢复。但 N+1备份中，OS启动需要 15分钟，从发现问题到修 复至少需要30分钟。因此 ，数据库等单点服务器如 果采用N+1备份就会有些 许担心。采用失效切换的 集群架构，其架构本身的 问题就降低了可靠性。” 田村先生继续对集群架构 的问题进行了说明：“例 如，集群架构使用开发商 提供的安全补丁时，通常 其步骤比较复杂。复杂的 步骤容易导致操作错误， 恢复需要时间。这就会直 接导致服务停止，对我们 来说是致命的。但因此不 进行补丁修复就会持续处

株式会社日立信息系统 关西分公司 第二系统本部 平台设计部 主任工程师 田村峰幸先生

于较低安全等级的危险状 态。再者，试验环境中很 难正确再现集群架构，不 进行试用就不知道补丁的 效果。这对于追求高可用 性经营方针的我们来说， 是非常危险的配置。” 为追求更高的可用性，该 公司从2006年开始对虚拟 化技术进行了验证，其结 论是，VMware所代表的 虚拟化技术，在故障恢复 、主要原因分析、硬件维 护和补丁适用性方面，具 有很高的可用性和便利性 。集群架构困难的安装补 丁后的故障恢复，在虚拟 化环境中，能够很容易地 恢复到补丁安装前的状态 。但是，虚拟化也有三个 技术性课题。这就是虚拟 化后故障发生时的影响增 大、故障隔离的复杂性、 以及磁盘IO性能的降低。

。田村先生说到：“为了明 确责任区分，我们希望硬件 支持包含VMware。Stratus 同意了。Stratus最初的提案 就是我们公司所期望的。”

“虚拟化后最大的问题是系 统开销造成的磁盘IO性能的 降低。通过事先验证，预计 性能的降低在容许范围内。 但是，能够在何种程度维持 虚拟化前的性能仍令人担心 。Stratus同样意识到这个问 题，其方案不仅仅限于自身 公司的产品，而是从数个开 发商的产品中选择了最适合 的磁盘构建了RAID1+0架 构。最终，得到的系统性能 完全高于我们的预期。” 日 立信息系统给予了Stratus高 于故障隔离的问题，虚拟化 水平方案很高的评价。 后硬件和VMware的责任区分 不明确，故障恢复比较费事

今后的发展计划 - 追求高品质 可用性，支持客户业务。 “EDIWorks”引入了3台 ftServer，数据库、EDI网关等 多个单点服务器在VMware上 运行。引入过程非常顺利，没 有问题发生，直至今日系统的 运行稳定持续。 现在，因业务扩张的增设服务 器将采用ftServer，今后将对 现有的单点服务器进行虚拟化 ，计划最终有14台虚拟服务器 在ftServer上运行。 不断追求更高的可用性，努力 维系顾客的信任。这就是公司 业务增长的关键。日立信息系 统和与“EDIWorks”相连接 的6,000家企业的商务，由 Stratus的不间断型服务器 ftServer提供支持。

日立信息系统 批作业服务器（BS）Web服务器（WS）

制造业

互联网

批作业服务

流通业

日立信息SE

制造业

Stratus的解决方案 - 包含 实现可靠虚拟化的不间断型服 务器和VMware的全方位支持 虚拟化技术减少了物理性 硬件的台数，结果是一台 硬件的故障造成的影响范 围更大了。为消除虚拟化 后扩大的硬件故障造成的 影响，硬件所有组件采用 双重化的不间断型服务器 已经不可或缺。于是，选 择了捆绑VMware的Stratus ftServer。一般而言， 不间断型服务器比常规服 务器的价格高，虽然也担 心过费用方面的问题，不 过，虚拟化后每台逻辑服 务器的成本得到了控制， 费用方面的屏障降低了。

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江苏常熟发电有限公司 2x1000MW机组辅控系统 工程背景： 江苏常熟发电有限公司位于长江徐 六泾河段南岸，西南距常熟市约24公里。一期工程已建 设4×300MW， 由上海三大动力厂制造的改进型燃 煤机组，于1993年和1994年相继投 产 发电。本期工程建设2×1000MW 超超临界机组，一次建成，计划分 别于2012年6月底及 2012年12月投 产发电。 其中辅控系统包括水处理控制系统, 灰处理控制系统,输煤程控系统 等子 系统及辅助生产集中控制系统。 江苏常熟发电有限公司位于江南古城常 熟市东北郊24公里的扬子江畔，东临上 海，南接苏州，西连无锡，北依长江， 与南通隔江相望，水陆交通十分方便。 公司前身为常熟发电厂，是国家“八五 ”期间的重点建设项目，安装四台国产 改进型30万千瓦机组。整个工程于 1990年9月开工，1994年11月全部竣 工投产，历时50个月，1995年通过国 家级验收，为国家特大型企业。

系统描述： 按照工艺系统运行要求、本规范 书的 规定和适用的工业标准，设 计并组态 一套完整的辅网控制系 统，具体包括 以下内容： (1)组态一套锅炉补给水处理控制 系统、组态一套原水预处理控制 系统、组态一套工业废水处理控 制系统、组态一套渣水程控处理 系统、组态一套输煤程控系统。 (2)将锅炉补给水程控、净水程控 、工业废水程控、供氢系统和生 活污水泵控制程控联网，和招标 方供货的精处 理程控、补给水预 脱盐系统等构成完整的水处理控 制系统(以下简称“水网”)，实现 在水处理控制室内对整个“水网” 的集中监控。 (3)将渣水程控系统(包括渣水加药 程控)，和招标方提供的飞灰程控 系统，电除尘控制系统、捞渣机

程控系统，进行程控互联，构 成一个完整的灰控制系统，(以 下简称灰网)。

，煤网，水网各配2台容错服务 器(ft2600)。

(4)将输煤程控系统和招标方提 供的煤水处理系统，煤场喷淋 、卸船机、斗轮机、及其他输 煤系统范围内的控制设备进行 整合，构成完整的输煤系统(简 称“煤网”)。 (5)将全厂水网、煤网、灰网、 脱硝制氨区、暖通、消防水泵 等辅助控制系统进行联网组成 一套完整的辅控网。辅控网总 控制室设在主机集控室，工程 师站等设在#5机组热控工程师 室中。各系统功能服务器配置 方案辅控总网要求配置4台数据 库服务器，程序服务器。应用 程序服务器及项目工程服务器 要求采用容错服务器(ft4500)。 容错式服务器要求采用美国容 错技术公司的产品。另外灰网

容错服务器采用部件级冗余， 实 现CPU、芯片组、内存、PCI总线 、SCSI总线、硬盘、电源、风扇 等部件的冗余，以保证在任何硬 件损坏的情况下，服务器不间断 运行；服务器完全采用硬件容错 方式，通过同步芯片控制冗余部 件在同一时钟周期做同样的工作

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系统配置清单 ft4500; 双模冗余(DMR)机架式容错服 务器,4U,双路四核intel Xeon 2.0GHz,16G DDR3 ECC; 2*146GB SAS + 4* 500GB* SAS(RAID 1),1G NET*4 (2 Teams); ft2600; 双模冗余(DMR)机架式容错服

网络结构图

出现故障时，均可不停机进行更换。 硬件故障导致的非计划停机时间控制 在每年1分钟以内。

系统集成商：海得控制与上自仪

• 容错服务器同时支持主流的操作系 统Windows、Linux和Vmware，支持 全球主动服务网络ASN的接入，实现 24/7远程监控

选择容错服务器的理由：

•系统运行状况

• 采用部件级冗余的工业标准容错 服务器，服务器系统可靠性设计 要求达到99.999+%，电源、CPU 、内存、I/O控制单元、主机母版 等 组 件 均 采 用 冗 余 配 置 。 CPU/MEM集成锁步(Lock-Step)技 术，冗余部件在同一时刻执行相 同的命令，任何部件故障发生时 系统无需切换。

客户收益

操作系统:Windows Server 2008

• 容错服务器具备故障自我检测、隔 离和恢复功能，所有关键部件均可 以模块化的方式进行热插拔更换。 CPU/MEM、IO设备、电源甚至主板

主要为三个方面： •基于服务器硬件平台的99.999+%可靠 性，意味着风险最小化。容错与纠错 技术实现了真正的可信赖计算。 •最小化的TCO(系统总拥有成本)，投资 回报最大化。 •系统维护操作简单，减少不必要的集 群软件开发成本，增强系统的可用性 。

ftServer

务器, 4U, 双路四核intel Xeon 2.0GHz, 4G DDR3 ECC; 2*146GB SAS + 4* 500GB* SAS(RAID 1), 1G NET*4 (2 Teams);

制造业

，不需要使用任何软件和编写脚本程 序，就能够在发生故障时进行切换， 切换时间在毫秒级。故障修复后，可 使服务器模块再次实现同步；配置 Microsoft Windows Server2008操作系 统，支持所有X86标准的中间件和应 用软件,无需任何修改即可轻松方便的 构建高可用系统；配置INSQL实时数 据库软件用于实时/历史数据采集与 记录；每套实时数据库记录点数为5 万个标签量，并可支持10个用户同时 访问。 PLC编程组态软件及监控软件要求选 用WONDERWARE SYSTEMPLANTFORM 3.0网络平台，支持用户自定义功能块 和调用自定义功能块。

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太原钢铁炼钢厂制造执行系统(MES) 系统概述 太钢是集铁矿山采掘和钢铁生产、加工、配送、贸易为一体的特大型钢铁联合企业， 也是目前全球最大、工艺技术装备水平最高、品种规格最全的不锈钢企业，具备年产 1000万吨钢(其中300万吨不锈钢)的能力，营业收入连续五年超过1000亿元人民币。 太钢炼钢厂制造执行系 统(MES)实现了太钢炼 钢厂的生产组织、全自 动生产、全厂物流的管 理和跟踪。通过MES系 统的辅助管理实现了太 钢炼钢厂高效、科学、 稳定的生产，使装备使 用率最大化、产能有效 发挥。该系统是在吸取 了国内外同行的先进经 验并结合太钢炼钢厂的 实际情况进行设计和实 施的，项目的各项指标 都达到了国内外同类系 统的先进水平。 MES管理范围 制 造 执 行 系 统 简 称 MES(Manufacturing Execution Systems)，是连接企业 资源计划系统(ERP)和基础自 动化系统之间的桥梁，主要 负责厂级生产管理和调度执 行。MES系统可以在统一平 台上集成诸如生产调度(计 划排产)、产品(生产)跟踪、 质量控制、设备管理、网络 报表等管理功能，使用统一 的数据库和通过网络联接可 以同时为生产部门、质检部 门、工艺部门、物流部门( 包括管理原料、成品的入和 出)等提供厂级(车间)管理信 息服务。对上能够汇总ERP 所需要的数据和信息，对下 可以将生产任务分解并传递 可以执行的信息给自动化设 备进行生产，并实时跟踪和 采集生产过程数据。太钢炼 钢厂制造执行系统所管理的

设备和区域：2套铁水倒罐 站装置，1套铁水脱硫装置 ，2座180t顶底复吹转炉， 2座160t电炉，2座180t AOD炉，2座180t LF炉，1 套180t RH真空处理装置， 3台板坯连铸机，板坯精整 区域，全厂公辅区域，原 材料区域等。 MES功能及系统建设要求 太钢炼钢厂制造执行系统 主要包括16个功能模块： 计划排产(SM_PP)、技术标 准管理(SM_TS)、质量管理 (SM_QM)、生产状态监视 (SM_DM)、生产过程跟踪 (SM_PT )、生产实绩收集 (SM_DA)、 生 产 异 常 记 录 (SM—AR)、原材料管理 (SM_RM)、能源介质管理 (SM_EM)、产品管理 (SM_PM)、副产品管理 (SM_BPM)、生产设备管 理

(SM_FM)、 备 品 备 件 管 理 (SM_SP)、 数 据 查 询 和 分 析 (SM_SA)、报表打印(SM_RP) 、数据通信(SM_DC)。 MES服务器应用和数据库系 统分开部署。 • 服务器每年的宕机时间控制 在1小时内 • 数据库服务器允许数据丢失 时间控制在分级以内 • 服务器支持软、硬件部分远 程监控。支持在线不停机维 护。 MES系统软硬件配置方案 由于MES系统负责炼钢厂全 厂的生产管理及计划执行等 工作，系统设计要求可靠性 达到99.999%以上，并具有 技术先进性，维护简便等特 征。因此主要的服务器，如 数据库服务器、实时数据

库服务器、MES应用服务

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实时数据库服务器(ftServer 4500)采用MS Windows Server 2003系统和Wonderware InSQL数据库软件及工 厂智能平台软件。

选 择 容 错 服 务 器 ftServer4500的理由 • 采用部件级冗余的工业标 准容错服务器，系统可靠 性设计要求达到99.999+% ，电源、CPU、内存、I/O 控制单元、主机母版等组 件均采用冗余设计。 CPU/MEM集成硬件锁步 (Lock-Step)技术，任何故障 发生零时间停顿。

• 具备故障主动检测、隔离 和恢复功能。所有关键部件 如CPU/MEM、IO设备、电源 甚至主板出现故障时，均可 不停机进行更换。硬件错误 M E S 应 用 服 务 器 运 行 W i n - 导致的非计划停机时间控制 dowsServer 2003系统及中 在每年1分钟以内。 冶赛迪公司自主开发的MES 1 6 个 功 能 模 块 ， 实 现 对 全 • 配置系统管理软件ftSSS， 网络结构

• 支持主流的操作系统如 Windows\Linux等，支持全 球主动服务网络ASN的接入 ，实现24/7远程监控系统运 行状况。

ftServer

其中数据库服务器(ftServer 4500)配置Redhat Enterprise Linux 5.4(64bit)操作系统， 主流的Oracle 11g企业级数 据库软件及PSI Integration 相关中间件。

厂 区 的 智 能 生 产 管 理 和 调 实现对服务器硬件设备全方 位的管理； 度执行。

制造业

器全部采用世界上最可靠的 硬 件 级 容 错 服 务 器 ftServer4500。保障系统在 高处理能力、高可靠性，高 可用性、扩展性等诸多方面 处于领先地位。

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Hokuden Information System Service Company Inc. High Reliability Platform Supports Emerging Corporate IP Phone System Business Challenge - Discovering New IP Solution Business As competition becomes severe and technology rapidly evolves, companies are forced to adjust and change the ways they do business. Hokuden Information System Service (HISS) was also facing the need to establish a new strategy for further growth, based on their philosophy of "Utilising their information communication technologies and expertise cultivated within the Hokuden group, in order to contribute to the development of local communities.”

HISS was established in 1987 as a 100% subsidiary of Hokuriku Electric Power Company, in order to offer equipment sales, lease and support for Hokuriku Electric Power (Hokuden) Group companies. Over the years, HISS has been expanding its business by outsourcing system development and various information processes. In 2005, HISS established a new strategy, which involved a shift in their target customers – from Hokuden Group companies to external companies (starting from their local Hokuriku region, then to all regions in Japan), and narrowing their scope of business. As for the business areas, they decided to focus on three core businesses in future: business solutions and outsourcing solutions were chosen from their wide range of expertise accumulated over the years, and network solutions was chosen as a new businessAs a part of the strategic efforts, HISS plays a leading role in the Toyama Prefecture Information Industry Association, which provides opportunities to local businesses, and conducts various activities in the information communication field within Toyama Prefecture, in order to promote local economies.

Recently, HISS participated in the Toyama IT Fair, an information communication trade show in Toyama Prefecture.

HISS has added IP phone system as a part of their network solution business. “For our move into a new core business – network solutions, we needed something we could deploy within the company in order to accumulate expertise whilst using it,” says Mr. Takadera, the IP Solution Group Director of HISS. “We investigated, and found IP phone.” As HISS staff make frequent daily phone calls among their branches, to the Hokuden Group companies, and to other customers, deploying IP phone

ftServer has been adopted for a IP phone system, which offers a new IP solution business. High reliability is the system’s key selling point.

The Hokuden Information System Service Company Inc. (HISS) was established as a subsidiary of the Hokuriku Electric Power Company, and has been accumulating expertise in selling and developing system equipment to Hokuden Group companies.

As part of strategies for further growth, HISS has introduced a new IP phone system, utilising Stratus non-stop server, ftServer.

could reduce HISS’s communication costs, while accumulating expertise as system users. The IP phone was the perfect choice.

Platform Considerations - IP Phone – Differentiating from Competitors by High Reliability Hitachi Information Systems has HISS began exploring the potential of IP Solution business around January 2004. In July 2004, HISS started the “IP Solution Study Group” with the Hokuriku Electric Power Company, Hokuriku Telecommunication Network Co., Inc., and Tateyama Kagaku Group, in order to analyse market surveys and discuss sales strategies. In April 2005, the IP solution business was officially launched, as the IP Solution Group was formed in the company. Meanwhile, HISS compared and examined many products, and finally chose SIP:OFFICE*.

Mr. Uchihashi, IP Solution Group Sales Team Manager of HISS, says: “We originally evolved as a system development and operation company. Therefore, when we decided to enter into the IP phone business, we thought that IT – rather than the

IP Solution Group Director Mr. Masamori Takadera

IP Solution Group Sales Team Manager Mr. Yoshinari Uchihashi

phone itself – should be the selling point of our solution. From that viewpoint, SIP:OFFICE* matched our direction very well, as it has various functions in addition to phone.”

