Fast Facts:

Sector: Public Administration

Geographic location: Spain

Opportunity: Replace mixed proprietary IT environment to simplify management and improve system performance and availability

Migration Path: Sun Solaris and IBM z/OS to Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 and JBoss Enterprise Application Platform

Software: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 virtualization, JBoss Enterprise Application Platform, Tomcat

Hardware: HP, Dell, and Fujitsu Siemens servers

Benefits: Achieved simplified system management and improved system availability, performance, reliability, stability, and platform flexibility

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BACKGROUND
The Spanish Ministry of Education and Science (MEC) is responsible for education – including mandatory basic, secondary, and university education – and also controls science and innovation in Spain. The organization’s main responsibilities include managing the Spanish-grant, student-aid, competitive-examination, teacher-transfer, and research project-grant systems. It is required to provide the back-office systems with the capability to deliver a fast response to a large volume of users, including university students, lecturers, and researchers to companies participating in scientific projects.
“It took one-and-a-half days to resolve a lecture-transfer process with the proprietary system. It now takes five hours with Linux. After moving MEC’s IT systems to Red Hat Enterprise Linux, performance has increased five-fold in comparison with our previous solution,” said Africa Cabañas, Head of IT for the Ministry of Education and Science.

OPPORTUNITY
After 2004 government elections a number of changes that affected the MEC IT structure were implemented. As part of these changes, the culture area was separated from the department of Education while that Ministry of Science and Technology was dissolved. As a result, a new Ministry, called Ministry of Education and Science, was created, assuming the responsibilities of the former department.

The Ministry, which already had highly heterogeneous environments, assumed 400 new users and 60 new applications after the new structure took affect. The integration with the rest of the systems was completed within a six-month period. Additionally, by assuming responsibility for innovation and with the increase in importance of electronic administration, the department was required to provide a greater number of IT services, requiring more servers. This presented the Ministry with an opportunity to renew hardware and software solutions for its IT systems.

SOLUTION
The IT department began the project to renew its hardware and software solutions by virtualizing a large number of machines and executing a project to consolidate various operating systems into a single platform. The department made the decision to replace its existing Sun Solaris and IBM z/OS proprietary operating systems with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 “. We were already using Red Hat solutions in network-service areas, such as perimeter security. It was this positive experience with Red Hat, combined with the knowledge of the operating system within the department, that made us select it as our operating system of choice across the Ministry,” said Africa Cabañas, Head of IT for the Ministry of Education and Science.
The compatibility between Red Hat Enterprise Linux and the EMC Storage Area Network (SAN), assured by Red Hat certification, was an important factor in the Ministry’s decision. “All storage-cabin manufacturers certify against certain operating systems and Red Hat Enterprise Linux is normally one of the first. We could not choose just any Linux distribution; it had to be certified, because the SAN is of core importance to our IT infrastructure,” said Cabañas.

The project involved all three architectural levels of MEC’s IT system: database servers, application servers, and web servers. “All systems were built on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 with virtualization. In cooperation with development areas, we migrated everything that could be moved from proprietary environments to Red Hat solutions,” continued Cabañas.

In addition to implementing Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 and virtualization, MEC also migrated its application servers to Tomcat and JBoss solutions to benefit from the solution’s superior technology and to extend the freedom of open source to its middleware layer.

The project was executed in two phases. The application servers were migrated to Tomcat and JBoss solutions during 2006. At this point, the Ministry chose 5 JBoss Application Servers as well as solutions from other providers. In June 2007, the Ministry completed the migration of its corporate Oracle database servers.
In addition to its internal data centre, the Ministry had a number of applications and a large database which were located at an outsourced hosting service. During the migration, the ministry found that the hosted service did not provide the performance required, and decided to also move these services to the new Red Hat servers.

BENEFITS
With server consolidation and 24×7 support provided by Red Hat, the Ministry of Education and Science has resolved its previous performance problems and has successfully reduced system-response times.
“We have objective details. It took one-and-a-half days to resolve a lecture-transfer process with the proprietary system. It now takes five hours with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5,” said Cabañas. “After moving MEC’s IT systems to Red Hat Enterprise Linux with virtualization, performance has increased five-fold in comparison with our previous solution.”

For the Ministry of Education and Science, changing from Solaris and z/OS proprietary platforms z/OS to Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 virtualization has resulted in cost reduction, which has enabled increased investment in hardware renewal. Moreover, the administration’s IT system has been simplified after system consolidation.

In terms of citizen services, the new platform is especially beneficial for grant requesters, who can now connect at any time of the day. The virtualization capabilities have enabled increased platform availability, which is clustered and migrated automatically in the event of system failure.

