Landmark migrated from a commercial version of Linux to SUSE Linux Enterprise Server from Novell®. Thanks to the Microsoft and Novell interoperability partnership, Landmark has received optimized support, streamlined management and improved cost savings.
Nashville, TN —
29 May 2009 —
Landmark Digital Services monitors broadcasts, so high system availability is vital and world-class support from the Microsoft and Novell partnership is the key. The company wanted to improve its support offering for its SUSE® Linux Enterprise and Windows servers.
Landmark migrated from a commercial version of Linux to SUSE Linux Enterprise Server from Novell®. Thanks to the Microsoft and Novell interoperability partnership, Landmark has received optimized support, streamlined management and improved cost savings.
A wholly owned subsidiary of Broadcast Music Inc., Landmark uses its award-winning BlueArrow digital audio recognition technology to monitor broadcasts from its many listening stations located throughout the USA and abroad. Even in noisy environments, BlueArrow has unparalleled identification accuracy. The BlueArrow technology captures a digital sample from radio, TV, Internet, mobile phone, satellite or cable broadcasts and then uses its patented algorithm to extract unique identifying features that it compares with millions of samples in its database.
This patented algorithm runs on application clusters, split equally between a main production site and a disaster recovery site situated in Nashville.
Challenge
When Landmark was first established three years ago, it had only a few servers. Landmark chose to run these servers on a mix of Microsoft Windows and distribution of Linux not associated with Novell. After operational and support problems occurred on the Linux side, Landmark became disillusioned with this solution.
“Our initial installation was failing miserably so we asked our Linux provider, at the time, for support; but they were unresponsive. The technology was not doing what we wanted it to do,” says Rob Thompson, Director of Infrastructure Operations at Landmark.
“We considered replacing it with a self-supported, free Linux distribution, but that would not provide the 24x7 support we needed for a high availability system. This is vital because we monitor live broadcasts and if we cannot collect that information when it is broadcast, it’s lost and cannot be retrieved. We really could not afford our systems to be down for days and days while we searched for a solution to our problems or waited for some newsgroup to respond. We wanted someone who we could call and get support when we needed it, even in the middle of the night.”
Solution
Landmark also had a duty to its parent company, BMI, and its clients to ensure that its systems were first class; that was when it migrated to SUSE Linux Enterprise Server from Novell.
“With SUSE Linux Enterprise Server, we have a good, industry standard product that comes with excellent support and a continuous development cycle that provides ongoing improvement,” adds Thompson. “It gives us one-stop shopping when we have a sales or support issue. This was certainly a motivating factor for the change.”
Already a satisfied Novell customer, Landmark has welcomed the Microsoft and Novell interoperability partnership. The partnership has brought the joint development of technologies that will facilitate systems management standards between Microsoft Windows Server and SUSE Linux Enterprise Server from Novell. This gives customers the ability to reduce time-consuming management tasks and increase interoperability in a heterogeneous environment.
Results
“With SUSE Linux Enterprise deployment tools, we can roll out 100 servers in about four hours, which makes for very fast development,” says Thompson. “We do most of our support in house, but the Microsoft and Novell interoperability partnership has allowed us to work with a smaller support staff, saving us money by reducing labor and training costs.
“We have noticed these cost savings because having this supported technology allows our developers to focus on other applications instead of continually having to go back and re-engineer our core designs.”
Heterogeneous virtualization between Windows and SUSE Linux Enterprise is another cornerstone of the interoperability partnership, and this is a route that Landmark intends to follow. It has already reduced the number of servers in its disaster recovery site, thus reducing emissions and energy costs while improving manageability. Landmark also plans to extend virtualization into its production environment.
“The interoperability agreement between Microsoft and Novell means that, as a business, we can have confidence in the support we will receive for our operating systems. We can also benefit from training opportunities that are provided by people who live and breathe this technology every day and who actually developed it. It is also attractive for our customers to know that we have such high uptime for our systems and services,” concludes Thompson.
The Microsoft-Novell AgreementOn Nov. 2, 2006, Novell and Microsoft announced a series of agreements to jointly build, market and support new solutions to improve interoperability, deliver powerful new virtualization capabilities, make Microsoft and Novell products work better together, and give customers peace of mind that both companies stand behind the products they deliver. More information about the Microsoft and Novell agreement, including other customer announcements, can be found at
http://www.moreinterop.com.
About NovellNovell delivers infrastructure software for the open enterprise. Novell is a leader in enterprise-wide operating systems based on Linux and open source and provides the enterprise management services required to operate mixed IT environments. Novell helps customers minimize cost, complexity and risk, allowing them to focus on innovation and growth. For more information, visit
http://www.novell.com.
About MicrosoftFounded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.
Microsoft and Windows are trademarks of the Microsoft group of companies. Novell and SUSE are registered trademarks of Novell, Inc. in the United States and other countries. The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.
* Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds. All other third-party trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
For more information, press only:
Rapid Response Team, Waggener Edstrom Worldwide for Microsoft, (503) 443-7070,
rrt@waggeneredstrom.comBruce Lowry, Novell, (415) 383-8408,
blowry@novell.com