After consideration, SIP:OFFICE* was deployed in August 2004, and trial operation commenced in October 2004. In selecting SIP:OFFICE*, two additional aspects were considered: “First, as we were late to enter the IP Phone business, we needed to differentiate our solution, in order to establish product/sales strategies.

Secondly, as phones are frequently used, we needed to ensure high reliability.”

Thus, HISS chose SIP:OFFICE*, which utilises Stratus ftServer as the platform.

Solution by Stratus - High Reliability That Keeps System Running When HISS launched the new IP phone business, ftServer was a perfect choice that satisfied two key requirements: differentiation and high reliability. As ftServer

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In addition, if a customer decides to deploy additional systems as IP solutions, ftServer can be considered as a single server, without the developer worrying about redundancy. Therefore, the new system can be deployed within a short period of time, without demanding considerable knowledge about redundancy.

Thus, after many questions

Future Development Plan Building Experiences for National and International Expansion During the year and a half since HISS deployed SIP:OFFICE*, they have not experienced any problem. Mr. Takadera notes that this means they not only had zero need for manpower for troubleshooting, but also there was very little mental stress in operating the system.

and internationally (mainly to China). In these steps, ftServer’s high reliability will be again the main selling point of HISS solutions. *SIP:OFFICE is a product of Hitachi Information & Communication Engineering, Ltd.

In addition, ftServer’ has proven its reliability as the platform of SIP:OFFICE*. The next step for HISS is to boost experience by deploying more systems. Then, they aim to enhance their product selection, in order to diversify their IP solutions, and expand their market nationally

IP Centrex Service for Hokuden Group, Data Flow Schematic View

Datacenter

IP Phone Equipment (New) Outside Line GW

Existing Web/Business Servers

Carrier IP Phone Network

Hokuden Group Company Network Network

Customer Site

AP Router

Internal

AP Router

Customer Site

Internal

Individual Customer Phone

Hard Phone Soft Phone

Hard Phone Soft Phone

ftServer

regarding SIP:OFFICE* were answered, HISS officially launched the IP Centrex Service within the Hokuden Group in April 2005.

Telecommunications

offers redundancy at the hardware level, even if a hardware fault occurs, the faulty component is isolated immediately and another component will take over. Thus, the system keeps running without downtime. This contrasts with offering redundancy at the disk level or by a cluster system, which leads to the system stopping, albeit briefly, when a fault occurs.

“We looked for a product that we could confidently recommend to our customers.”

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北电信息系统服务株式会社 支持新兴的企业用IP电话系统的高可靠性平台 业务的课题 - 开拓新型IP解决方案业务 在严酷的市场竞争环境和迅速发展的技术创新中 ，企业的经营方针也要求有相应的各种对策、变 化。北电信息系统服务株式会社在“发挥在集团 中获得的信息通信技术、经验技术，为北陆社区 的发展做贡献”的理念下，在以下的发展阶段， 提出了新的经营方针。 1987年，作为北陆电力株式会社的100％出资子公司 成立的北电信息系统服务株式会社，成立初期以北陆 电力集团为中心进行设备销售和租赁，以支持为中心 进行业务拓展。此后，在进行系统开发和各种信息处 理的外包业务的同时，实现了发展。并于2005年提 出了新的经营方针。主要内容是：从顾客目标的集团 企业向集团外企业（首先是当地的北陆地区，而后是 全国）延伸，以及业务范围的锁定。对于业务范围， 从历年累积的、范围广泛的经验技术中，选择了商务 解决方案、外包解决方案，且新增了网络解决方案， 并以此3项业务为支柱，实现了业务锁定。 其中之一就是，成为地区 商务活动场所的富山县信 息产业协会的实质性牵头 公司，在富山县内的信息 通信领域，展开各种各样 的经济活动，致力于区域 振兴。最近营运、参加的 大型活动有，在富山县内 的信息通信展示会“富山IT 博览会”。 在业务范围方面，网络解 决方案中新增了IP电话系统 。该公司IP解决方案小组部 长的高寺先生这样说到： “将业务重点转移到新的 网络解决方案的过程中， 必须是本公司在引进的同 时也可进行积蓄的经验技 术。这就是IP电话”。与分 公司、集团企业、以及顾 客有较多沟通的日常业务 之中，通信成本费降低这 样对客户有利的、且就此

作为IP解决方案业务而新设立的IP 电话系统采用了ftServer。高可靠 性实现差异化。 北电信息系统服务株式会社作为北 陆电力株式会社的子公司，在面向 同集团企业的系统设备的销售、开 发中积累了扎实的经验技术。为取 得新的增长而增设的新型商品IP电 话系统得益于Stratus的不间断服务 器ftServer的支持。

作为新的商务经验技术加 以利用的这一点上，IP电话 是最适合的选择。 平台的课题 - IP电话～与其他 公司的差异化就是高可靠性 2004年1月左右开始讨论IP解 决方案业务的内容。7月，与 北陆电力株式会社和北陆通 信网络株式会社、立山科学 集团，共同成立了“IP解决 方案研究会”，进行市场调 查和商业策略等的探讨研究 ，2005年4月正式进入事业 范畴，也是公司内部组成IP 解决方案小组之时。期间比 较讨论了众多的产品，最终 选择的产品是SIP;OFFICE*。 该公司IP解决方案小组营业 组课长内桥先生这样说到。 “本公司原本是以系统开发 、运用为中心，发展起来的 ，公司在最初准备进入IP电 话商务领域时，并未仅仅从

IP解决方案小组 部长 高寺政守先生 IP解决方案小组 营业组 课长 内桥庆成先生

电话本身进行考虑，而是期望 以融合IT技术的解决方案为武 器，据此观点出发找到的是 SIP;OFFICE*这一商品，它具 有的电话以外的功能，与本公 司的方针完全相符。”。 首先，在讨论开始后的 2 0 0 4 年 8 月 引 进 了 SIP:OFFICE*，之后10月 开 始 试 运 行 。 在 引 进 SIP;OFFICE*时，也可以说 进行了以下的考虑。“一 是因为本公司作为IP电话商 务的后发企业，必须寻找 某种差异化来实施商品战 略、商业策略，另外一点 是考虑到电话频繁使用这 一特点，必须确保有很高 的可靠性” 就 这 样 ， 选 择 的 SIP:OFFICE*的平台是 Stratus ftServer。

台服务器进行操作，即使 没有双重化的知识，在很 短的开发进程中也可实现 系统的提供。 除此之外，从各种各样的角 度解决了SIP;OFFICE*运用 上的课题，终于在2005年4 月，面向集团的IP Centrex service正式开始运行了。 今后的发展计划- 积累经验 ，拓展海内外市场 引进SIP;OFFICE*已经过去 了1年半，尚未发生任何故 障。高寺先生说到，这不 仅仅是单纯不需要故障排 除作业，对信息系统管理 来说，可以减轻运行中的 精神负担。

此已经完全得到了证明。 接下来的课题是引进实绩 的建立，在这之后是IP解决 方案的产品多样化和市场 开拓（日本国内以及以中 国为中心的海外开拓）， 这些都在研究讨论中。这 时，拥有ftServer的高可靠 性仍是该公司解决方案的 关键。 *SIP;OFFICE是株式会社日立信息 技术的产品。

电信

Stratus解决方案- 系统不 间断运行的高可靠性 在开始新的IP电话商务之时 ，满足与其他公司的差异 化、高可靠性这两大特长 的产品，ftServer最为适合 。硬件级双重化的ftServer ，即使硬件发生故障瞬间 断开故障组件，剩下的另 一个组件仍可继续工作， 系统不会中断仍可继续运 行。另一方面同样是双重 化，磁盘双重化和集群系 统发生故障时，尽管时间 很短，但系统将停机。期 间电话不能收发。“既然 提供给顾客使用，就应是 值得信赖的产品，我们寻 找的就是这样的产品”

另外，作为IP解决方案提供 附加系统时，ftServer并没 作为SIP;OFFICE*的平台选 有突出双重化，而是作为1 择的ftServer的可靠性，至 面向集团的IP Centrex service数据流概念图

数据中心

IP电话设备（新设） 外线 GW

Existing Web/Business Servers

履历 IP电话网

北陆电力 集团企业 网络 网

客户地点

AP 路由器

内部局 域网

AP 路由器

客户地点

内部局 域网 个人客户电话

硬体式电话 软体式电话

硬体式电话 软体式电话

ftServer

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Wenty Leagues Club Mission-critical transaction processing is a win for cashless gaming and customer loyalty

Business situation The Wenty Leagues Club in Wentworthville, Australia is a popular spot for residents that live, work, and play in this suburb near Sydney. The club’s 34,000 members choose from activities including live music, kids’ entertainment, restaurant dining, and electronic gaming. Wenty Leagues keeps the club a lively part of the community by delivering a quality experience on every visit.

In 2001, the club was first in the state of New South Wales to run a trial of a card-based, or cashless, electronic gaming system.

These cashless systems let venues keep transfers of physical currency to a minimum. Plastic membership cards and a central computer system at the club let players’ money be tracked, credited, debited, and paid out in cash.

In short, the cashless system makes it more convenient and secure for members to manage their money at the gaming machines.

The cashless system works like this: A member enrolled in the program inserts cash and a membership card into the machine he wants to play. When the member removes his card, his balance information goes with him while he moves from game to game.

To collect his winnings, he presses a button on the machine for a ticket that he redeems at a cash redemption terminal.

Business objectives “Because people weren’t used to cashless gaming, patrons needed to be able to trust the system and us. Confidence in the system is something that would be an issue if there were outages and data loss,” noted Colin Dunbar, the Information, Communication, and Technology manager at Wenty Leagues Club.

But when the cashless system was first installed, the club was not satisfied with the server hardware that ran the card-based gaming software. High availability and redundancy simply weren’t part of the server design.

Club managers wanted a solution designed to function at a “five nines” level of uptime. They needed a processing platform that would: Support 24/7/365 customer transactions in-house — reliably and quickly

QUICK FACTS SOLUTION PROFILE

Cashless gaming, cash redemption, player loyalty, paging system, and transaction auditing applications for 34,000 member club Server builds in uptime assurance for gaming system based on Microsoft® Windows Server® and SQL Server® database

PRODUCTS

Stratus® ftServer systems Stratus ftScalable™ storage MicrosoftWindows Server 2008 operating system Microsoft SQL Server 2008 database software eBET electronic gaming applications

SYSTEM INTEGRATION

Stratus support services

Work seamlessly with the club’s electronic gaming applications, which are built on the Microsoft Windows platform Enable mission-critical service levels for the cashless gaming system Ensure non-stop processing while the club is open, between 18-22 hours daily budget

Fit into the club’s IT

Be simple to manage without a technician on the premises The Stratus ftServer solution eBET Gaming Systems, which provided the cashless gaming software, recommended the club take a look at a fault-tolerant ftServer system from Stratus Technologies. Because eBET built the software to use Microsoft Windows Server, it would be effortless for the club to take advantage of the fault-tolerant ftServer design.

Said Dunbar, “The fact that we’re managing people’s money is our main reason for picking a solution like the Stratus ftServer system. It’s uptime assurance for our mission-critical Windows application.”

Proven in the field to perform at 99.999% and greater uptime, the Stratus ftServer platform prevents downtime and data loss for Microsoft Windowsbased applications. Stratus’ industry-leading uptime technology is instant, affordable, and uncomplicated — unlike traditional HA solutions.

“The fact that we’re managing people’s money is our main reason for picking a solution like the Stratus ftServer system. It’s uptime assurance for our missioncritical Windows application.”

Colin Dunbar Information, Communication, and Technology Manager Wenty Leagues Club

“Simplicity is one of the main reasons we like Stratus,” Dunbar explained. “We looked at some of the failover solutions but the servers and software needed to keep the second server in sync or ready to fail over added significant complexity.

and availability of stored data without extra effort on the part of IT.

machine - where the member might want a beverage, or have a question.

More services, better control The club’s ftServer and Windows environment also help assure uptime for other member services that are enabled the same way as cashless gaming and cash redemption. The gaming machines use data from the magnetic strip on the member’s card to communicate with a central Microsoft SQL Server database and eBET’s gaming floor applications, which reside on the ftServer system.

In addition, the cashless gaming system collects auditing data when it communicates with the gaming machines and with cash redemption terminals where the members collect their winnings. The system tracks the money transfers, which gives the club an audit trail.

A loyalty program is one of the additional services. “While our members have their cards in the gaming machines, they’re accumulating loyalty points, which also depends on the system being up and availThe club also uses a Stratus ftScal- able,” Dunbar observed. able storage array to protect the data associated with the application. Also, a button on the side of each Much like the Stratus ftServer gaming machine lets members call system, ftScalable storage builds in for service. The requests flow redundant components so there are through the ftServer and Windows no single points of failure. The array system. A staff member receives the automatically manages the integrity page and is directed to the gaming nation to do their jobs more ability of stored data without extra efficiently - and keep uptime high. effort on the part of IT. “It’s really quite a simple function for us to be able to manage and monitor the system, and to see what the status is.”

Dunbar said, “We’re not quite a 24-hour a day operation, but we’re certainly 18 or more hours a day. If any issues come up after hours, we don’t have a tech on site. There’s no need for one. The ftServer system easily rides through hiccups and automatically identifies and reports any issues to Stratus’ 24/7 support center.

Stratus servers also eliminate the need to put a second system in place — one that we’d have to keep running and fully up to date.”

He related one event. Monitoring data from the ftServer system alerted the Stratus Customer Assistance Center that a disk error rate was beginning to climb. Stratus phoned the club to notify them a new drive was on the way. The drive was swapped out of the ftServer system before the redundant drive had a chance to fail so there are no single points of failure. The array automatically manages the integrity and avail-

Business impact The Wenty Leagues Club’s installation, which took place in December 2010, went smoothly and continues to provide rock-solid uptime assurance for the club’s mission-critical Microsoft technologies. Members expect cashless gaming, cash redemption, player loyalty, and the paging service as standard conveniences they can enjoy at their club. As far as members are concerned, these facilities are simply there for them. Which brings Dunbar back to the club’s trustworthy ftServer system. “Because the ftServer internally manages all the redundancy and failover, we treat it like a standard server. Nothing tricky. If there has been any sort of component failure, the system doesn’t stop and Stratus looks after it for us. “What’s the main benefit we get with Stratus? Mainly, it’s the resilience and robustness married with still being easy to manage.”

Problem prevention Dunbar and one other IT professional maintain the cashless gaming system. “I consider myself a jack of all trades, so systems that are easy to follow certainly help,” he stated.

The SQL Server 2008 database fits the description well, in Dunbar’s experience. “I like the reporting that SQL does. It’s very userfriendly.

SQL Server Management Studio is an intuitive application for me.”

The ftServer system provides redundant components, selfdiagnostics, and proactive, callhome support coverage. Dunbar and his colleague rely on the combi-

“What’s the main benefit we get with Stratus?

Mainly, it’s the resilience and robustness married with still being easy to manage.”

Others - Gaming

Organizations get the highest level of availability without having to modify their applications, learn special systems management procedures, or deal with complicated hardware and software configurations. That makes fault tolerance for Windows applications easy to cost-justify and manage.

ftServer

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Avance Success Stories Lengede Township: Local Government

P.1 - 2

Lengede Township: Local Government(中文版本)

P.3 - 4

Security Information and Management Systems, Inc. (SIMS)

P.5 - 6

Alice Peak Day Health Systems

P.7 - 8

German Automobile Club(ADAC)

P.9 - 10

German Automobile Club(ADAC) (中文版本)

P.11 - 12

Tai Hing Catering Group

P.13 - 14

Concorde Reisemobile

P.15 - 16

Röchling Automotive

P.17 - 18

Sam Media, Ltd

P.19 - 20

Sam Media, Ltd (中文版本)

P.21 - 22

Stady Daily Newspaper

P.23 - 24

Stady Daily Newspaper (中文版本)

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doeLegal

P.27 - 28

Easter Seals Wisconsin

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Retail Chain

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University of Cincinatti

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Avance - Solution Overview Customer

Industry Vertical

Lengede Government Township: & Public Safety Local Government

Stratus Products Avance

Horizontal Applications n/a

Operating Environment

Partner

ISV Application

MS Windows, Linux

MTS government Systemhaus apps

Geography

EMEA

Security Information Government and Management & Public Safety Systems, Inc. (SIMS)

Avance

MS SQL Server® 2008 database

MS Windows Server 2008

SIMS (software and hosted services)

Alice Peck Day Healthcare Health Systems

Avance

n/a

n/a

Greenway Medical

Disaster Recovery, Database look up services, Internal file server, SAN storage Greenway Ambulatory EHR Software

Avance

n/a

MS Windows, Linux

Invenate

n/a

EMEA

Avance

MS SQL Server® 2008 database MS Exchange

MS Windows Server 2008

Compass Consulting Group

Enterprsie Resource Planning (ERP); SAP Business One app.

