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Success Story
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Magma Design Automation chooses Appro HyperBlade Cluster Solutions |
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Download this Success Story -----
The Problem:
The hundreds of servers that made up Magma Design Automation's Linux-based clustering environment took up too much space, ran too hot and were difficult to manage from a central location.
When you're in the business of providing hosted software to some of the biggest semi-conductor companies in the world, the efficiency of your server cluster is of paramount importance. It was apparent to Magma's executives that the time to make a change had come.
Magma's data center had been overflowing with a huge cluster of Intel-based, duel processor rack-mounted servers. But as the company's data center scaled over time, so did its server cooling and cluster management issues.
The Challenge
Magma wanted to replace many of its servers with smaller blade servers that ran on OpteronÔ processors, which tend to run cooler and faster than their Intel counterparts.
After much consideration, the company decided to skip over tier one vendors like IBM and Sun Microsystems and purchase a clustering environment from a smaller local vendor. The company chose Appro International's Appro HyperBlade Cluster Solution.
The Solution
”One of the primary reasons for going with Appro versus a tier one vendor was that they had the latest and fastest technology a couple of months before other vendors; “ said Abel Chow, Magma's senior Unix administrator. “Cost was also a big factor.”
”Higher performance, increased space, outstanding remote management capabilities; Abel Chow said. Also, the time from delivery of the new systems to production was reduced significantly by having Appro handle setup and installation. Today, more than half of the company's servers are Appro blades.”
”With a normal rack-mount system, you could put 40 in a rack;” Abel said. “With the blades, we can put 80 in a rack. The blade racks are a little wider, but still get better density.”
Even more appealing to Abel was the fact that the blade servers could be more easily managed through Appro's BladeDome remote management software. Abel uses the software to connect to an individual server's serial console remotely and turn the power on or off, or reset the machine as needed.
Prior to implementing the remote management software, Abel had to walk around to each server individually, attaching a monitor and keyboard to trouble shoot the problem.
”Having a single point of management with the BladeDome simplifies monitoring and maintenance of the machines in the cluster,” Abel said. 'Being able to see a machine having a problem at a glance allows us to be more responsive.”
Even more appealing to Abel was the fact that the blade servers could be more easily managed through Appro's BladeDome remote management software. Abel uses the software to connect to an individual server's serial console remotely and turn the power on or off, or reset the machine as needed.
Linux for Performance?
Abel pointed out that the operating systems running in his data center include Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3, Red Hat Linux 7.2 and SuSE Linux. A few years ago, the company was running Sun's Solaris, a flavor of Unix, but decided to switch to Linux for reason people don't often hear.
”We moved from Solaris to Linux for performance, not cost,” Abel said. “The highest performing CPUs out there run Linux.”
A Satisfied Customer
”Everyone at Magma has been very pleased with the new clustering solution from Appro. Support and services also was a major advantage.”
”As we've purchased more of these blade servers, Appro has made small changes in design to address the concerns we've had in terms of routing the cables and adding more integrated features, so that I don't have to plug in another cable;“ Abel said.
About Magma
Magma Design Automation develops software for electronic design automation (EDA), enabling integrated circuit designers to meet critical time-to-market objectives, improve chip performance and handle multimillion-gate designs. With headquarters in Silicon Valley and a global network of sales & support personnel, Magma customers include leading semiconductor companies around the world. For more information, check http://www.magma-da.com
About Appro
Appro’s headquarters is in Milpitas, CA. Appro has an R&D and manufacturing center in Asia and a sales and service office in Houston, Texas. APPRO enables a variety of network computing applications by developing powerful, scalable, and reliable clusters, servers, storage subsystems and high-end workstations for the high-performance computing (HPC), Internet computing and cluster market. http://www.appro.com
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Appro is focusing its product design to address the HPC cluster
market and key customer requirements including system management,
high availability and price/performance for HPC applications.
Appro has shown the ability to win highly sought-after, large-scale
HPC deals positioning the company to benefit from strong market
growth that IDC projects through 2012.
Earl
Joseph,
IDC Program Vice President, Technical Computing
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Customer Quote
“Appro not only offered us a cost effective solution but
they also improved our required technical specification through
better reliability, greater fault tolerance and redundancy as
well as more flexibility with regards to system scalability.”
Bob Bell,
Technical Director, ING Renault F1 Team
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