Symetrix Information Technologies, a systems integrator, deployed a Stratus ftServer 5200 for Destination EFT, a service organisation specialising in electronic financial transactions for automatic teller machines (ATMs). This implementation is the first since Stratus Technologies, maker of continuously available servers, and Symetrix announced their channel partnership.
Warren Machanik, technical director at Symetrix, says: "Destination EFT needs 100% availability due to the mission-critical nature of ATMs. We examined a number of options and then selected the ftServer as it met all of Destination EFT's business needs and objectives. A key aspect of the choice was the 24x7 support that Stratus gives its partners and end-customers. This combined with the fact that the ftServer is an uncomplicated solution that can be rapidly deployed while offering high availability and fault tolerance at a relatively low cost contributed to the ftServer being the preferred technology."
Destination EFT owns all Cash Express ATMs found in convenience and retail stores around SA. "Research shows that if a customer goes to an ATM that is unavailable twice in a row, he or she will never use it again. This demonstrates how important it is for our server to be 100% available. Even a slight margin of error, of 1%, will have a negative impact on our business," says Charles Leeming, new business development manager at Destination EFT. "Since going live on 7 December 2001 we have not experienced any down time and from what we have seen of the product and the service we do not expect any downtime in the future."
Danny de Beer, managing director at Stratus Technologies South Africa, believes the ftServer makes availability simple. "It removes the complexity of traditional clustered solutions, which are often used to improve availability. The fact that the ftServer is one single fault tolerant system means that the number of man-hours and resources needed to implement and maintain the solution is equivalent to a single server. This was demonstrated by the speed of Destination EFT's implementation, which took three days," concludes De Beer.
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The Stratus ftServer family established a new product category with the introduction of the ftServer 5200 models, the industry's first fault-tolerant server for Windows 2000 computing. These Intel processor-based ftServer systems provide unparalleled performance to meet the escalating need for system uptime and 24/7 application availability brought about by the proliferation of business-critical e-commerce and corporate infrastructure applications. In addition to providing the highest availability levels in the industry, self-contained ftServer systems run Windows 2000 applications unmodified, integrate quickly into the IT infrastructure, and require little-to-no staff support for ongoing operation, system management, or servicing.
Stratus Technologies
Stratus Technologies, Inc offers a proven range of continuously available computer platforms, application solutions, professional services, and technologies for mission-critical business operations. Many Stratus customers are highly visible industry leaders such as prominent US securities firms, major credit card companies, the largest stock exchange in Asia, the largest options exchange in the world, and 15 out of the world's 20 largest banks. Stratus Technologies International, through the 24-7 Technologies Division of Stratus Technologies, Inc, licenses technology for fault tolerance to other companies. The Stratus companies have offices and a comprehensive network of customer service centres worldwide, and 1 130 employees. For more information, visit www.stratus.com.
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