Asia Pacific

Avance

MS SQL Server® database MS Exchange

MS Windows Server 2008

Enterprise resource SIT Solutions planning (ERP), CAD file server, email

EMEA

Avance

Oracle Database

MS Windows, & Linux VM’s

SAP Software; Automotive MTS Systemhaus exchange application

EMEA

Avance

MS SQL Database

Red Hat Enterprise Linux n/a

German Automobile Club ADAC

Travel, Transportation & Logistics

Tai Hing Catering Group

Travel, Transportation & Logistics

Concorde Reisemobile

Manufacturing & Utilities

Rochling Automotive

Manufacturing & Utilities

Sam Media, Ltd Telecommunication Stady Daily Newspaper

MS Windows, Linux

Communication Avance

MS Exchange

doeLegal

Legal collaboration services

Avance

MS SQL Server 2008, MS SharePoint® MS Windows Server 2010; Server 2008 MS Active Directory®

Easter Seals Wisconsin

Charity

Avance

Retail Chain

Financial-Retial POS

Avance

University of Cincinatti

Weather Station

Avance

mobile entertainment

Advertising and editorial system, MTS Printing-plates software, Systemhaus creation Accounting and operations software

n/a

Americas

Americas

Asia Pacific

EMEA

Cloud-based,e-billing, legal spend, matter management Americas solutions: eDiscovery solution suite; doeBilling

MS apps: SQL Server MS Windows 2008, SharePoint Server Server, Exchange MS Windows MS SQL Server Server OS

Information Technology n/a Professionals

n/a

Ordering systems Americas

MS SQL Server 2008, ftp

Intrust Group

In-house developed artic climatology sensor software, ESRI ArcGIS Server

MS Windows 2003

Americas

Americas

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Lengede Township: Local Government Lengede deploys Stratus Avance software for reliable, affordable uptime assurance The township of Lengede virtualized its servers with Stratus Avance® software to ensure the uptime of critical applications. The most important advantages for the township’s administration: The solution was installed within a few minutes and requires only minimal ongoing maintenance.

Business situation What do you do when you have minimal staff to operate your town government’s IT infrastructure, system availability is essential, and new servers are required to support application compliance? That’s the dilemma faced by the township of Lengede in Lower Saxony, Germany.

The Lengede administration manages most of its IT needs in-house, supporting functions such as the registry, marriage bureau, property management, and the cemetery. In addition, the township’s council has an information system that supports all of their transactions and makes their decision-making process transparent to residents.

Their IT infrastructure was first built in the early 1990s and completely renovated in 2006 to support newer versions of software and expanding processes. “We also had some completely new requirements,” explained Eike Schinke, who is responsible for Lengede’s IT. “For instance some applications had to be installed on their own servers in order to comply with government regulations.

However, a small town government like Lengede can’t maintain a specialized IT department. There are only two of us who have to handle all of our IT needs – and we have additional responsibilities in the township administration.”

It was within this context that the topic of server virtualization first came up; and then another aspect surfaced. The servers had become the technical foundation of the township’s administrative processes. As a result, availability of the IT systems was essential.

Even small periods of downtime would lead to disruption of essential services.

“When residents visit the township offices to apply for a passport, for example, we can’t just send them home because a server is down,” said Schinke. “That would certainly contradict the concept of a government that’s committed to serving its constituents.”

QUICK FACTS SOLUTION PROFILE Provides automatic high availability exceeding 99.99% and embedded virtualization for standard x86 servers Prevents downtime and data loss: includes automated 24/7 monitoring, fault detection, and management Provides 24/7 access to business applications from a single management console Support for multiple virtual Microsoft® Windows® and Linux® machines through embedded virtualization Risk-free virtualization and server consolidation delivered by a platform-independent highavailability solution Reduced cost and complexity compared with traditional or virtualized IT environments through a solution that’s easy to install, use, and administer PRODUCTS Stratus Avance software SERVICES MTS Systemhaus

The Stratus Avance solution In the course of evaluating virtualization solutions, Lengede came upon Stratus Avance software, which offered exactly that combination of virtualization and high availability they were looking for. Avance software combines two standard x86 servers into a high-availability system that includes embedded Citrix® XenServer™ virtualization.

The Stratus® solution creates a single, logical server out of the two physical servers. Users can then configure any number of virtual servers and run their application services or applications within these.

“During any server downtime, Avance software ensures the continuation of processing automatically, without any data loss and without intervention by a system administrator. Other virtualization solutions didn’t achieve this as seamlessly.”

Arndt Schnuetgen Senior Consultant MTS Systemhaus

“This is especially important for smaller organizations,” explained Arndt Schnuetgen, senior consultant with MTS Systemhaus which assisted Lengede with the implementation of Stratus Avance software on their HP Servers. “During any server downtime, Avance software ensures the continuation of processing automatically, without any data loss and without intervention by a system administrator. Other virtualization solutions didn’t achieve this as seamlessly.”

“Avance software’s simple installation was a clear differentiator,” emphasized Schinke. “In other cases we would have had to rely heavily on external advisors, which would have impacted our budget.

Even though we scarcely believed it ourselves, the Avance software implementation really did take only about 20 minutes – including virtualization and high availability. We could not have done it in this way with other solutions,” Schinke commented.

In addition, Avance software is clearly more cost-effective compared to other virtualization or high-availability solutions – an important factor in times of overextended government expenditures and restrictive budgets. “With Avance software we stayed within our budget without compromising on functionality,” concluded Schinke.

This automatic continuity is even more critical for Lengede since the two colleagues responsible for IT also have other duties. “When we’re in the front office or off-site we can’t drop everything to bring a server back up,” noted Schinke. “For us, high availability means that such failures can be automatically handled without manual intervention.”

The Avance solution is administered through a single management console. The solution also includes integrated diagnostic tools that can quickly identify most software and hardware problems. Comprehensive error messages make notification of problems such as the need for replacement parts very Straightforward. “The stress factor drops to zero,” explained Schinke.

The IT managers can also monitor and administer the virtual servers, physical x86 servers, and network connectivity remotely making the Avance solution well-suited to deployment in a distributed environment where technical expertise isn’t available on site.

In contrast to cluster solutions, Avance software does not require long and complex configurationor adjustments to applications. It can be completely installed and ready to run in less than an hour.

“Even though we scarcely believed it ourselves, the Avance software implementation really did take only about 20 minutes — including virtualization and high availability. We could not have done it in this way with other solutions.”

Eike Schinke Lengede Township

Government & Public Safety

The two servers, which appear as a single system to users, are continuously monitored and synchronized by the Avance software. If one of the physical servers becomes unavailable, the other takes over the entire workload; once the failed server comes back up the two servers are automatically synchronized.

Avance

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Lengede Township: Local Government 20分钟即可获得高可用性: Lengede为其服务器部署Stratus Avance软件 信赖Stratus Avance高可用性软件 Lengede镇采用Stratus®Avance™软件为其服务器部署虚 拟化方案，同时保证了可用性。Lengede最看重的好处是 :该解决方案可在数分钟内安装完毕，且仅需最小的后续 维护。 业务状况 当您只有极少的人员来运营镇政府的IT设施时，该怎么办 ？系统可用性必不可少，此外还需要部署新的服务器来支 持各种应用？这正是德国Lower Saxony Lengede镇当时所 面临的困境。 Longede镇的IT设施最早建于90年代初，为了支持新版本 的软件和流程扩充，2006年曾全部更新。“我们还有一些新 的业务要求，”Lengede镇IT负责人Eike Schinke说道。“例 如，有些应用必须安装在单独的服务器上，以符合政府规 章的要求。但在象Lengede这样的小镇，政府无法维护一 个专门的IT部。我们只有两个人负责处理所有的IT需求 ——而且我们还要在镇政府中承担其它的工作职责。”

正是在这样的形势下，服务器 虚拟化方案浮出水面；此外还 有一个方面需要考虑。服务器 已成为该镇管理流程的技术基 础。因此IT系统的可用性至关重 要。即使是极短的当机时间也 会导致基本服务的中断。“譬如 ，当居民来政府办公室申请护 照时，我们不能让他们空手而 归，原因是服务器当机了 ”Schinke说道。“那就完全违背 了我们致力于服务于民的政府 理念。

概况浏览 解决方案的概要介绍 • 自动提供高达99.99%的高可用性，以及标 准x86服务器的内置虚拟化。 • 防止当机及数据丢失:包括24/7全天候自动 监控，故障探测以及管理。 • 可24/7全天候通过单个管理控制台访问所 有的业务应用 • 通过内置虚拟化支持多个虚拟Windows®及 Linux®机器 • 通过平台独立、高可用的解决方案提供无 风险的虚拟化及服务器加固 • 相比传统或虚拟IT环境，通过易于部署、使 用及管理的解决方案更加降低成本和复杂 性 产品 • Stratus® Avance®高可用性软件 服务 • MIT Systemhaus

Stratus Avance解决方案 在评估虚拟化方案的过程中， Lengede镇了解了Avance，该软件 结合了虚拟化与高可用性，正是他 们需要的解决方案。Stratus Avance 软件将两台标准x86服务器组合成 一个内含Citrix®XenServer™虚拟化 的高度可用的系统。Stratus解决方 案将两个物理服务器集成为一个逻 辑服务器。用户可以配置任意数量 的虚拟服务器，用来运行应用服务 或应用程序。 两台服务器在用户端体现为一个系 统，Avance软件持续监控并同步这 两台服务器。如果其中一台物理服 务器不可用，另一台将接手全部工 作；当故障服务器恢复运行后，两 台服务器将自动同步。

“任何时候如服务器当机 ，Avance确保业务流程自 动持续，不会发生任何数 据丢失，且无需系统管理 员干预。其他的虚拟化解 决方案无法实现如此无缝 的保障。”

Arndt Schnuetgen Senior Consultant MTS Systemhaus

这 种 自 动 持 续 性 对 Le n g e d e 镇尤其重要，因为两位IT负 责人还需要承担其他工作。“ 当在前台办公或不在现场时 ，我们无法丢下手头的工作 去 重 启 服 务 器 ， ”S chinke说 道 “对我们来说，高可用性代 此外，Avance明显比其他虚 拟化或高可用解决方案更具 有 成 本 效 率 ——在 过 度 扩 大 的政府开支及预算紧缩的情 况下，这一点非常重要。“采 用Avance让我们得以在预算 内实现我们所需的功能， ”Schinke总结道。 虽然我们也不太敢相信，但 Avance安装确实只需要大约 20分钟——包括虚拟化及高 可用性。这一点其他解决方 案不可能做到。

表这样的故障可以自动处理 ，而无需人工干预。” Avance解决方案通过一个控 制台实现管理。该方案还包 含一个集成的诊断工具，可 以诊断大多数的软硬件问题 。综合错误讯息对包括更换 部件等各种问题进行报错， 令人一目了然。“压力因素降 低到了零”Schinke说道。 IT经理还可以远程监控并管 理虚拟服务器、x86物理服 务器及网络连接，因此，在 一个技术人员不在现场的分 散的环境下，Avance解决方 案是非常理想的部署。

相较集群解决方案，Avance 无需进行长时间的复杂的配 置或应用程序调整。整个方 案可在不小於一小時内完成 安装至待运行状态。 “ 安 装 简 单 是 Av a n c e 的 一 个 显 著 不 同 点 ， ”S c h i n k e 强 调 说。“其他情况下我们会非 常依赖外部顾问，那样会影 响预算。虽然我们也不太敢 相信，但Avance安装确实 只需要大约20分钟——包 括虚拟化及高可用性。这一 点其他解决方案不可能做到 ”S c h i n k e 说 道 。

“当在前台办公或不在现场时 ，我们无法丢下手头的工作去 重启服务器，对我们来说，高 可用性代表这样的故障可以自 动处理，而无需人工干预。” Eike Schinke Lengede Township

政府及公共安全

“这一点对小型机构尤其重要 ，”MTS Systemhuas高级顾问 Arndt Schnuetgen说道，他负 责帮助Lengede镇在HP服务 器 上 安 装 Av a n c e 。 “ 任 何 时 候如服务器当机，Avance均 可确保业务流程自动持续， 不会发生任何数据丢失，且 无需系统管理员干预。其他 的虚拟化解决方案无法实现 如此无缝的保障。”

Avance

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P.5

Security Information & Management Systems, Inc. (SIMS) Stratus Avance high-availability virtualization software helps SIMS keep alarm monitoring centers in touch with clients around the clock Business situation Security Information & Management Systems, Inc. (SIMS) has developed alarm and security software since 1983. Security companies use SIMS software to monitor alarms installed in more than 10 million homes and businesses in 2,400 locations around the world. SIMS has products for local security offices with as few as ten subscribers up to large wholesale central stations with two million.

QUICK FACTS SOLUTION PROFILE

Security companies that monitor Federal buildings, banks and high-end jewelry stores must meet Underwriters Laboratories standards for high application availability.

Ninety-five percent of SIMS’ business is selling software to central stations that monitor home and business alarm systems. The company also offers hosted services, such as online city/state/zip code and fire/police/medical lookup databases, and disaster recovery.

Stratus Avance® high availability software supports SIMS application file servers on customer premises and in SIMS data center.

Avance software's minimal to no daily maintenance and pro-active Stratus “phone home” service keep operational costs low.

If a client site has to evacuate their facility, they can log into the disaster recovery service remotely from any Internet access point and continue to process alarms through the SIMS system.

Liability is a constant concern in the alarm monitoring industry. If an alarm signal comes in and operators do not receive it or dispatch in a timely manner, that delay could cause property loss, injury or even death. Network uptime and application availability 24/7 are critical for SIMS and its customers.

“If there’s a fire alarm in your house while you’re on vacation and no one at the security company sees it until the fire department gets a call from a passerby four hours later, you’re going to have a case against your alarm company,” said Steve Rykman, vice president of technical services at SIMS. Business objectives Alarm networks are essentially IT networks. Alarm panels, comparable to modems, in homes and businesses send alarm signals to dispatch centers.

Security companies that want to monitor the most sensitive and important facilities – federal buildings, banks, specific classes of jewelry stores – must submit their software to Underwriters Laboratories for testing and listing.

More than 200 SIMS customers are UL listed, so SIMS software must be UL listed as well. UL listing means meeting an exhaustive list of specifications such as zero tolerance for alarm losses, specific response times after

PRODUCTS

alarms are received, and resolve technical problem within prescribed time frames.

“Underwriters Labs normally tests things electrical – to make sure your toaster doesn’t electrocute you, for example. But they actually test our software to make sure it doesn’t lose alarm signals, and presents the signals properly and in a timely manner,” Rykman said. “In certain states, for central stations to qualify for monitoring facilities such as banks and Federal buildings, the alarm panel and the central station monitoring it have to be UL listed. In other states, such as Texas, all fire alarm systems must be monitored by a UL-listed facility. We have a UL1981 Listing. It gives us limits on down time, switchover time, notification on failures and all sorts of other things. That’s where Stratus comes in.”

Stratus Avance® high availability software Dell® R710 servers Microsoft® Windows Server® 2008, and additional versions Microsoft SQL Server® database software

“Our most important fact was that everyone here can sleep at night knowing that if we have a server failure we won’t have customers losing alarms and facing liability that could come back on us.”

Steve Rykman Vice President of Technical Services SIMS Inc.

“We can’t have any servers offline at all. With Avance software when one server goes down the other takes over with no data loss. It meets Underwriters Laboratories requirements without costing an arm and a Business impact Avance software kept SIMS free of unscheduled downtime since it was implemented in the company’s data center, according to Rykman.

Avance software requires so little maintenance that the high uptime is virtually cost-free.

“There’s no management at all.

The Avance servers just run. The proactive phone-home service lets us know if anything’s wrong or about to go wrong, but typically it’s always up,” Rykman said. “Our most impor ant fact was that everyone here can sleep at night knowing that if we have a server failure we won’t have customers losing alarms and facing liability that could come back on us. It gives us peace of mind because it does what it says it’s going to do.”

leg,” Rykman said. With cluster failover, downtime exists during the failover period and customers are exposed during this period. SIMS and its partners also face possible liability in case a fire alarm or other is sent but never received due to the state of the servers.

In addition to using Avance software to support its internal operations, SIMS recommends it to all of its customers and his implemented 27 Avance systems to date.

SIMS file servers run on Avance arrays. In the SIMS architecture, file servers implemented in the central monitoring stations are the link to customer sites. When an alarm comes into the station, the server logs it into the SQL Server database. The SIMS workstations are constantly monitoring the databases for alarms, so a server failure means alarms aren’t reaching dispatchers.

“There’s no management at all. The Avance servers just run. The proactive phonehome service lets us know if anything’s wrong or about to go wrong, but typically it’s always up .”

Steve Rykman Vice President of Technical Services SIMS Inc.

DB

App

App

LINUX

WIN

LINUX

Print Serv WIN

“Avance software is perfect for our customers because it is simple to manage and because no other solution out there gives the same degree of redundancy at a reasonable price point,” Rykman said.

“Security services are all about providing peace of mind, and Avance software helps us do that.”

AVA NC E H A S O F T WA R E

X86

X86

“We can’t have any servers offline at all. With Avance software when one server goes down the other takes over with no data loss. It meets Underwriters Laboratories requirements without costing an arm and a leg.”

Steve Rykman Vice President of Technical Services SIMS Inc.