The Ministry’s migration to an open source environment is ongoing. The organization is looking to remove its existing Windows platforms and has plans to test new functionalities on Red Hat solution, including virtualization, GFS, and desktop Linux.

The Ministry’s IT department is satisfied with the results of its migration to Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 and JBoss Application Platform. “As the migration only affects the back-end systems, the only difference that end users see is faster response times. Acceptance has been good. Changing from a proprietary platform to Red Hat solutions enables us to guarantee the future agility of the platform,” concluded Cabañas.

Industry: Financial Services, Insurance

Geography: Germany

Goal: Find a Linux-solution backed by enterprise-level support while retaining vendor-independence

Solution: Clients: Red Hat Desktop and IBM ThinkPad notebook computers.
Servers: Red Hat Enterprise Linux and Fujitsu Siemens, Sceneo & Futro hardware.
Systems Management: Red Hat Network

Benefits: Cost-effective client and server solution from a trusted vendor. Easy, quick deployment and on-going systems management. On-going confidence via Open Source Assurance program.

With about three million customers, Landwirtschaftlicher Versicherungsverein Münster A.G., or LVM, is one of the largest insurance companies in Germany. The company, which was founded in 1896, employs 2,200 staff at its head- quarters in Münster and has more than 2,100 agencies across Germany to support customers locally. While this local presence is one of LVM’s core strengths, it also presents a challenge when it comes to their IT infrastructure. In order to create a network linking the agencies and still provide central data management, LVM has taken an innovative approach with technology, for which they’ve already won numerous awards.

LVM is one of the global pioneers when it comes to using Linux on desktops. The tradition of Linux within the company reaches back to the year 2000, when a combination of strategic considerations led to the company developing its own Linux version.

Decentralized systems require major overhaul

In the late 1990’s, LVM began searching for a new system for their critical agency software; their current system had been in place since 1983. They were particularly focused on centralizing their entire data management system. “Up to then, it was typical in the sector for each agency to hold its own customer data independently and to be responsible for it,” says Werner Schmidt, IT manager of LVM, with regard to the centralization strategy. “This leads to the expenditure of a great deal of time and effort in data comparison and harmonization. It is absolutely essential that all customer service managers, including those at HQ, are always on the same level with regards to customer information. However, with that system, redundancy and certain discrepancies within the information which is held between the headquarters and the agencies couldn’t be avoided. We wanted to achieve a basic competitive advantage by using central data management. We want all our staff to speak to our customers with one voice. And at the same time we want to avoid duplication of procedures and applications. The ideal way of achieving this was to install a central system of data management where agencies have live access to the central system.”

Centralized data management and linking of our agencies is one of our most fundamental competitive advantages. With Red Hat we are certain that we have found the right platform for this business-critical application and also for other applications in future.

–Werner Schmidt, IT manager

Building Linux from scratch

At the time, available alternatives for implementing a solution based on thin clients, which LVM wanted, were extremely limited. Finally, LVM installed an infrastructure of 1,400 IBM 2800 Network Stations in 1998. However, IBM stopped development and support of the system in 2000, and migration to Java 2 wasn’t possible. LVM searched for a solution and found it in Linux. “Linux is ideally suited for use in a Thin Client environment,” explains Alfred Isenbeck, Head of DP Infrastructure at LVM. “But the usual Linux distributions available at that time were too comprehensive and too complex. So we decided to create our own Linux distribution from scratch.” So, LVM purchased 5,500 IBM T30 ThinkPads® for their long battery-life, ability to withstand wear and tear, and strong price/performance ratio. The stationary Linux systems at LVM headquarters utilized hardware from Fujitsu-Siemens.

Increased system requirements prompt vendor search

Since the installation of LVM’s home-grown Linux, their system requirements had grown tremendously. Increasing numbers of work-stations in the agencies and at headquarters needed to be linked to the central system, and the number of functions the system had to do also continuously increased. The existing Linux system became ever more complex and, therefore, more difficult to maintain. “In 2004 the time had come when we had to admit that it was not our job to do the work of a Linux distributor,” explains Matthias Strelow, Linux & Windows Project Manager at LVM. “We wanted to concentrate on our core expertise and operate a solution which would allow our staff to work effectively. Development and maintenance of the underlying operating system is not our responsibility.”

LVM again researched alternatives, including Windows. “But in the last analysis, the same factors that spoke in favour of Linux four years ago were still true. Linux ran at least as reliably as Windows. However, a pure “community” version of Linux wasn’t an option for us, as we wanted to be able to take advantage of professional support. It is true that in the past we did well with the possibilities offered by the open source community when maintaining our own Linux system. But with a project of the size and complexity that we were looking at, it had to be a commercial service provider. After all, we needed to migrate 8,500 systems in the first phase of the project, which meant that the options were fairly limited,” says Schmidt.

