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 , it was decision time.

Did the organisation still need their Stratus ftServer systems?

It did. Read on …

Introduced in the early 2000s, virtualization technology for x86 servers was initially used for software development and testing. By the end of 2005 virtualization was finding its way into production environments. Today, VMware, the leader in virtualization, categorizes this technology adoption as a three stage journey defined by an organization’s business goals and deployment strategies: IT production, business production, and IT as a Service (ITaaS). Each of these stages is further characterized by a primary business focus.

As IT organizations take this journey to move beyond simple server consolidation to virtualize Tier-1 applications and include cloud infrastructure designs in their IT strategies, the need for complete, bulletproof availability increases dramatically.

When VMware vSphere 5 virtualization is combined with fault-tolerant Stratus ftServer systems, you benefit from a strategic relationship focused on enabling critical applications. You can deploy virtualization in uptime-demanding environments with even more confidence.

Download the slides to learn more about Stratus_vSphere 5

IndustryWeek readership poll indicates little current or future interest

Manufacturing plant operations may be virtualization technology’s final frontier. Fewer than one in five manufacturing companies currently run production applications such as SCADA, MES, Historian, Batch or OPC  in virtual environments, and only seven percent say they plan to do so in the next twelve months, according to a recent readership survey conducted by IndustryWeek magazine for Stratus Technologies.

Virtualization use in manufacturing IT systems is far behind the technology’s penetration in IT infrastructures generally, where one in five companies runs 80 percent of all applications on virtual machines, and one in two companies has virtualized 40 percent of all applications. ⁽¹⁾

More than 500 IndustryWeek readers responded to the “Manufacturer IT Applications Survey,” representing a broad range of company sizes and products produced. The magazine tabulated results by annual revenue categories – less than $100 million, $100-$999 million and above $1 billion – and by the average of all respondents. Results were as follows:

[1] International Data Corporation, “Worldwide Enterprise Server, 2012 Top Predictions,” January 2012        (IDC #232823)

Source: “Manufacturer IT Applications Study,” March 2012, IndustryWeek magazine

Pinellas County (FL) Utilities, which manages water and waste water systems for five million residents and annual visitors, made the jump to virtualization two years ago. “I can foresee a time when the SCADA operation runs entirely on virtual machines and three fault-tolerant servers,” said Ken Osborne, SCADA supervisor, 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 full survey results were presented during a webinar hosted by IndustryWeek on May 31, 2012. Featured speakers included NetSuite’s GM of Manufacturing/Wholesale & Distribution, Roman Bukary, and Stratus’ Director of Global Alliances, Peter Cook, who offered insights into what manufacturers are currently experiencing with regard to downtime, as well as some best practices to prevent it.

Read the Full Press Release: Here

Denny Lane dispells 3 myths about high availability servers, comparing our legacy 1982 products to our newest ftserver. The fault tolerant solutions are smaller, less expensive, and more up-to-date than ever, and run Linux, VMware, Windows, and even support both private and public cloud.

The other day, I was taking care of my end of year appointments, one of course was seeing my eye doctor.  I was overdue which is especially important since I am a diabetic and need my eyes checked each year.  Because my ophthalmologist is so busy, getting an appointment is nearly impossible. I had to miss my company holiday party because I had to book this appointment three months in advance. I did try to reschedule it but that would have had to be in February of next year.

Once at my appointment, I learned my ophthalmologist office is transitioning to EHR and they had my folder to check me in and do my exam. After they finished, they placed  a bright yellow paper on top of the papers in the file “ALERT, Patient is now in EHR system”.  So I sat there, missing my holiday party and thinking that if that system wasn’t available, could they still see me after they purge all the manila folders and my paper records?

Was there a backup, and would I be sitting here next year in the same predicament, but with a doctor unable to access my records if the server went down? And since the office is so busy, how much downtime would severely impact their schedule and patients? Would they have the time cushion to back fill the missed appointments, and if not, would I have to reschedule for February, miss my insurance claim for the year costing me more out of pocket, have to take additional time off from work, and of course – miss another holiday party?

Bah Humbug!