Government & Public Safety

Stratus solution SIMS uses Stratus Avance high availability software to support the server arrays that host its Disaster Recovery, database lookup services, and internal file server and storage area network (SAN). Avance software enables two standard servers to work as a single highly available system without the complexity, failover or management demands of traditional server clusters. If one of the SIMS servers in the Avance array fails, the other maintains processing for uninterrupted protection of security monitoring services. Avance software monitors its own performance and is able to predict possible system faults before they occur.

Avance

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Alice Peck Day Health Systems Ensuring high availability for critical electronic medical record software Business situation

QUICK FACTS

Alice Peck Day Health Systems is focused on “Strengthening our Future,” as the cover of a recent annual report declares. Built up from a cottage hospital in the Connecticut River city of Lebanon, New Hampshire, Alice Peck Day (APD) serves 20 communities in two states,offering primary care, independent and assisted living, and specialty services from rehabilitative care to neurosurgery.

Its medical staff, area clinics, and service offerings are growing, which bolster the 25-bed hospital’s ability to invest in new programs, infrastructure and technology.

SOLUTION PROFILE

Hospital leadership is committed to including IT and data center improvements in its strategic growth plans. APD already had been using hospital information system (HIS) software for 14 years. In the past three years, they have deployed a virtualization software platform with 24 virtual servers hosting various applications such as Active Directory, Microsoft® Exchange, Corepoint Integration Engine, business intelligence, whole disk encryption, among others.

PRODUCTS

As it began evaluating and testing new electronic medical records (EMR) software, the IT department became concerned that the current virtual infrastructure would not provide sufficient protection against downtime.

Because staff is not available 24/7, they wanted the system to be as automated as possible for business continuity with virtually no interaction on their part. The inability to keep EMR operations running should a catastrophic event occur also weighed on their minds.

Staff concerns nearly became reality when a backhoe broke the conduit carrying their fiber and ISDN lines. The ISDN line connecting the medical/surgical facility to the data center, which is located in a campus out-building a tenth of mile away, was partially cut.”

We would have been an island, cut off from the hospital,” said

Data center and IT investments key to hospital’s continued growth High availability a critical success factor in deployment of new EMR software Virtualization provides cost efficiencies, simplifies network management Geographic separation of servers to ensure operational continuity and disaster recovery

Lorraine Nichols, APD director of information services. “We are planning to move our primary data center to the main building, but not for three years. With the EMR deployment eminent, we had to search out alternatives to overcome the shortcomings of our current arrangement.”

Stratus Avance® high-availability software Stratus remote monitoring and management services Greenway Medical Technologies ambulatory EMR software Industry standard services

Business solution APD selected an ambulatory EMR suite from Greenway Medical Technologies as its software platform for going paperless in hospital-owned clinics. The roll out would be phased in over six months, preceded by another six months of testing. In answer to the hospital’s requirements for uptime assurance and co-location, Greenway recommended Stratus Avance high-availability software, running on standard x86 servers.

“The [Avance] software was very affordable but, even so, we didn’t compromise on any of our performance requirements for high availability and disaster recovery.”

Mike Mahar Systems/Network Administrator Alice Peck Day Health Systems

Avance software automatically sets up on two servers to create a virtual, high-availability computing platform. APD’s Greenway EMR software runs on a primary Avance platform in the hospital building and a secondary platform in the data center. The software manages all the computing resources available to it, and works to detect and prevent outages preemptively. Even when only one hiccup, which ended up being a configuration issue between the primary and secondary platforms,” said Mahar. “The response from the Stratus support guys was very impressive. They were knowledgeable and helpful.” With the ambulatory electronic health records system operational by the end of 2011, APD is already targeting other areas high availability computing services. The IT department’s plans call for adding HA to the hospital’s HIS system.

hardware fails, the Avance realtime duplex-server architecture ensures that applications operate uninterrupted, with no data loss.

Data is replicated between the two server nodes and between the primary and secondary sites in near real-time. If desired, the two servers comprising an Avance platform can be separated by up to 5 km. “Automated solutions like Avance make network administration easier,” said Mike Mahar, APD systems/network administrator.

“The software was very affordable but, even so, we didn’t compromise on any of our performance requirements for high availability and disaster recovery.”

Nichols and Mahar are looking forward to a major EMR software release from Greenway in a few months. Performing that upgrade on one Avance plat-

Business impact Greenway’s Practice Management was the first module to go live, in April 2011. By year-end all eight clinics will access E-prescribing, messaging, online charting and documentation.

Had the EMR system been in place in 2010, records for 40,000 clinic visits would have been captured electronically in place of paper files. These numbers are expected to grow. EMR deployment on the Avance platform went as anticipated. “We had

“Avance had virtualization built right into the product, something we had never seen before. EMR modules run in virtual machines on just a couple of servers with the assurance of high availability.”

Lorraine Nichols Director of Information Services APD

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form node while the current software version continues to provide services to its network of clinics will be an important test. “Software upgrades and patching can be nervewracking. I expect we’ll receive the same solid support from Greenway and Stratus that we’ve experienced so far.”

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“Automated solutions like Avance make network administration easier.”

Mike Mahar Systems/Network Administrator APD

Healthcare

“We have very little space, no server duplication and no ability for split site, which is why Avance software interested us,” said Nichols. “We worked with a couple partners to come up with a VMware-based solution, but it wasn’t fully automated and required cluster replication.

Avance had virtualization built right into the product, something we had never seen before. EMR modules run in virtual machines on just a couple servers with the assurance of high availability.”

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German Automobile Club (ADAC) High-tech diagnostics demand high availability: ADAC relies on the uptime assurance of Stratus Avance HA Software Business situation Technical advances in the automobile industry have turned cars into computer centers on wheels. From engine management through various safety systems to on-board entertainment, cars come fully stocked with electronics that are controlled by complex IT systems. The development of the high-tech car has made it difficult even for specialists to quickly and reliably detect problems.

QUICK FACTS SOLUTION PROFILE

Mobile diagnostic unit offers vehicle inspections to 1.2 million regional ADAC members >99.99 percent availability ensures uptime and round-the-clock access to data via project Web site Prevents downtime and data loss: includes automated 24/7 monitoring, fault detection, and management Support for multiple virtual Windows® and Linux® machines through embedded virtualization

The days of the semi-skilled car owner who, with the help of a screwdriver, wrench, and manual, could do his own repairs are definitively over. Automobile maintenance has become the domain of knowledgeable experts who know how to work with specialized and expensive electronic diagnostic equipment.

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For car owners this means that they can no longer judge the quality of repairs or assess the condition of a used car by just taking a look at the engine.

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To narrow the technology gap for owners, The German Automobile Club (ADAC) of Lower Saxony/Saxony-Anhalt developed the “ADAC Digital Diagnostics” project. Today, their test lane, built in a semi-trailer equipped with the most up-todate technology, offers members thorough inspections of cars, light trucks, and vans.

Since the beginning of 2009, the 27-meterlong ADAC truck has tested 4,000 vehicles. During the 30-minute safety check, ADAC checks the vehicle’s structure, transmission, brakes, tires, shock absorbers, lights, airbags, battery, tachometer, cooling, brake fluids, and steering. Computer memory is inspected for error messages and an endoscope is used to detect problems within the car’s cavities. In addition, the test provides carspecific infor mation to inspectors and owners.

Stratus Avance® software Industry-standard x86 servers from Dell™

Although ADAC membership data is centralized for all of Germany, IT infrastructure and support for regional projects such as the mobile diagnostic unit must be covered locally.

ADAC’s Lower Saxony/Saxony Anhalt branch installed two servers that receive data from the truck right after a test via UMTS and store it in a database. Upon completion, customers can access their vehicle data at any time via the project’s Web site.

Invenate

Business objectives ADAC put forth a challenging set of criteria for the new IT solution that would be developed to process the data: Enable round-the-clock online access to test data Ensure smooth uninterrupted operation Conserve resources by running the entire solution on a virtual platform

“High availability was on the project’s priority list from the beginning. Customers want to see their data from home right after the test.” Ulf Farger Project Team Leader ADAC

The Stratus Avance solution Traditional high availability and virtualization platforms were not considered because they required additional, expensive hardware and considerable effort to deploy and maintain. “Our small IT team can’t dedicate a lot of time to taking care of the system,” Farger clarified. “We needed a Business impact ADAC installed Stratus Avance software on two Dell PowerEdge™ servers with the support of Invenate, a Stratus partner located in Hannover, Germany.

The installation process clearly demonstrated the user-friendliness and operational simplicity offered by an Avance solution. “The servers were ready to go in less than one workday. We did one day of training – and since then we haven’t had much to do with the system,” said Farger.

A smooth, relatively hands-off solution was exactly what ADAC was striving to achieve. There have been no outages since the project started in February 2009.

As expected – the Avance solution has fulfilled its promise of uptime assurance and will enable ADAC to easily handle future growth of the Digital Diagnostics project. Today it runs a pilot system that is sized

solution that we could run reliably without a lot of training and constant administration.”

The final selection was a highavailability software solution from Stratus – the leader in IT uptime assurance for thirty years. Stratus Avance software automatically combines two standard x86 servers into a high-availability solution that includes embedded Citrix® XenServer™ virtualization. Virtual machines (VMs) typically run on one member of the server pair and are synchronously mirrored to the other server in real time.

If one of the server nodes malfunctions, the other simply continues normal processing.

Once the hardware problem is resolved, Avance automatically re-synchronizes the nodes – without the need for administrative intervention or specialized hardware. to support five stations (trucks or stationary test sites).

Further expansion can be achieved by simply building out the supporting network. With the Avance solution in place, the 1.2 million members of Germany’s fourth largest ADAC branch are positioned to leverage the many advantages offered by the Digital Diagnostics project.

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After a simple one-step installation, the Avance solution delivers better than 99.99% uptime, a number that translates to less than 52 minutes of downtime per year on average. That’s in sharp contrast to the nearly 88 hours of downtime per year that a typical x86 server will experience.

Stratus Avance software provided ADAC with a resilient highavailability environment that requires no specialized hardware and is easy to implement and administer. Integrated prognostics tools identify and address most hardware and software problems even before they occur. A single Web-based management console enables remote monitoring and management of the virtual machines, physical servers, and network interfaces.

“Our small IT team can’t dedicate a lot of time to taking care of the system. We needed a solution that we could run reliably without a lot of training and constant administration.”

Ulf Farger Project Team Leader ADAC

Travel,Transportation & Logisitics

“High availability was on the project’s priority list from the beginning. Customers want to see their data from home right after the test,” explained Ulf Farger, ADAC project team leader. “The test results must be available around the clock. Since this digital vehicle analysis is just being piloted, the future of the whole project depends on smooth and uninterrupted operation.” At the same time, ADAC wanted to conserve resources by running all of the systems required for the project on a virtual platform.

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German Automobile Club (ADAC) 高科技检测需要高可用性：德国汽车俱乐部（ADAC） 信赖Stratus Avance高可用性软件 业务形势

信息速览

汽车行业的技术进步使汽车变成了有轮子的计算机中心。 从引擎维护到各种安全系统乃至车载娱乐，今天的汽车上 装满了各种电子设备，由复杂的IT系统来控制。高科技汽车 的发展让专业人士也很难迅速而准确地诊断问题。一把螺 丝刀、一个扳手外加使用手册型的半熟练车主时代已经一 去不复返。汽车维护成为懂得使用专业而昂贵的电子诊断 设备的专业人士的领地。这意味着车主再也不能仅凭看一 眼引擎，就能判断维修的质量，或评估一辆旧车的车况。 为了缩小车主的技术欠缺，位於Lower Saxony/SaxonyAnhalt的德国汽车俱乐部(ADAC) 启动了“ADAC数字检测 ”项目。今天，他们在配备最先进技术的半拖车中建造的 测试车道，已经可以为会员提供全面的汽车、轻型卡车及 货车的检测。

解决方案概要

移动检测设备为120万区域ADAC会员提 供汽车检测 超过99.99%的可用性确保运行时间，支持 全天候访问网站数据 防止当机及数据丢失:包括自动24/7全天候 监控、故障探测以及维护 通过内嵌虚拟化支持多个虚拟的 Windows®及Linux®机器 产品

Stratus Avance® 高可用性软件 Dell™标准x86服务器

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自2009年初起，这辆长达27米 的ADAC卡车已经完成了4,000 辆汽车的检测。在整个30分钟 安全检测过程中，ADAC检查汽 车的车身、档位、刹车、车胎 减震系统、车灯、气囊、电池 、转速表、散热、刹车油及方 向盘。检查计算机存储的错误 信息，并利用内窥镜检测汽车 空腔内的问题。除此之外，该 检测还可以为检测者和车主提 供每辆车的详细信息。

从一开始，高可用性就是该项 目优先考虑的因素之一。“客 户希望在测试后回家就可以看 到相关的数据，”ADAC项目 组长Ulf Farger解释说。“测 试结果需要全天候可用。鉴于 这个数字汽车分析还在测试中 ，该项目的未来取决于顺畅、 不间断的运行。”与此同时， ADAC希望在一个虚拟平台上 运行所有的系统以节约资源。

业务目标

“从最开始，高 可 用 性 就 是该项目需要优先考虑的 因 素 之 一 。 客户希望在测 试后回家就可以看到相关 的数据。”

ADAC为新的数据处理IT解决方 案提供了非常具有挑战的标准: • 支持全天候在线访问测试数据 • 支持顺畅的不间断运行 • 在虚拟平台上运行整个解决方 案以节约资源

Ulf Farger Project Team Leader ADAC

Invenate

Stratus Avance解决方案 传统的高可用及虚拟化平台不在 考虑之列，因为它们需要额外投 入昂贵的硬件，外加繁复的部署 和维护。“我们的IT小组无法投 入很多时间来维护系统， ”Farger总结说。“我们需要一 个能可靠地运行且无需大量培训 和持续管理的解决方案。”

在简单的一站式安装后， Avance解决方案可提供超过 99.99%的运行时间，即年 平均当机时间不到52分钟。 通常x86服务器的年当机时 间约88小时，二者的差别一 目了然。 Avance解决方案圆满完成了 提供高可用性的任务，使得 A DAC 能 够 轻 松 应 对 数 字 检 测项目未来的需求增长。目 前的试用系统容量可支持五 个检测站(卡车或地面检测站 )。进一步的扩容可通过创建 支持网络轻松实现。有了 Avance解决方案，德国第四 大ADAC分部的120万名会 员即可充分利用数字检测项 目的众多好处。 “安装服务器只用了不到一个 工作日。我们做了一天的培训 --此后我们几乎不用太管这个 系统。” Ulf Farger Project Team Leader ADAC

Stratus Avance软件为 A DAC 提 供 了 一 个 无 缝 的 高 可用性环境，无需专门的硬 件，并且易于部署和管理。 集成的诊断工具可预先识别 并处理大多数硬件及软件故 障。通过一个基于网络的管 理控制台，即可实现对虚拟 服务器、物理服务器以及网 络界面的远程界面的远程监 控及管理。 “我们的IT小组无法投入很 多时间来维护系统，我们 需要一个能可靠地运行且 无需大量培训和持续管理 的解决方案。”Ulf Farger

Project Team Leader ADAC

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业务影响 在S t r a t u s 合作伙伴， 德 国Hannover的Invenate公 司 的 支 持 下 ， A DAC 在 两 台 Dell Power-Edge服务器上 安装了St ratusAvance软件 。安装过程清晰地体现了 Avance解决方案的用户友好 性及运营简单性。“安装服 务器只用了不到一个工作日 。我们做了一天的培训—— 此后我们几乎不用太管这个 系统，”Farger说道。顺畅 、一定程度上可以放手不管 的 解 决 方 案 正 是 A DAC 想 要 实现的目标。该方案自2009 年2月开始以来，目前尚未 出现当机。

交通运输/物流

Stratus的高可用性软件解决方 案最终入围，该公司领导IT可 用性领域长达三十年。Stratus 软件自动将两台标准x86服务 器组合成一个高度可用的解决 方案，其中包括内嵌Citrix® Xe n Se r ve r™虚拟化。虚拟机 器(VMs)通常在其中一台服务 器上运行，同时与另一台服务 器实时同步。如果其中一台服 务器节点出现故障，另一台服 务器将自动继续正常处理。一 旦硬件问题解决，无需管理员 干预或专门的硬件，Avance将 自动重新同步节点。

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Tai Hing Catering Group Restaurant chain uses Stratus Avance uptime assurance and SAP Business One to get food to the table Business situation Tai Hing Catering Group knows what its customers are hungry for. Chinese roast dishes and Hong Kong style milk tea are some of the favorites at the company’s Tai Hing Roast restaurants. The chain is the biggest Hong Kong style restaurant group in the city, with 40 outlets in Hong Kong and 20 more in mainland China. Congee King restaurants (serving up popular rice porridge dishes), Roast.Pot (known for hot pot specialties), and Original Taste Catering Company Limited are also part of the Group.

QUICK FACTS SOLUTION PROFILE

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution for restaurant chain Supports daily food delivery to 60 stores Prevents downtime for critical business processes Monitors itself for reliable, simple operation PRODUCTS

Stratus® Avance® high availability software Industry-standard x86 servers SAP® Business One application Microsoft® Windows Server® 2008 R2 operating system Microsoft SQL Server® 2008 R2 database Microsoft Exchange

To run this large operation efficiently, Tai Hing stocks its main warehouse with fresh food procured from suppliers daily. Its 40,000 square foot central warehouse and commissary supplies the restaurants with food every day.