“Red Hat works closely with the community and only uses code that is supported by the community. This means that we are never dependent on only one company for the further development and support of our installation. We want to enjoy the freedom offered by Linux, along with the professional support of a commercial service provider.”

Vendor-independence crucial

“But there is one thing we wanted to avoid at all costs,” says Schmidt. “We really did not want to be dependent on any one provider.” Red Hat Enterprise Linux came through as the platform of choice in the comprehensive evaluation process, which included the successful completion of a pilot project. “Red Hat works closely with the Community and only uses code that is supported by the Community. This means that we are never dependent on only one company for the further development and support of our installation. We want to enjoy the freedom offered by Linux, along with the professional support of a commercial service provider,” Schmidt explains.

Red Hat Desktop and Red Hat Enterprise Linux exceed requirements

The positive experience that LVM enjoyed on the server-side with Red Hat Enterprise Linux and the corresponding support spoke in favour Red Hat Desktop. “We never disregard the personal aspects when deciding on our partners,” explains Schmidt. “Our existing cooperation with Red Hat as well as the way existing cooperation with Red Hat as well as the way we worked together during the pilot project showed us that the chemistry was right and that we could enjoy the kind of relationship of openness and trust with Red Hat that we want with our technology suppliers. In addition, the detailed solution for problems which confronted us during the development of our own Linux were included in the Red Hat development process. The functions that used to give us a headache are now better implemented in the Red Hat Desktop than we would have been able to achieve alone.”

Red Hat Network proves to be a valuable asset

During the pilot project Red Hat’s suggestion only to supply desktops in combination with Red Hat Network for systems management also proved its worth. “That made our work a great deal easier and raises Red Hat way above the competition,” explains Strelow. “The possibility of central administration of the entire roll out and management process was exactly what we needed.”

Red Hat Desktop will be used in fixed locations on PCs at the company headquarters, in agents’ offices all over Germany, and in mobile use via IBM ThinkPads. Aside from a mail client, image viewer, and Web browser, a from a mail client, image viewer, and Web browser, a Java-based application system developed by LVM will also be deployed, which covers everything the end user will need to complete his or her job: word processing, offer management, contract processing, customer relationship management, claims settlement and much more.

The desktops in the company headquarters are linked by means of a standard LAN. The agencies are linked by a 2 MBit ATM line leased from Deutsche Telekom. One MBit in this WAN is reserved for data transfer, the other MBit is available for special services such as telephony. The agencies are permanently linked to the headquarters via the WAN. This means that all the staff members who are responsible for a given customer always have the same information. If, for example, a customer should have questions about his insurance contract shortly after leaving the agency where the contract was executed and phones the 24-hour customer hotline, which is located in Múnster, the customer service staff their already has access to the entire file. LVM will connect to RHN via the WAN, thus implementing the entire roll out and later performing system maintenance using the same line.”

“After successfully completing the pilot project we were sure that with Red Hat we had found the right partner for our strategic IT platform, and were completely confident about the whole roll out process.”

Red Hat open source assurance provides safety

“After successfully completing the pilot project we were sure that with Red Hat we had found the right partner for our strategic IT platform, and were completely confident about the whole roll out process,” explains Schmidt. “In addition, we have taken the basic decision to standardize certain areas of our IT infrastructure to Red Hat Enterprise Linux and Red Hat Desktop in the medium to long term. The Red Hat Open Source Assurance Program has also further increased our confidence. The program means we can be sure that we can continue to use Red Hat Enterprise Linux and Red Hat Desktop even if patent disputes should arise.”

Industry: Financial Services
Geography: Azerbaijan
Challenge: An overloaded email system. An IT system that didn’t deliver the reliability or security needed for modern e-banking.
Solution: Red Hat Enterprise Linux on Fujitsu-Siemens RX200 servers; a Cistron RADIUS server, BIND (DNS) and VPN routing.
Benefits: An increase in email users from 120 to 700. An improved IT infrastructure with servers that support new functionality, such as the VPN-channels that now branch throughout Europe.

The International Bank of Azerbaijan is Azerbaijan’s leading financial institution. It is at the forefront of the country’s banking industry and economic development and has fostered Azerbaijan’s integration into the world economy. Founded in 1992, the bank now has 40 branches throughout the country and is based in the capital, Baku. It also has two subsidiary branches in Moscow and is represented in several European countries.

When the existing systems for Internet and email reached their capacity, the bank chose Red Hat Enterprise Linux to create a unified external communications solution and to provide a basis for its future IT infrastructure.