Information from the point-of-sale systems at each store tells headquarters which items are selling, and what inventory each location needs for the next day.

Tai Hing uses SAP Business One software to support these logistics in addition to driving other business processes critical to the chain.

Ryan Chow, IT department manager, said, “Uptime is the biggest concern we have. If the server is down, the buying process will stop. So if the system’s down, our shops will not get their items from the main warehouse.”

Business objectives The Group was quick to understand the importance of uptime assurance for theBusiness One application, according to Chow. He said that before they implemented the ERP software, “Different departments in our company used different computer systems. Accounting had their accounting system. Our logistics department had their own system.

Also our purchasing department just used Microsoft Excel for their information.”

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Consolidating the different systems —and the business processes they support —meant the Group couldn’t tolerate much downtime after all departments moved onto the ERP system.

“When we decided on Business One, we asked for a solution that would give us high availability,” Chow said. “Our SAP consultant recommended Stratus Avance.”

Compass Consulting Group, based in Hong Kong, provided implementation services for the SAP application and continues to provide software support to Tai Hing.

“We found that Avance gives us high availability for our mission-critical requirement.

The architecture ensures our branches have access to our production facilities anytime.”

Ryan Chow Manager, IT Department Tai Hing Catering Group

Avance Software Support Services

Testing Avance high availability Stratus Avance software turns industrystandard x86 computer servers into a highly reliable, very affordable solution that ensures uninterrupted uptime.

It uses built-in predictive features to identify, report, and handle faults before they cause application outages, data loss, or user disconnects.

Avance software also enables automatic resource sharing across the server pair. If there is a problem with the primary server, the workload automatically transfers to the secondary server. Applications automatically ride through most hardware and software problems, including disk and network subsystem failure.

Tai Hing was satisfied with the results of the assessment. “We found that Avance gives us high availability for our missioncritical requirement. The architecture ensures our branches have access to our production facilities anytime,” noted Chow.

Simple management is on the menu Because uptime is a priority for the Group’s business, the IT department is especially concerned about monitoring and managing the high availability solution. Avance meets the need here, too.

Business impact Tai Hing has successfully been using Avance high availability since 2010.

In addition to preventing downtime for the Business One application, Avance HA also supports the application’s Microsoft SQL Server database.

Chow explained that protecting uptime means there’s always access to business intelligence from the ERP system. For example, he says, “Now we have much more accuracy in item pricing and in what to procure, because the data flows through one system.” In the food and beverage industry, profitability depends on that kind of insight.

Because Avance software satisfies the restaurant chain’s appetite for uptime, Tai Hing is expanding its use of the HA solution. Chow noted that the Group recently decided to add a second Avance license to support its Microsoft Exchange application.

Chow and his colleagues use the single, webbased management console to get a view into their entire HA environment: the x86 computer servers, virtual machines, and network interfaces. “As a virtualized solution, Avance makes maintenance and upgrading quite easy. And there’s a monitor that works with the Windows OS, which has great information about the health of our server,” he said. In addition, Avance HA monitors server heartbeat and the health of drives, fans, power supplies and other system components. This continuous monitoring predicts faults and performance degradation so that Tai Hing can avoid downtime. Fault notification is automatic, so people in the IT department don’t have to keep checking the management dashboard to make sure everything is working as it’s supposed to.

Chow related an experience with the selfmonitoring.“One of our servers had a minor problem. But Avance told us immediately. And also our support vendors got email alerts. This made us much more comfortable that if the server has even a minor problem, we’ll know.”

Virtualization brings flexibility Chow appreciates that virtualization is included with Avance high availability. Using virtual machines to host the application makes it easy to transfer VMs between computer servers, so that users can still have access during scheduled upgrades and maintenance.

And while Tai Hing’s Avance environment is currently dedicated to Business One, virtualization offers the flexibility to add other applicationsto complement ERP. New applications can be provisioned fast by adding more virtual machines in the Avance environment.

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“As a virtualized solution, Avance makes maintenance and upgrading quite easy. And there’s a monitor that works with the Windows OS, which has great information about the health of our server.” Ryan Chow Manager, IT Department Tai Hing Catering Group

Travel,Transportation & Logisitics

The Group’s IT department decided to find out whether the high availability software lived up to its claims. “We did a test by making one of the servers go down. We found that within seconds, the other server picked up the job,” Chow explained.

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Concorde Reisemobile Uptime assurance keeps motorhome production moving ahead Business situation Concorde Reisemobile GmbH is passionate about designing and building motorhomes. The company’s luxury caravans let adventurers take the comforts of home wherever they roam — some models even have a garage for a small car or motorcycle.

To help meet increasing demand for these premium motor caravans, Concorde decided to revamp its IT operations.

The company considered every aspect of IT in the overhaul, from hardware and software infrastructure, to data privacy and security, to how IT aligns with the firm’s legal obligations.

Stronger risk management was an important aspect of the IT upgrade. One key asset is some 400,000 computer-aided design (CAD) drawings that are the core of the company’s intellectual property. Concorde also planned to implement a new enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, and wanted to assure uptime for its Microsoft Exchange email communications.

Roland Eichkorn, IT manager for Concorde Reisemobile, saw high availability as an essential aspect of the new technology infrastructure. If downtime were to affect manufacturing operations at the plant in Germany’s Franconia region, the interruption could be costly. The plant makes deluxe motorhomes that often sell for 100,000 euros or more.

Business objectives The company’s IT system house, SIT Solutions of Adelsdorf, recommended Stratus Avance high-availability software to satisfy Concorde’s increased reliability requirement Bernhard Schlögel, CEO of SIT Solutions, said, “Before this, we used to integrate virtualization software with a dedicated SAN [storage area network]. We’d been looking for a long time for a solution that is redundant, easy to manage, and economical. We found it in Stratus Avance software.”.

QUICK FACTS SOLUTION PROFILE

Uptime assurance supports enterprise resource planning (ERP), CAD file server, and email Reduces risk for critical business resources and processes High-availability solution pays for itself with simple management PRODUCTS

Stratus® Avance® high availability software Industry-standard x86 servers Microsoft® Windows Server® 2008 R2 operating system Microsoft SQL Server® 2008 R2 database Microsoft Exchange SERVICES

"Since we were reevaluating the whole IT infrastructure anyway, it was easy to look at new concepts,” Eichkorn related. “The Stratus Avance solution fit our need for uptime assurance.”

Avance Software Support Services

Avance software, we were able to propose a high-availability solution that fit well within the budget of an SMB [small and medium business] customer," said Schlögel.

Avance HA passes test flawlessly Avance software turns industrystandard x86 servers into a highly reliable, very affordable solution that ensures uninterrupted uptime.

Built-in predictive features to identify, report, and handle faults before they cause application outages, data loss, or user disconnects.

“We’ve seen that Stratus Avance software improves availability, takes less effort to maintain, and saves money. Before we used to integrate other high-availability solutions for our customers. Now In addition to meeting the tech- we prefer Stratus.” Bernhard Schlögel nical and high reliability requireCEO ments for the new IT infrastrucSIT Solutions ture, Avance softw are proved to be affordable. "With Stratus Avance uptime assurance offered advantages that were in line with Concorde’s business and technical objectives: Around-the-clock access to critical business applications High availability for standard x86 servers Integrated virtualization Ease of operation, with automatic error detection and fault management Simple installation and maintenance

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and Windows domain controller that act as the file server for the company’s 70 CAD workstations.

Migrating to new x86 server hardware and Stratus Avance high availability was so nondisruptive that users hardly noticed the change. Concorde’s IT staff and SIT Solutions carried out the entire implementation process in about two hours.

Simple management brings fast payback The Avance real-time dual-server architecture ensures that applications operate uninterrupted, with no data loss, even if a physical server fails. This automatic, preemptive fault management helps reduce IT labor costs as well as expenses that would be associated with data recovery.

“The reason for the fast project turnaround was predominantly the pre-installation and preparation that Stratus built into Avance software. We simply migrated our existing physical environment into a virtual server environment,”explained Eichkorn.

“This saves time and effort.”

“Our investment in Stratus Avance software has already paid for itself because of the lack of extra effort we would have faced with other technologies,” stated Eichkorn.

“Avance software manages itself and saves Concorde Reisemobile the need to dedicate a resource to manage the high-availability solution. This also saves euros and cents.”

Concorde’s system consists of two physical servers, One virtual instance of Avance software runs Microsoft Exchange. Another instance of Avance software supports the SQL Server database Eichkorn also appreciates that the Avance dashboard provides an “ideal” view of system resources that displays utilization and operation information about the virtual machines.

SIT Solutions likewise gives Avance software high marks for being easy to use and manage.

Noted Schlögel, “Our project manager used his iPad® to install a new Windows 2008 Server in the Avance environment while traveling to a meeting on the train. That’s the way we want to work — management anytime, anywhere.”

“Our investment in Stratus Avance software • Avance Software Support Services has already paid for itself because of the lack of extra effort we would have faced with other technologies.” Roland Eichkorn IT Manager Concorde Reisemobile

Business impact Concorde is already considering expanding its use of Avance high availability to other applications that need to be resilient. "Stratus Avance ensures better protection against outages in a production environment. That lets IT do its part to ensure mission-critical processes are up and running," Eichkorn noted.

“Our project manager used his iPad to install a new Windows 2008 Server in the Avance environment while traveling to a meeting on the train. That’s the way we want to work — management anytime and anywhere.”

Bernhard Schlögel CEO SIT Solutions

The Stratus Avance solution has also more than met expectations for SIT Solutions — and not only at Concorde Reisemobile. Said Schlögel, “We’ve seen that Stratus Avance software improves availability, takes less effort to maintain, and saves money. Before we used to integrate other high availability solutions for our customers. Now we prefer Stratus.”

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Avance

Upon installing the Stratus Avance solution, Concorde decided to simulate a server failure. The Avance software allowed the secondary server to immediately take over for the primary server. An error message popping up was the only sign that anything was out of the ordinary.

When the primary server was restored to operation, the Avance software automatically synchronized the two servers.

Smooth deployment in just two hours

Manufacturing & Utilities

The Avance software also enables automatic resource sharing across the server pair.Applications automatically ride through most hardware and software problems, including disk and network subsystem failure.

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Röchling Automotive Stratus Avance split site keeps manufacturing running continuously Business situation 120 to 210 minutes is all the time Röchling Automotive is given to produce a complete set of door panels for a VW Touran, Tiguan, or Golf – which means extruding the plastic frames, installing components such as window lifters and loudspeakers, and completing the technical approval inspections. This is how Röchling produces door panels for around 2,000 vehicles per day at its Wolfsburg, Germany-based plant, which operates a threeshift system for round-the-clock production.

QUICK FACTS SOLUTION PROFILE Automatic high availability in excess of 99.99%; integrated virtualization for standard x86 servers Elimination of downtime and data loss thanks to round-the-clock monitoring, fault detection, and fault management Round-the-clock access to vital business solutions via a single management console Supports multiple Microsoft® Windows® and Linux® virtual machines (VMs) Lower costs and complexity than traditional and virtualized IT environments thanks to a solution that is easy to install, use, and maintain

The VW plant next door no longer has a dedicated storage area for these types of components. The production quantities of Röchling’s door panels are subject to a complex schedule, and the products always need to be assembled for immediate delivery.

As soon as a batch has been completed, the panels are loaded onto a truck, which takes them straight to the VW assembly lines. Not only does this type of production require highly accurate timing, the components also need to be supplied exactly according to the specified assembly sequences.

For each of the three vehicle types, this includes left and right doors, front and rear doors, as well as a wide range of color and feature variations. Because of the high diversity of parts this entails, it is impractical for Röchling Automotive to stockpile the finished products in advance. For delivery, the door panels need to be grouped exactly as specified so that the workers on the VW assembly lines can simply reach into the supplied Röchling container and grab the fitting component.

Röchling Automotive not only has to produce just-in-time but also just-insequence (JIS) – different types of components according to precisely specified supply sequences. At the VW plant, continuous production can only be maintained as long as the parts suppliers deliver their components as specified in production planning. Were Röchling Automotive to cause a line stop at VW, this would entail contractual penalties while also damaging the company’s reputation.

Business objectives What all this means for Röchling Automotive is that its IT processes in production control are absolutely crucial. The data flow needs to be uninterrupted throughout all areas of production – starting with the receipt of VW’s orders via EDI (Electronic Data Interchange); forwarding job details to the shop floor; production line monitoring; component assembly in racks; transferring the completed products to the supply stations; and sending confirmation messages to the SAP system.

All parts, containers, and machines are labeled with barcodes, which are scanned at every possible point. This ensures that the system data corresponds to the physical

PRODUCTS Stratus® Avance® high availability software Industry-standard x86 servers SAP® application software Oracle® database Automotive data exchange application SERVICES Avance Software Support Services MTS Systemhaus

components at all times. he entire plant’s operability is dependent on IT availability. “If there is an interruption, i.e., if the server breaks down or goes offline, we are practically running blind,” explains Atilla Güner, System Administrator for Röchling Automotive in Wolfsburg.

“When that happens, all we can do is finish the current jobs printed out on the work sheets.” Even after a very brief interruption, the systems need to be manually reconciled very carefully to reflect all the activities that occurred during the downtime – a time-consuming and error-prone task.

But even without any server failures, system administration and error management are a precarious undertaking: Since the systems need to be available 24/7, the only available window for maintenance is during four hours on Sunday afternoons. All administrative tasks such as software maintenance and data cleansing need to be completed during this short time, which does not leave much room for solving any unanticipated faults or inconsistencies. “It is absolutely vital for business that our IT system is fully operational at all times,” says Güner.

Little Time for Database Reconciliation In the past, Röchling Automotive maintained a standby system as backup for its IT environment. This consisted of a backup server that was switched on when the main server went down. The problem with this was that the backup system took too long to become fully functional, causing a major time lag between the fault and the resumption of work using the emergency system.

Because the database of the backup system was only updated at large intervals, faults would lead to considerable data loss. “It can take quite a long time to repair an Oracle database when the data needs to be reconciled from databases across multiple computers,” explains Güner. “Even if we were able to access incoming new data and continue production, the main database would still be out of sync with the individual sub-databases. In such cases, it would take a very long time to reconcile the data and ensure the production systems’ coherence.”

In mid-2010, Röchling Automotive overhauled its IT systems from the ground up and replaced the existing backup configuration with a high-availability solution.

Stratus Avance, a solution designed for virtualization and high availability, was implemented on two high-performance HewlettPackard server workstations by systems provider MTS (Brunswick, Germany). As Röchling’s implementation partner, MTS also migrated the legacy system and all its connected elements to the new system, and provided full-scale project support throughBusiness impact Although the system consists of two separate physical machines, the user interface is for a single system only. This simplifies system administration considerably. “Avance has made it a lot easier to work with our system,” notes Güner. “The software provides an easy-to-use administration interface, both for managing availability and virtualization. Because of the concept’s simplicity, we can even manage the system remotely.”

For example, when there is a malfunction, I can use my computer at home to check what’s happening. Because the two systems completely mirror each other, nothing needs to be implemented physically or switched over manually. When there were malfunctions in the past, I’d always have to go to the plant in person; this would be inconvenient, but more importantly, it would also waste valuable time.” Especially for a plant that runs 24/7, remote administration is a great advantage and helps to ensure operational availability at all times .

The tight timeframe for weekly maintenance has also been resolved. On the one hand, overall system performance has been increased considerably thanks to the power-

out – ranging from extensive consulting through to the final system inspection including all failover tests.

This means that the currently active system and the passive standby system are on the same level at all times, both in terms of application status and database updating.

The two servers are linked through a dedicated connection, enabling them both to operate at maximum performance despite the ongoing synchronization.

When Avance detects a hardware fault, such as a defective memory module or hard disk, or even a system failure, the workload is automatically transferred to the other server system. Operation continues without any notable interruptions, and users typically do not notice that a fault has occurred. The administrator and the support partner (MTS) are automatically sent a fault notification message and can then address the issues at hand, while production continues without interruption. Avance virtualization permits the creation of separate virtual servers, in this case for the applications and for the database. ful 64-bit quad-core server machines and careful component matching, particularly of the hard drives. On the other hand, the simpler administration concept also speeds up the maintenance processes.

Naturally, Röchling Automotive also looked into other alternatives apart from Stratus Avance. A cluster system that had already been deployed at an earlier stage was ruled out due to the excessive amount of administration it required. Another solution, based on the VMware® virtualization system, similarly would have required a much higher level of administrative involvement. On top of that, both of these approaches would also have proven to be significantly more expensive.

“Both the cluster system and the VMware system would have required us to implement a separate SAN,” explains Güner. “In order to guarantee high availability, the SAN would also need to be mirrored, so in effect we would have had to implement two SANs. All in all, the upgrade project would have cost more than twice as much. The advantage with Avance was that we could use the existing local RAID system.” With Stratus Avance, the project costs were significantly lower than with any of the alternatives.

Thanks to this advanced server concept, Röchling Automotive is now able to protect its systems against unforeseen downtime and guarantee high availability at all times.

“Once, we simply unplugged the power cable from the operational server, just to see how far we could push the system,” recounts Güner. “The shift to the other server was seamless and automatic. The second server took over all the processes, and the applications could be accessed even while the changeover was taking place. When we examined the database afterwards, there wasn’t a single error to be found.” Because Avance continuously synchronizes the databases and because both servers are exactly up to date with each other whenever a fault may occur, it does not take long at all for the two databases to be reconciled once the failed system has started up again. “It takes no longer than half an hour for the two servers and their databases to be completely in sync again,” states Güner. High availability is therefore restored to the overall system very quickly; this is important, as there is no other protection against failures while the second server is being repaired and started up again.

In the end, Röchling Automotive received a powerful high-availability virtualization solution that is very easy to manage. “It’s exactly what we had been looking for,” concludes Güner.

“Once, we simply unplugged the power cable from the operational server, just to see how far we could push the system. The shift to the other server was seamless and automatic... When we examined the database afterwards, there wasn’t a single error to be found.”

Manufacturig & Utilities

Stratus Avance for high availability In mid-2010, Röchling Automotive overhauled its IT systems from the ground up and replaced the existing backup configuration with a high-availability solution.

Stratus Avance, a solution designed for virtualization and high availability, was implemented on two high-performance HewlettPackard server workstations by systems provider MTS (Brunswick, Germany). As Röchling’s implementation partner, MTS also migrated the legacy system and all its connected elements to the new system, and provided full-scale project support throughout – ranging from extensive consulting through to the final system inspection including all failover tests.

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Sam Media Ltd. Mobile entertainment content provider gains uptime assurance with Stratus Avance software Business situation

Sam Media Ltd. is in the business of bringing entertainment to subscribers’ mobile phones. The company works with local partners to market and deliver popular content that includes videogames, text-based games, ringtones and wallpapers.

With offices in Kuala Lumpur, Amsterdam, Hanoi and Jakarta, Sam Media reaches mobile phone users in 20 countries

QUICK FACTS SOLUTION PROFILE

Business-critical platform for subscription management, content delivery and online advertising Subscription services reach mobile phone users in 20 countries Built-in high availability is easy to manage by small IT team Virtualization isolates production servers

Behind the scenes, that means SMS (short message service) traffic and data messages constantly pass between the company’s servers and its partners’ servers worldwide. Mini-websites – or landing pages, as they’re known to online marketers – are continuously served to potential customers as well. Advertising partners earn a commission every time a mobile phone user subscribes to one of Sam Media’s entertainment offerings. Other partners such as telecom operators also take their share from each SMS sent.

“It’s very important to have our systems up and running all the time,” explained Robert Bos, regional director of operations in Sam Media Ltd.’s Kuala Lumpur office. “We need to receive, process and send out messages and deliver website page requests. Traffic comes from and goes to our partners and customers in real time, 24/7. As soon as our system is not available, we lose sales. And relationships with our partners and customers are damaged.”

PRODUCTS

He added, “Many of our advertising partners have dynamic systems. If they see sales volumes dropping, they can easily swap our advertisements for somebody else’s in real time.”

SERVICES

Business objectives The company was using RAID to mirror data stored on disk, but that only provided limited redundancy. The IT team wanted to extend high availability to the application processing that provides real-time interaction with Sam Media Ltd.’s partners and also assure the mini-websites, or landing pages, are always up.

The search for a high-availability solution was already in progress when Bos joined Sam Media. As he and the IT staff continued to evaluate products from different vendors, a few main objectives stood out: Deliver high availability to support businesscritical subscription management, content delivery and online advertisements Provide uptime assurance beyond the RAID-only data mirroring Use virtualization to create separate servers for test and reporting Keep cost and training requirements to a bare minimum One issue was that many competitors’

Stratus® Avance® high availability software Industry-standard x86 servers Red Hat® Enterprise Linux® operating system MySQL database

products were essentially server clusters that required a storage area network (SAN). The expense was a huge obstacle for a small to medium enterprise (SME) like Sam Media Ltd. “Other solutions we looked at needed central storage to build a high availability solution. You had this whole box, a storage box, that we don’t really need from a capacity point of view,” said Bos. “We don’t have terabytes of data online. It was overkill for us.”

A steep learning curve was another drawback with many solutions.

“There’s investment not only in the hardware and the software but also in the training and in people. And people are away from their normal daily jobs,” Bos noted.

Avance Software Support Services

The Stratus Avance solution When the Avance solution emerged as a contender, Bos recognized a trusted brand in Stratus Technologies. He had experience working with uptimeassuring products from Stratus in the 1990s (at the time, server hardware and an operating system). Bos observed, “It’s a good feeling to work with Stratus. And Avance turned out to be about half the cost of other approaches because you don’t need a SAN just to get high availability.”

The company uses the Avance HA environment to support the services at the heart of its business, which are based on technologies including the Red Hat Enterprise Linux operating system, a MySQL database and custom-built applications.

“Using Avance is even easier than we hoped. Other high availability solutions can be very complicated, so in that sense it’s exceeded the expectations. We didn’t have to spend weeks just to build the HA solution and then make sure it was stable.”

Robert Bos

Regional Operations Director Sam Media Ltd.

Sam Media Ltd. engaged IVT, an enterprise IT infrastructure specialist and a Stratus Technologies affiliate in Malaysia, to help with implementation and training.

Virtualized production, test and reporting servers The virtualization included in Avance software allowed Sam Media Ltd. to consolidate the physical Web servers at its main data center in Kuala Lumpur.

24-hour support The Avance software monitors server operation predictively to prevent unplanned downtime and data loss. If the software detects signs of a problem on the primary server, it isolates the fault and automatically migrates the workload to the secondary server while applications keep running.

A Stratus support contract adds to the peace of mind. In the event that Avance software detects a problem condition, Sam Media’s IT staff and the Stratus 24-hour support center would be alerted automatically about the type of fault and its location.

Business impact Although Sam Media Ltd. put Avance high availability into production recently, the company is already satisfied its business objectives have been achieved.

Perhaps even more important, the company took the opportunity to set up separate virtual machines to isolate testing and reporting. The separation ensures these functions don’t affect production operations.

Two virtual machines initially run the production applications; testing and reporting each have their own VMs.

focuses on application development and can’t afford to spend many hours on IT administration.

Bos spells out the advantages. “The idea of virtualization is for us, very appealing. Having virtualization means we can do the isolation without multiple physical servers, which is complex when you need highly available solutions. It is easier to have all these virtual servers within the Avance environment.”

With that in mind, staff training took place on the job. Two members of the team accompanied IVT, the Stratus affiliate, to the data center while the Avance solution was installed. The IT pros used the halfday of installation to become familiar with Avance high availability.

Installation and training in half a day People’s time in the very competitive mobile entertainment industry is precious. That’s especially true at the fast-growing 50-person firm, which has an IT staff of 10. Bos says the company’s technical staff “Using Avance is even easier than we hoped,” Bos said. “Other high availability solutions can be very complicated, so in that sense it’s exceeded the expectations. We didn’t have to spend weeks just to build the HA solution and then make sure it was stable.”

Bos emphasizes that he and the IT team still have a big job ahead of them because the company continues to grow in a continuously changing global market. The fact that Avance HA is self-healing and self-managing is a significant advantage, because it requires almost no attention from the busy professionals. He summarizes the impact that Avance high availability is making at Sam Media Ltd. “The Stratus Avance solution works and it includes 24/7 monitoring. As an operations director, I don’t have sleepless nights.”

In addition, the demands on staff time increased when Sam Media Ltd. migrated from the Microsoft® Windows® operating system to the Red Hat Enterprise Linux OS (both supported by Avance).

“You don’t have to be a developer to understand how Avance works and how to manage it,” stated Bos. “And you don’t need to spend three days in a class to get an understanding.

The learning curve is very quick.”

“It’s a good feeling to work with Stratus. And Avance turned out to be about half the cost of other approaches because you don’t need a SAN just to get high availability.”

Robert Bos Regional Operations Director Sam Media Ltd.

Telecommunications

Stratus Avance software turns industrystandard computer servers into a highly reliable, very affordable solution that ensures uninterrupted uptime. Built-in predictive features identify, report and handle faults before they cause application outages, data loss or user disconnects. Automatic resource sharing among the x86 server pair lets applications automatically ride through most hardware and software problems, including disk and network subsystem failure.

Avance

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Sam Media Ltd. 移动娱乐内容提供商青睐Stratus Avance软件 运行时间终获保障 业务形势

信息速览

Sam Media有限公司致力于为移 动电话用户提供娱 乐服务。该公 司与本地合作伙伴共同推广并提 供广 受欢迎的内容，包括视频游 戏、文字游戏、铃声及墙 纸等。 Sam Media在吉隆坡、阿姆斯特 丹、河内及 雅加达均设有办事处 ，其服务覆盖多达20个国家的 移 动电话用户。 幕后，短信息流及数据信息持续 在该公司与其合作伙 伴的全球服 务器之间流转。此外，迷你网站 ，即在 线市场推广所称的到达网 页，亦持续向潜在客户展示 。每 一次一个移动电话用户订制Sam Media的娱乐 服务，广告合作伙 伴即可获得一份佣金。其他合作 伙伴，例如电信运营商，亦从每 条发送的短信息中获 得分成。

“系统必须一直运行，这一点至 关重要，” Sam Media有限公司 吉隆坡办事处区域运营总监 Robert Bos说道。“我们需要接 收、处理、外发信息并生成网站 网页请求。流量在我们与合作伙 伴及客户之间全天候实时交互。 一旦系统不可用，立即就会损失 销售额，还会破坏我们与合作伙 伴及客户的关系。” 他补充说，“我们的许多广告 客户都有动态系统。一旦监测 到销售量下降，他们可轻易实 时地将我们的广告切换为别人 的广告。”

解决方案概要

关键业务平台支持定制管理、内容提供及 在线广告 定制服务覆盖20个国家的移动电话用户 内嵌高可用性，小型IT团队即可轻松管理 虚拟化将生产服务器与测试及报告服务器 分离 产品

Stratus® Avance® 高可用性软件 行业标准x86服务器 Red Hat® Enterprise Linux®操作系统 MySQL数据库 服务

时确保迷你网站或到达网页持 续可用。 当Bos加入Sam Media时，寻找 高可用性方案的工作已经开始。 他与IT团队继续评估不同厂商的 产品，并总结出以下重点目标： • 提供高可用性以支持业务关性的 定制管理、内容生成及在线广告 • 提供RAID数据镜像以外的运行时 间保障 • 利用虚拟化创建独立的测试及报 告系统

Avance软件支持服

“其他方案需要中央存储来建立 高可用其他方案需要中央存储来 建立高可用性解决方案。需要一 个大盒子，一个存储盒子，而我 们根本不需要如此大的容量， ”Bos说道。“我们的在线数据并 未达到TB级。此方案对我们而言可 说是矫枉过正。” 陡峭的学习曲线是许多其它方案的 另一缺点。“不仅需要投入软硬件 ，此外还有人员培训。相关人员需 要放下日常工作，”Bos说道。

“使用Avance比我们所预想更简 • 将成本及培训要求控制在最低 便，”Bos说道。“其他高可用性 方案都很复杂，仅这一点，它已 限度 业务目标 远超期望。我们完全不必花几周 该公司此前采用RAID来为磁盘 许多竞争者的产品均基于服务器 时间先创建高可用性方案，然后 存储的数据提供镜像，该方式 再调试其稳定性。” 仅能提供有限的冗余。IT团队 集群，需要一个存储区域网络 Robert Bos 希望将高可用性扩展至应用处 (SAN)。其费用对于Sam Media有 Regional Operations Director 理环节，以支持与Sam Media 限公司这样的中小型企业(SME)而 Sam Media Ltd. 合作伙伴之间的实时交互，同 言，是一个巨大的障碍。

该公司利用Avance高可用性环 境来支持其业务心脏的各个服务 ，即基于Red Hat Enterprise Linux操作系统、MySQL数据库 以及定制化应用等技术。 Stratus Avance软件将行业标准 计算机服务器变成可保证不间 断运行时间的高度可信赖且经 济的解决方案。内置预测功能 可在应用停电数据丢失或用户 连接中断等问题出现前识别、 有鉴于此，人员培训与项目同 期进行。IT团队的两名成员随 IVT，Stratus分公司人员前往数 据中心，此时Avance解决方案 正在安装。IT专业人士利用安 装的半日时间熟悉了Avance的 高可用性。

报告并处理问题。x86配对服务 器具备自动资源共享机制，在 包括磁盘及网络子系统故障等 大多数软硬件问题出现时，保 证应用仍可自动运行。 Sam Media有限公司派出了IVT 及一名企业IT设施专员，由 Stratus Technologies马来西亚的 分支机构负责协助安装及培训。 虚拟化生产、测试及报告服务器 Avance软件中包含虚拟化，令 Sam Media有限公司在吉隆坡主 数据中心的物理Web服务器更加 坚固。

Bos这样评价其优点。“虚拟化 理念对我们非常有吸引力。拥 有虚拟化意味着我们无需多个 物理服务器即可实现分离，大 大降低了高可用性解决方案的 复杂性。所有虚拟服务器内置 在Avance环境内部，让一切变 得更简单。” 安装及培训半日完成 在竞争激烈的移动娱乐行业， 人们的时间极为宝贵。对一家 快速增长的50人公司尤其要分 秒必争，其中IT人员共10名。 Bos表示，该公司的技术人员专 注于应用开发，无法花太多时 间进行IT管理。

也许更为重要的是，该公司借机 建立了单独的虚拟化机器，将测 试及报告分离。分离机制确保这 些功能不会影响生产运营。两台 虚拟机器专门运行生产应用，而 测试及报告则分别有单独的虚拟 机器。

此外，当Sam Media有限公司从 Microsoft® Windows®操作系 统迁移至Red Hat Enterprise Linux OS操作系统(均由Avance 支持)后，对人员的时间需求进 一步增加。

Sam Media的IT人员及Stratus的 24小时支持中心均将自动收到故 障类型及位置的警报。

Bos强调，他和IT团队未来依然 有很长的路要走，因为公司将在 不断变化的全球市场中持续增长 。Avance高可用性方案的自我 修复及自我管理是一个巨大的优 势，几乎不需要繁忙的专业人士 额外分心。

业务影响 尽管Sam Media有限公司近期才 将Avance高可用性投入生产， 该公司已实现其业务目标，对该 Bos表示:“即使你不是开发人员 方案深表满意。 ，亦可理解Avance的工作机制 及管理方法。且无需在教室里学 “使用Avance比我们所预想更 习三天，学习曲线非常快。” 简便，”Bos说道。“其他高可 用性方案都很复杂，仅这一点， 24小时支持 它已远超期望。我们完全不必花 Avance软件监控服务器运行， 几周时间先创建高可用性方案， 并可提前预测和防止非计划的 然后再调试其稳定性。” 当机时间及数据丢失。一旦软 件侦测到主服务器故障，则立 “使用Avance比我们所预想更 即分离故障并自动将工作量转 简便，”Bos说道。“其他高可 移至二级服务器，与此同时应 用性方案都很复杂，仅这一点， 用持续运行。 它已远超期望。我们完全不必花 几周时间先创建高可用性方案， Stratus支持联络提供额外保障。 然后再调试其稳定性。” 如Avance软件侦测到问题，

Bos这样总结Avance高可用性 对SamMedia有限公司的影响 。“ St ratusAvance方案满足业 务需要且包含24/7全天候监控 。作为运营总监的我，再也不 用彻夜难眠。”

电信

Stratus Avance解决方案 当Avance解决方案以竞争者身 份出现时，Bos认识到了Stratus Technologies的品牌信誉。Bos 在90年代（当时的方案为服务器 硬件加操作系统）曾与Stratus运 行时间保障产品有过合作。Bos 指出，“与Stratus合作感觉不错 。Avance的成本是其它方案的 一半，因为你不需要为高可用性 专门建立存储区域网络。”

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Stader Daily Newspaper Easing into High Availability: Stader Daily News depends on Stratus Avance Software The Stader Daily newspaper ensures high availability for its business-critical communications servers with a Stratus® Avance™ virtualization solution. The Avance solution was simple to implement and significantly more costeffective than alternative solutions.

Business situation The Stader Daily, which prints over 32,000 copies and is the leading paper in Germany’s Stade, Buxtehude and Lower Elbe region, computerized its layout and print processes. The editorial and production systems are integrated and manage the entire process from producing text to creating plates. External communications are also digital, the most important of these being the exchange of announcements and advertisements with customers and editorial research. “About half of our advertisements come in through email,” explains Walter Hoffmann, head of IT at the Stader newspaper.

As a result the Exchange email server has become a businesscritical component for the newspaper. Any failure of this system would result in delayed production processes, or if these are already far enough along so that corrections couldn’t be made or orders accepted—even a drop in advertising revenue. “We have a series of applications that are very important to our business, such as our advertising and editorial systems, software for producing plates, accounting and operations software, etc. but without communication and data exchange, hardly anything can run,” Hoffmann emphasized. “The importance of email and data communications led us to look for a high-availability solution.”