AGING IT SYSTEMS UNDERPERFORMING

The bank’s email and Internet systems were previously running on an IBM AS/400 platform. The platform, which consisted of an integrated hardware and software package, presented problems when the email system reached its capacity and needed upgrading. Furthermore, the old system did not provide adequate reliability and security for the bank’s planned expansion into e-banking, causing the drive to replace the bank’s IT systems to become acute.

LOCAL RED HAT CHANNEL PARTNER DELIVERS RED HAT SOLUTION

VDEL Ltd., based in Vienna, Austria, is a Red Hat dedicated channel partner serving customers throughout Central Europe, Eastern Europe, and Russia (CER). Since April 2005, the master distributor has supported Red Hat Enterprise Linux solutions with services and training. VDEL worked with Red Hat to approach the International Bank of Azerbaijan and advise its IT department about the benefits of deploying an open source solution in terms of cost, security, and reliability. VDEL’s technological expertise and experience, coupled with a strong understanding of the local market, enabled the bank’s IT department to fully utilize the opportunities created by the implementation of a new infrastructure based on open technologies.

We investigated what is available on the market, and we were truly impressed with Red Hat Enterprise Linux for its cost savings, reliability, security, and the extensive support network provided by Red Hat. We chose Red Hat because we believe it’s the best platform and the best solution for our current and future projects.

– Rauf Najafli,
manager of the IT security department

RED HAT ENTERPRISE LINUX CHOSEN TO UPDATE EMAIL AND INTERNET

From the outset of the project, the goal of the bank’s IT department was to create a unified “external communications modul” to handle the Internet, intranet, and email services for the entire organization. The requirements of this module were primarily security and reliability, although the system also needed to be cost-effective and well supported. Red Hat Enterprise Linux was chosen as the solution that could best satisfy these requirements.

“We investigated what is available on the market, and we were truly impressed with Red Hat Enterprise Linux for its cost savings, reliability, security, and the extensive support network provided by Red Hat. We chose Red Hat because we believe it’s the best platform and the best solution for our current and future projects,” said Rauf Najafli, manager of the IT Security department at the International Bank of Azerbaijan.

NEW IT SYSTEM DELIVERS UNEXPECTED BENEFITS

Fujitsu-Siemens RX200 servers running Red Hat Enterprise Linux were selected as the replacement for the aging AS/400. Email systems at the bank’s head office were the first to be migrated and, following their successful deployment, the entire company’s email system was transferred over to the new servers running Red Hat Enterprise Linux. The bank is now running a total of 20 Red Hat Enterprise Linux servers across the organization.

Although it was initially designed to handle only the email and Internet tasks, the Red Hat Enterprise Linux deployment has since enabled the International Bank of Azerbaijan to further improve its IT infrastructure in a way that it could not even attempt before, including the installation of a Cistron RADIUS server, BIND (DNS), and VPN routing. The new system has enabled the International Bank of Azerbaijan to create VPN-channels with their branches throughout Europe (Frankfurt-am-Main, Moscow, St-Petersburg, Ekaterinburg, and London) that are all based on an OpenVPN architecture.

RED HAT SATELLITE SERVER PROVIDES GREATER CONTROL OVER DEPLOYMENT

The functionality and customization of the deployment has been further increased with the implementation of a Red Hat Satellite Server. This has enabled the functionality of Red Hat Network to be administered from the local network. The Red Hat Satellite Server connects with Red Hat Network over the public Internet only to download new content and updates, enabling the IT department to retain complete control of when and how to maintain its systems. The Red Hat Satellite Server even allows the bank to take its Red Hat Network solution completely off-line if desired.

Other features of Red Hat Satellite Server:

• Instantly update systems for security fixes or provide packages or applications as soon as they are needed
• Distribute custom or third-party applications and updates
• Create staged environments (development, test, production) to select, manage, and test content in a structured manner
• Access Red Hat Network Monitoring Module to track system and application performance.

It’s very hard to quantify the improvements because many of the tasks we are now able to perform simply did not exist before. We have only had improvement, and can confidently say that Red Hat Enterprise Linux is providing an amazing amount of choice, security, and reliability for our applications and operations.

RED HAT PROVIDES PLATFORM FOR FUTURE EXPANSION

The new email servers have allowed the bank to increase the number of email users from 120 to over 700. The servers have also increased productivity and security, and support entirely new functions such as VPN routing and Reuters applications. The new IT infrastructure based on Red Hat Enterprise Linux not only enables the International Bank of Azerbaijan to compete at an international level, but also provides a platform for future growth.

“It’s very hard to quantify the improvements because many of the tasks we are now able to perform simply did not exist before. We have only had improvement, and can confidently say that Red Hat Enterprise Linux is providing an amazing amount of choice, security, and reliability for our applications and operations,” said Najafli.