QUICK FACTS SOLUTION PROFILE Provides automatic high availability exceeding 99.99% and embedded virtualization for standard x86 servers Prevents downtime and data loss: includes automated 24/7 onitoring, fault detection, and management Provides 24/7 access to business applications from a single management console Support for multiple virtual Windows® and Linux® machines through embedded virtualization Risk-free virtualization and server consolidation delivered by a platform-independent high-availability solution Reduced cost and complexity compared with traditional or virtualized IT environments through a solution that’s easy to install, use, and administer PRODUCTS Stratus Avance software running on x86 servers from HP SERVICES MTS Systemhaus

The Stratus Avance solution The newspaper investigated several high-availability technologies that could support servers in various locations. They needed to be sure that in case of externally caused failures, such as fire, there would be continued availability. They took into consideration not only the availability guarantees but also the solution’s costs and disruption to the business.

Other solutions were rejected because they would have required investing significantly in new hardware and replacing existing telephone systems. “We would have had to spend a considerable amount of money to replace smoothly functioning systems just to benefit a few components. That seemed to be the wrong approach,” noted Hoffmann.

“Today we have five virtual servers running our critical applications on the system and this infrastructure guarantees their availability. We tested various system-failure scenarios but these did not impact application processing at all.”

Walter Hoffmann Head of IT, Stader newspaper

In the end, the only solution that met all requirements was Stratus Avance high-availability virtualization software.

“Stratus Avance is a software solution that combines two ordinary x86 servers into a high-availability system,” explains Roland Stoschik, technical lead with MTS Systemhaus in Brunswick, which assisted with the newspaper’s implementation. The solution creates a single, logical server from two physical servers so that the servers appear as a single system to the user. On these logical servers, one can set up as many virtual servers as needed to run applications and application servers. Avance ensures that resources are better utilized and peak loads are distributed.

This results in a smaller number of physical servers which in turn leads to less energy consumption and cooling and reduced operating costs. Avance continuously monitors and synchronizes the physical servers. Should a physical server fail because of some technical problem, the partner system continues automatically. As soon as the problem is resolved, Avance recognizes

Stratus Avance has proven itself in financial terms as well. Although the solution offers the business much more functionality than alternative technology solutions, its overall costs (TCO) were significantly lower: “Including the additional hardware requirements, a classic virtualization solution would have cost about 40% more and a cluster solution would have cost about 50% more,” said Hoffmann.

“Avance software is wellknown for its problemfree installation. We had a relatively short time frame but we completed the entire setup of the five servers in just two evenings.”

Roland Stoschik Technical Lead MTS Systemhaus

“Today we have five virtual servers running our critical applications on the system and this infrastructure guarantees their availability. We tested various system-failure scenarios but these did not impact application processing at all.” Because Avance can shift processing to the corresponding server in one millisecond, it delivers greater than 99.99% availability which equates to less than one hour per year of downtime.

“Including the additional hardware requirements, a classic vir tualization solution with would have cost about 40% more and a cluster solution would have cost about 50% more.”

The implementation and migration of applications to the servers took very little time. This is especially important for small businesses that do not have access to a large IT department. “Avance is well known for its problem-free installation,” explained Stoschik. “We had a relatively short timeframe but we completed the entire setup of the five servers in just two evenings.” The administration of Avance has also proven to be simple: Stader Daily’s IT staff did not have to go through long training sessions or any certifications— a few hours of instruction were all that was needed.

Walter Hoffmann Head of IT Stader Daily

Avance software: Low-cost high availability. Built-in virtualization.

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Because Avance software can shift processing to the corresponding server in one millisecond, it delivers greater than 99.99% availability which equates to less than one hour per year of downtime.

Telecommunications

that both servers are once again available and automatically retrieves and writes all of the changes that occurred during the downtime so that the both servers are once again in identical states. System administrators don’t have to be aware of the failure nor of writing changesboth occur completely automatically through Avance. In April 2009, the Stader Daily implemented Stratus Avance on two HP servers with dual disk drives.

The two systems were set up in different parts of the building with a dedicated connection so that both servers could maintain a high level of performance while being continuously synchronized.

The newspaper was able to use existing telephone infrastructure because Avance software supports standard interfaces.

“Avance offers us exactly that combination of virtualization and high availability we were looking for,” comments Hoffmann.

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Stader日报 高可用性轻松上阵：Stader日报倚重Stratus Avance软件

St a d e r 日 报 采 用 St r a t u s ® A v a n c e ™ 虚 拟 化 解 决 方 案来确保其业务关键性交流服务器的高可用性。 Ava n c e 解 决 方 案 易 于 部 署 ， 并 且 比 其 他 解 决 方 案 更 具 成本效率。 业 务形势 Stade r日报是德国Stade 、Bu xte hu de 及Lowe r Elbe地区最大的报纸，发行量超过了32,000份，该 报社实现了排版及印刷流程的计算机化。编辑系统与 生产系统实现了集成，可以管理从创建文章到制版的 整 个流程。

信息速览 解决方案概要 提供自动的超过99.99%的可用性及标准x86服 务器的内嵌虚拟化 防止当机及数据丢失：包括自动24/7全天候监 控、故障探测以及维护。 通过内嵌虚拟化支持多个虚拟的Windows® 及Linux®机器 通过平台独立、高可用的解决方案提供无风险 的虚拟化及服务器加固 相比传统或虚拟IT环境，通过易于部署、使用 及管理的解决方案更加降低成本和复杂性 产品

在HP的x86服务器上运行Stratus Avance 软件

服务 MTS Systemhaus

“此外，外部交流也实现了 数字化，其中最重要的是与 客户交换通告和广告以及编 辑研究。“我们的广告有一 半来自电子邮件” Stader日报IT主管 Walter Hoffmann

因此，交换式电子邮件服务 器成为报社的业务关键性组 件。该系统的任何故障都会 导致生产流程的延迟，如故 障持续可能无法进行修改或 接受订单——甚至导致广 告收入的下降。“我们有一 系列对业务非常重要的应用 ，例如广告及编辑系统、制 版软件、会计及运营软件等 ，如果没有沟通及数据交换 ，什么系统都无法运行， ”Hoffmann强调说。“电 子邮件和数据交流的重要性 让我们开始寻找高可用性解 决方案。” Stratus Avance解决方案 报社调查了几个可以支持多 站点服务器的高可用性技术 。他们需要确保当出现火灾

等外部因素导致的故障时， 系统仍然可以提供持续的可 用性。除了可用性保障外， 他们还要考虑解决方案的成 本及业务中断。其他方案被 否决了，因为它们需要大量 投入新的硬件并更换现有的 电话系统。“ 我们需要花很多钱来更换运行 通畅的系统，而只有几个组件 可以从中受益。这个方法看起 来不可行，”Hoffmann说道。

步物理服务器。如果一台物 理服务器因技术问题发生故 障，另一个系统将自动持续 运行。一旦问题解决， Avance会识别两台服务器 可用并自动调出及写入当机 期间的所有变化，从而让两 台服务器再次恢复同步状态 。系统管理员无需关注故障 或信息写入——两个步骤 完 全 由 Ava n ce自 动 完 成 。 2 0 0 9 年 4 月 ， St a d e r 日 报 在两台HP服务器上部署了 St ra t u s Ava n ce， 并 配 备 了双硬盘。两个系统分别安 装在大厦的不同区域，通过 专线连接，这样两个服务器 可以保持高水平的性能并持 续同步。由于Avance软件 支持标准接口，报社得以使 用 现 有 的 电 话 设 施 。

“Avance提供的正是我们想 要的虚拟化与高可用性的结 合，”Hoffmann说道。“现 在我们在这个系统上安装了 五台虚拟服务器来运行关键 应用，这样的部署保证了可 用性。我们测试了各种系统 故障场景，但是完全没有影 响到应用处理。”因为 Avance可以在一毫秒内将处 理转给另外一台服务器，实 现超过99.99%的可用性，即 年当机时间不到一小时。 服务器的部署和迁移只需要 很短的时间。这一点对小企 业尤其重要，因为他们没有 庞 大 的 I T 部 门 。 “A v a n c e 的无故障安装非常有名， ”Stoschik解释说。“我们 的时间相对有限，但我们只 用了两个晚上就完成了五台

服 务 器 的 安 装 。 ”A v a n c e 的管理同样简单：Stader日 报的IT人员不需要经过长时 间的培训或任何认证——几 个小时的指导就足够了。 Stratus Avance的优势同样 体现在财务方面。该解决方 案比其他同类方案提供了更 多的功能，总成本（TCO） 反而大幅度降低：“包括额 外的硬件要求，一个传统的 虚拟化解决方案的成本将高 出40%，而一个集群式解决 方案的成本将多出50%还要 多，”Hoffmann说道。

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“现在我们在这个系统上安装了五台虚拟服务器来运行 关键应用，这样的部署保证了可用性。我们测试了各种 系统故障场景，但是完全没有影响到应用处理。” Walter Hoffmann Stader日报IT主管 Head of IT, Stader newspaper

电信

最后，唯一满足所有要求的 就 是 St rat us Ava n ce 高 可 用 性 虚 拟 化 软 件 。 “ St r a t u s Avance软 件 解 决 方 案 将两个普通x86服务器组合 成 一 个 高 可 用 系 统 ， ” M TS Sys te mha u s Brunswick技术主管 Ro l a nd Stoschi k 说 道 ， 他负责协助报社安装。该解 决方案利用两个物理服务器 创建一个逻辑服务器，在用 户端则体现为一个系统。在 这些逻辑服务器上可以安装 任意数量的虚拟服务器，来 运行所需的应用和应用服务 器。Avance确保资源得到 更好的利用，并分配高峰负 载。物理服务器数量的减少 同时意味着更低的能量消耗 及散热，以及更低的运营成 本。Avance持续监控和同

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doeLegal Mission-critical uptime for provider of cloud-based legal collaboration services Business situation

Hosted services from doeLegal make it simple for corporate legal departments and law firms to move from paper-based or legacy workflows to an advanced cloud-based solution. Instead of spending time and money to build and support their own technology infrastructures, clients subscribe to doeLegal’s suite of collaboration services and software including: electronic billing, legal spend, matter management, litigation support, and electronic discovery.

Uptime assurance was a top objective when the Wilmington, Delaware company designed the newest version of doeBilling™, which corporations use to manage their spend on legal services.

For years, doeLegal used server hardware clustering to provide clients with highly available around the clock access to e-billing.

However, high availability protection wasn’t seamless to the customer with the legacy approach. The IT team continued to spend considerable time on set up, testing and administration to ensure customers would have minimal impact to production if a failure affected a single server in its cluster of systems.

“We built the rest of our infrastructure to provide high service availability, from our Internet servers through our firewall through our network and server design. We can’t have the core database environment unable to react with seamless high availability for customer access. Continuous access to production data is critically important for our customers and our reputation depends on their satisfaction,” said Russ Aaronson, Director of IT. Business Objective “We were looking for an easier way to have a redundant, high-performing, high availability environment without a single point of failure in the database service,” continued Aaronson.

“The legacy capabilities left us with a lot of equipment and software to administer. We were looking for something we could monitor and instantly get alerted on, something that would visually show us when there was a problem and what was happening.”

QUICK FACTS SOLUTION PROFILE Cloud-based e-billing, legal spend and matter management solutions for legal departments e-Discovery solution suite for legal departments and law firms High availability architecture delivering uptime assurance for mission critical applications Real-time data replication ensures data integrity and availability PRODUCTS SStratus Avance® high availability software Industry-standard x86 servers Microsoft® Windows Server® 2008R2 operating system Microsoft SQL Server® 2008 R2 database software Microsoft SharePoint® Server 2010 Microsoft Active Directory® SERVICES Avance Software Support Services

Deliver a seamless, automatic highavailability platform for missioncritical Microsoft technologies ■ Ensure customer service levels are met by automatically replicating data in real time ■ Increase revenues: cut costs and improve services margins by simplifying administration ■ Support growth of the e-billing service ■

Explained Aaronson, “From a mission-critical perspective, Microsoft SQL Server is core to our e-billing customers’ data: what they access, when they access it, the availability, how it’s secured, how it’s stored.”

The Stratus Avance solution The IT team evaluated and tested possibilities that involved server clusters before learning about Stratus Avance high-availability software. They found Avance software made it easier than a cluster to administer the uptimeprotecting capabilities they

need. Just as important, there was a good fit with doeLegal’s suite of Microsoft technologies.

“It was essential to us that Avance would work with SQL Server and our Microsoft infrastructure with no holds barred. It’s a perfect match,” Aaronson stated.

“We’ve done full testing to understand what happens during any single component failure in the pair of SQL Server systems. We found that Avance gives our customers the high availability needed for 24/7 access to their data. During any single component failure a customers’ access to their data is seamless from moment to moment.”

“It was essential to us that Avance software would work with SQL Server and our Microsoft infrastructure with no holds barred. It’s a Russ Aaronson perfect match.”

Director of IT doeLegal

High availability without the effort One way that Avance software prevents unplanned downtime and data loss is by monitoring server operation predictively. If the software detects a potential issue on the primary server, it isolates the fault and migrates the workload to the secondary server without missing a beat. At the same time, the company’s IT people and the Stratus

24-hour support center are notified automatically about the type of fault and its location.

“Avance software allows us to manage one primary service. By looking at the management GUI (graphical user interface), we know which state both systems are in at all times,” observed Aaronson.

Even though the IT team had no prior experience with Avance software, implementing the high availability solution was smooth. doeLegal’s technical staff consulted with Stratus technical support by phone during the proof of concept and testing stages. Said Aaronson, “Stratus tech support has been great.

They’ve been very responsive and they’ve helped us throughout testing and production implementation.” doeLegal is in the process of migrating its e-billing clients to the new environment. Because a typical

cal servers in our data center. With Avance we won’t have a lot of change or concern about administering HA in a new part of our environment,” noted Aaronson.

synchronize data from the primary server to the secondary server. My team doesn’t have to allocate extra time to perform secondary maintenance tasks,” Aaronson stated.

Business impact “The biggest difference with Avance software is I can give my customers confidence — because I have the confidence — that we have an efficiently managed high availability environment for their production data,” said Aaronson.

Aaronson noted that simplifying management has saved the company money, and that acquiring the Avance solution was less expensive than building a traditional HA cluster for SQL Server.

“What Avance software gives us is high availability and real-time replication.

Without Avance software, if you have a single environmental failure, it would be extremely difficult to guarantee our customers will be able to continue to see and work on their production data with no impact or downtime.”

As expected, everyday management of Avance high availability is proving easier than the legacy solution. “We can rely on Avance software to

customer potentially manages thousands of legal invoices every month, doeLegal forecasts the SQL Server database could grow to multiple terabytes. The server hardware running the Avance solution is connected to a RAID Tier 1 storage array which provides the back-end storage capacity.

Ready to grow In addition, doeLegal is able to do more with the Stratus Avance solution than the IT team originally planned.

Virtualization is part of Avance high availability at no extra cost.

The company has gained flexibility as a result. doeLegal will be able to add new virtual servers easily, and use live migration between server nodes to avoid downtime during planned maintenance. “As we look at the future of our high availability environment, we can use virtualization to help us grow and deploy Microsoftbased servers while consolidating the number of physi-

“The biggest difference with Avance software is I can give my customers confidence — because I have the confidence — that we have an efficiently managed high availability environment for their production data.”

Russ Aaronson Director of IT doeLegal

He added, “As we continue to grow and add more customers, we have a great transition to what we’ll need to do in the future for high availability, server consolidation and increased performance to keep serving our clients well.”

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Others - Legal Collaboration Services

Stratus Avance software turns industrystandard computer servers into a highly reliable, very affordable solution that ensures 24/7 availability. Leveraging the management solution included with Avance, built-in predictive features identify, report and handle faults before they cause application outages, data loss or user disconnects. Automatic resource sharing among the x86 server pair lets applications ride through most hardware and software problems automatically, including disk and network subsystem failure.

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Easter Seals Wisconsin The business of caring requires resilient IT and uptime assurance Business situation

Easter Seals Southeast Wisconsin has been creating life-changing solutions for people with disabilities and their families for nearly 77 years. The agency offers over 15 programs and services that help individuals with disabilities achieve independence and choice with equal opportunities to live, work and play in their communities.

Programs range from early intervention Birth to Three and autism services to recreational and respite opportunities for children and their families. Additional programs also include adult day programs, training and employment, advocacy and guardianship.

Like all charities, Easter Seals was challenged by the economic turmoil gripping the nation at the end of the last decade. But, unlike many others, it merged with a partner agency, doubled in size, and increased services. It has seven buildings spread over 30 miles. Two hundred employee run its programs, increasing to 260 in summer to staff summer respite camps. Working almost entirely out in the community serving its constituents, Easter Seals serves over 2,500 individuals each month.

The organization was quickly outgrowing the capabilities of its computer systems. “EasteSeals’ technology was dated and unable to keep up with increasing demands placed upon it,” said Joe Ulm, president of Information Technology Professionals (ITP), who provisions, manages and maintains the IT infrastructure at the charity’s multiple offices. “These demands included uptime assurance for their applications, not only for business operations but to track and file medical and insurance information about clients participating in some of its programs.

Easter Seals Is a non-profit organization, but still very much a business with accounting, program and campaign management, online collaboration, and office operations that are all computer-based. They needed new applications to support operations, communicate effectively and reliably with more people, and handle greater file sizes and data

QUICK FACTS SOLUTION PROFILE

Revamp infrastructure to accommodate business growth and program support High availability architecture delivering uptime assurance for mission-critical applications Proactive system availability monitoring and management from a remote site Disaster recovery capabilities PRODUCTS

Stratus Avance® high availability software Dell® T710 servers Microsoft® SQL Server® 2008, Exchange 2010, and SharePoint® software

volumes. The more efficiently it runs its business and measures its effectiveness, the more people will benefit from its programs.

“Together, we took a hard look at their business strategy and proposed technology updates and additions to support that strategy in a way that would provide value for years to come.”

Business strategy With growth comes increased in complexity in all facets of day-to-day operations. Fundraising is a major source of income, representing 26 percent of revenue in 2010. Services revenue — that is, fees others pay to Easter Seals – accounted for another 45 percent. To help drive more programs, the agency prepares and as many grant applications “There is really no reason for submits as it can for new funding ... 13 companies to live with down- percent of its 2010 revenue stream. timerisk when products like Beyond the accounting and fund Avance are easily within reach raising that maintain community services, Easter Seals runs programs of most IT budgets today.” that come with critical demands for Joe Ulm timely reporting.

President Information Technology Professionals

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Ever cognizant of the non-profit’sbudget limitations,ITP developed a proposal that would enable Easter Seals to benefit from current technologies, accommodate growth, provide a high degree of uptime assurance, and move forward with a disaster recovery plan. Further, ITP estimated that the new products it had specified would save Easter Seals tens of thousands of dollars compared to more Business Impact Easter Seals can now accommodate the increasing demands placed upon its IT systems, as well as keep pace with future growth. It is looking to its new infrastructure to also help it prepare for the unpredictable through its disaster recovery capabilities.

Frequent incidents of severe weather,tornadoes and flooding have hit Wisconsin and many other states. Disaster recovery planning is increasingly a priority in IT infrastructure planning, as it is with ITP and Easter Seals. Wisconsin has a well-developed MPLS (Multiprotocol Label Switching) network. It is essentially a cloud network to which you can connect from any location covered by the service provider. Avance software has a ‘split site’ feature that allows the server nodes to be geographically separated. ITP is testing to determine if the prescribed distance of separation can be increased over MPLS.

commonly applied approaches to achieve similar, but not necessarily better results.

The managed services provider had recently signed on with Stratus Technologies as a product and services reseller. ITP recommended that Stratus Avance software be a key component in Easter Seals’ upgraded IT infrastructure.

“Avance software was the solution enabler,” said Ulm. “It gave us a highavailability computing platform, virtualization, intuitive Web-based system management tools, and proactive alerting to help us head off problems before they arose. It is also very simple to install, use and manage. That’s important to us as the party responsible for protecting Easter Seals’ interests with regards to the organization’s technology. Avance provided clear and critical advantages over cluster solutions.”

Avance software automatically sets up and manages itself, greatly reducing the opportunity for human error and thereby “Our engineers are putting the software through its paces in order the get the maximum separation between the two nodes while still ensuring the highest quality transmission possible. This could be a big step forward for the software.

We’ll know more soon.”

“Easter Seals’ technology was dated and unable to keep up with increasing demands placed upon it. These demands included uptime assurance for their applications, not only for business operations but to track and file medical and insurance information about clients participating in some of its programs.”

Joe Ulm President, Information Technology Professionals Easter Seals Wisconsin

improving the uptime and reliability of the infrastructure. The software works to detect and prevent outages preemptively.

Even when the hardware ails, the Avance real-time dual-server architecture ensures that applications operate uninterrupted, with no data loss.

Easter Seals had three x86 servers, each running one application. Avance let ITP replace the one server/one application model with a two-node Dell server platform supporting five virtual machines, adding two new applications to the three it already had. The Avance platform now supports Microsoft SQL Server 2008, Exchange 2010, and SharePoint, in addition to terminal server and print, file and domain server.

“We can’t afford the luxury of downtime.

Even planned downtime is scheduled three weeks in advance so that employees in the office and working remotely are not caught by surprise,” said Roach. “It is very critical that all of our applications and remote access are up around the clock, 365 days a year.”

One thing Easter Seals and ITP know very well already is that the Stratus Avance software has performed as promised.

They have had no instances of unplanned downtime. “There is really no reason for companies to live with downtime risk when products like Avance are easily within reach of most IT budgets today.”

Others - Charity

“Services for children with autism were wanting in our coverage area, so 15 months ago we began a program to address this underserved community,” said David Roach, vice president of finance for Easter Seals Wisconsin. “This program and others like it have reporting requirements much like hospitals and clinics do. Our counselors have to be able to report 24/7 on participants’ care plans, medical requirements, and treatment outcomes. Data are input through our system directly to insurance companies for billing and reimbursement purposes. Most of this is done remotely, any time night or day, so systems have to be available continuously.”

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Retail Chain Retail chain finds uptime easy with Stratus Avance software Business situation

One of the largest specialty food store chains in the U.S. operates 23 stores spread across seven states. The stores farthest from company headquarters are at least eight hours’ drive away. Without IT people at the stores, the distance makes it challenging to assure uptime for the business-critical application and ordering systems running at each location.

After a technical glitch caused a painful experience with downtime at one site, the retail chain decided to extend business continuity protection to the store level.

“It’s hard to have a fast response time in getting to sites because we’re sprawling across seven states,” noted the chain’s Systems Engineer. “We were looking for a mini-SAN [storage area network] we could use to have virtualization perform live migration of workloads between the server nodes at our stores. But we found the price was too high even for a small SAN at each location.”

“If our critical applications server were to have downtime or lose data, it would definitely impact sales at the store because it affects our ability to handle core system functions effectively,” said the chain’s IT Director. “Our business processes pretty much operate 24/7.

Receiving is done using wireless handheld guns that communicate with the software on the store order server. The store wouldn’t be able to receive trucks at the back door.

“Even when we’re closed for a major holiday, there is still nightly processing.

You’ve also got data that has to get to our home office for daily sales reports, and pricing and other updates that need to go down to the stores.”

Business objectives As the Systems Engineer explained, “We were trying to find a better solution for when a box would go down. We were looking for high availability to keep everything running in the stores, on a minimal amount of equipment.”

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Delivers uptime assurance for critical application and ordering servers at stores Prevents outages from causing data loss with automatic live migration Provides redundancy for 66% to 75% lower cost than a small SAN, saving thousands per store Lets IT manage alerts and high availability centrally

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Stratus Avance® high availability software Dell® servers Microsoft Windows Server® operating system Microsoft® SQL Server® database

SERVICES

The retail chain’s objectives included: •

Extend business continuity protection to each store

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Avoid having to use a SAN at a cost of $15,000-$20,000 per location

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Minimize data loss if a server fails

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Reduce urgency of on-site repairs

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Maintain network segmentation for tightened security

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Adhere to PCI compliance standards

The IT team downloaded demos of two high availability solutions that would work with Dell servers. They were pleased with how Stratus Avance high availability outperformed the competing solution, handling live migration between server nodes proactively and seamlessly.

Avance Software Support Services

“With Stratus Avance, we were very amazed at what we could do with just two servers, without any expensive shared storage,” observed the Systems Engineer.

“We just had to increase the disk space and RAM a bit to cover running three virtual machines on one box versus spreading them all out.”

Stress tests show instant recovery without data loss The IT team wanted to qualify Stratus Avance HA even further. They ran stress tests to understand what to expect with their actual applications, using the server hardware they bought for a new store site.

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Stratus Avance software turns industrystandard x86 computer servers into a highly reliable, affordable solution that ensures uninterrupted uptime. It uses built-in predictive features to identify, report, and handle faults before they cause application outages, data loss, or user disconnects.

Avance software also enables automatic resource sharing across the server pair. Ifthere is a problem with the primary server, the workload automatically transfers to the secondary server. Applications automatically ride through most hardware and software problems, including disk and network subsystem failure. and segment systems accordingly, noted the IT Director. “That segmentation helps reduce the scope of PCI compliance for our company.”

Business impact All of the new retail locations are getting Avance high-availability software. The chain is migrating existing stores to the Avance solution as each location’s server hardware becomes due for an upgrade.

The Systems Engineer commented on his experience with Avance HA. “I figured it was going to be complex one way or the other— the amount of equipment, setting up the equipment, or the maintenance. By no means had I expected something as simple to set up, manage, and operate as Avance software is from end to end.”

The IT Director offered his perspective.

“One of the best things was not having to buy shared storage. Not having to spend thousands more. And some of the SANs we looked at still had a single point of failure. The beauty of Avance is

A hardware outage is no longer an emergency Just nine technical staff people serve the entire grocery chain. Before when a store server had a problem, IT had to race to get someone to the site within a specified response time.

and get somebody over there,” the Systems Engineer continued.

“You’re not worried about jobs not running, and reports being off, and they can’t log in, or they can’t do their order, or their systems are down now. With Avance, you don’t have to worry about any of that–you’re still going. Avance automatically moves the workload to the functioning server for you. Things arenormal for users and you have time to get the offline server repaired.”

“Avance HA increases productivity withinour department. Even if an emergency arises, we don’t have to drop everything

Eliminating failover while maintaining PCI compliance Retailers have to maintain compliance with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS).

With Avance high availability, the chain was able to add live migration capabilities while continuing to segment systems in their own virtual LANs (VLANs). “With Avance, we get high availability that works with Layer 3 segmentation, dedicated network cards, and the firewalling capabilities we need to secure network traffic

that we’re really not changing our hardware very much. We’re getting full redundancy across the nodes, so our stores have business continuity.”

“With Stratus Avance, we were very amazed at what we could do with just two servers, without any expensive shared storage.”

They recalled one situation. “We had a server where one power supply went down. The Avance software alerted us here so we could get a technician to fix the problem. And if the other power supply had gone down, Avance HA was the safety net that would automatically move our VMs to the other server.

Systems Engineer Retail Chain

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“With Avance, we get high availability that works with Layer 3 segmentation, dedicated network cards, and the firewalling capabilities we need to secure network traffic and segment systems accordingly. That segmentation helps reduce the scope of PCI compliance for our company.”

IT Director Retail Chain

Avance

“We were very impressed with Avance high availability,” the Systems Engineer said. “Data protection was instant and proactive. When a problem was detected on the server, Avance automatically migrated everything over with no downtime and no blips.”

Others - Financial-Retial POS

“We loaded up Avance and set up a whole store environment at our data center. We pushed it really hard,” explained the Systems Engineer. “We did all kinds of server outages on the bench. We’d write to a file and save it, then pull a power supply or a power cord out from the server, just to see how quickly Avance protected the data.”

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University of Cincinnati High availability without onsite IT staff Business situation

Meteorologists need comprehensive weather data from all over the world to predict dangerous weather events. Climatologists need the same data to create a historical record for studying long-term climate trends. Collecting and distributing this data is expensive and labor-intensive. Conventional weather stations are usually composed of costly specialized instruments that store and communicate data in proprietary formats. Technicians must venture into extreme heat and cold in every corner of the world to manually download weather data from the collection systems. The proprietary data formats make the information difficult to share.

To help improve weather data collection and sharing, the National Science Foundation awarded a grant to the University of Cincinnati’s geography department to develop a low-cost, automated data collection system. A geography department team, led by Dr. Richard Beck and graduate student Andrew Rettig, envisioned a network of low-cost data collection appliances that automatically send weather data to databases that convert it into a universally accessible XML format.

To accommodate areas with limited networking bandwidth, regional FTP servers would compile data from the appliances and hold it for as long as it took to send it over low-speed satellite links.

The geography department team hired INTRUST GROUP, (formerly known as LAN Solutions) a Cincinnati technology consultancy, to design the pilot network for the North Slope of Alaska, one of the coldest and remotest places on earth. The network consists of Linux-based weather data collection appliances made from off-the-shelf hardware and software.

The appliances are networked to two servers at the Barrow Arctic Research Center (BARC).

QUICK FACTS SOLUTION PROFILE

Provides automated data collection from appliances deployed over hundreds of miles of Arctic landscape >99.99 percent availability ensures uptime and data integrity Integrated monitoring enables remote management of servers in an isolated facility with no engineer on site PRODUCTS

Business objectives Developing an automated data collection system for this extreme climate presented two main challenges: •

•

Keeping it inexpensive – around $4,000 for each weather station instead of the $20,000 cost of a conventional station Making it failure resistant – Barrow is 320 miles south of the Arctic Circle, 500 miles from Fairbanks, and 1,000 miles from Anchorage, which means IT expertise is in short supply.

Downtime of the data collection system would break the historical record and deprive forecasters of useful short-term information.

“The remoteness was a big concern.The servers were going to be in a data center, but there was no full-time engineer on site. A server outage could knock out the system for several days, at least.”

Tim Rettig President INTRUST GROUP

Stratus Avance® software Industry-standard x86 servers Database application

With those needs in mind, the project’s objectives were: • • • • •

Near-real-time data collection High application uptime High data security Industry-standard hardware and software to control costs Minimal technical management requirements.

The Stratus Avance solution INTRUST GROUP President Tim Rettig – Andrew Rettig’s brother – was the university team’s primary technology consultant on the project. To balance the university’s need for data integrity, reliability, and low cost, he recommended a virtualized system. Two instances of the FTP application running in a virtual environment would replicate the data in real time. That eliminated the need for a costly storage area network to guard against lost data.

Business impact Tim Rettig set up the Avance system at BARC in June 2009.

University staff downloads data from the system once a week, but will eventually be collecting it daily.

“It has been rock solid. It’s sophisticated enough to do the work yet simple enough to be reliable,” Beck said. “The only thing we do to keep it running is update the operating system now and then.”

Andrew Rettig is developing a database to convert the weather data into XML so it can interoperate with weather mapping systems for near-real-time updates over the Web.

Tim Rettig recommended Stratus Avance software running on two Dell™ x86 servers. The Avance solution delivers better than 99.99 percent availability in a virtualized environment.

“The remoteness was a big concern. The servers were going to be in a data center, but there was no full-time engineer on site. A server outage could knock out the system for several days, at least,” he said. “The center is staffed by scientists who are comfortable with technology, but they aren’t IT people. For a serious failure, we’d have the choice of shipping a server hundreds of miles at $700 a trip, or talking them through changing a drive or a fan.”

The software’s high degree of uptime is an insurance policy against the BARC’s isolation from IT expertise. It also enables researchers back in Cincinnati to remotely deploy virtual servers in Barrow whenever they need a new server for a special project.

“It has been rock solid. It’s sophisticated enough to do the work yet simple enough to be reliable. The only thing we do to keep it running is update the operating system now and then.”

Tim Rettig uses Avance software’s integrated monitoring features to manage the system from Cincinnati. “I can do almost anything from here that I could do on site, right up to upgrading the firmware in the servers,” he said.

Dr. Richard Beck University of Cincinnati

Avance software: Low-cost high availability.

Remote management capabilities.

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“As soon as I saw the Stratus product, I knew it was what they needed. It provided the right combination of availability and versatility.”

Tim Rettig President INTRUST GROUP

Automating weather data collection on the northern edge of the world.

Others - Weather Station

“As the geography department team developed the specs for the system, it became obvious they needed a virtualized system rather than a single Windows box that could fail,” Tim Rettig said.

“They said they wanted to put in a highavailability server, and when I found out why they needed one, I asked if they had looked into virtualization. They hadn’t, and when I explained how it worked, they said that was perfect. As soon as I saw the Stratus® product, I knew it was what they needed. It provided the right combination of uptime assurance and versatility.” The plan was to put an infrastructure in place, then add to it as needed. “Right now we have two virtual machines running on the Avance platform, but we could run a dozen if we needed to.”

Avance

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UPTIME ASSURANCE Protecting Critical Applications from System Downtime

Stratus Technologies Asia Pacific HK Office Suite 901., 9/F., Ocean Centre, Harbour City, Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, Hong Kong Tel: 852-2844-5200 E-mail:ap.enquiry@stratus.com China Office - Beijing Unit B1 of 21/F, Tower 3, Xihuan Plaza, No.1, Xizhimenwai, Street, Xicheng District, Beijing China 100044 Tel: 86-10-58302999 E-mail: joy.ding@stratus.com China Office - Shanghai 15/F, BEA Finance Tower, No.66 Hua Yuan Shi Qiao Road, Lu Jia Zui, Pudong District, Shanghai, China. 200120 Tel : 86-021-20803042 E-mail:eric.lv@stratus.com Korea 27th FL., Korea World trade Center, 159-1 Samsung-dong, Kangnam-ku, Seoul,KOREA (135-729) Tel : +82-2-6007-2250 E-mail: steve.lee@stratus.com ANZ Office Level 2, 24 Thomas Street, Chatswood, NSW 2067, Australia Tel: 61-2-9406 0655 E-mail:michael.fyson@stratus.com Singapore Office 100 Beach Road, #32-08/13, Shaw Tower, Singapore 189702 Tel: 65-6349-2300 E-mail:kenny.kok@stratus.com India Office - Bangalore Stratus Technologies Pvt Ltd, Regus Millenia, Tower B, Level 1, # 1 & 2 Murphy Road, Ulsoor, Bangalore – 560 008 Phone: +91-9945540202 Email:r.srini@stratus.com India Office - Mumbai Stratus Technologies Pvt Ltd, CB-03 / STYLUS, Velocity, Phase-1, Logitech Park, Sakinaka, Andheri-Kurla Rd., Andheri (East), Mumbai - 400072 Phone: +91-9920947418 E-mail:gulrez.alam@stratus.com