IBM Systems Magazine, Mainframe digital edition - September/October 2009 - (Page 24) Up Close CUSTOMER: Transzap Inc. HEADQUARTERS: Denver BUSINESS: SaaS provider for the energy industry HARDWARE: An IBM System z9 Business Class SOFTWARE: Transzap’s Oildex suite of workflow, data exchange and business intelligence applications; Oracle Enterprise Edition, WebSphere Application Server; z/VM CHALLENGE: Dealing with multiple databases on multiple platforms in a distributed environment SOLUTION: Using a Linux OS-only IBM System z9 server to consolidate its Oracle databases in a highly virtualized, controlled and reliable environment “These ser vices, are designed to handle the data needs of energy companies for processing their revenue, production and expenses,” notes Karey Goebel, vice president of marketing with Transzap. “Take our e-payables solution, for example. When a company signs up with us, we provide them with an electronic workflow platform so they can efficiently process invoices. And we work with the company to identify vendors from which they’d like to receive digital invoices. Next we work with those vendors to help them submit their invoices electronically. All of our services are built upon this foundation, providing companies with an efficient way to exchange business data and delivering workflow tools that improve productivity.” Thanks to these types of SaaS-based service offerings, Oildex users avoid owning and administrating expensive premise-based applications, database software and additional hardware to support their operations. When combined with the immediate access to critical data the Oildex suite provides, these key benefits allow Transzap customers to improve productivity and reduce labor costs, save money and improve internal workflow management. To support this, Transzap had been hosting its Oracle database environment—as well as its applications—on a series of Linux OS-enabled Intel technology-based servers. Initially, this appeared to be a cost-effective way to host its database instances, with cheaper up-front costs related in particular to the servers. Over time, however, it became clear this type of environment was lacking in several ways. One had to do with company growth. Because Transzap was continuously taking on new customers, it had to also continuously add new servers to meet demand. This was becoming increasingly costly, especially as it pertained to maintenance. As David Marts, vice president of operations with Transzap, explains, “As we added more servers to the mix, we made our 24 SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2009 systems-management issues more complex, and we had concerns about what that meant about the reliability of these platforms.” And those fears about reliability were well founded. In 2007, the company experienced two significant outages. As it tried to fix these issues, none of its vendors would accept responsibility, preferring instead to point fingers at each other. This meant Transzap had to act as its own systems integrator and determine what caused these failures on its own. This hampered system recovery and meant the company was having trouble meeting its high-performance computing service level agreement (SLA) term. Many outsourcers have SLAs, but they don’t necessarily back them up with any tangible costs for not meeting them. Transzap does. In fact, it will issue credits to effected customers if the company doesn’t meet its SLAs. “That’s a commitment on our part to give our customers assurance that if they do business with us, we’ll not only support them to the best of our ability, but also pay a price if we don’t succeed,” Marts says. More important is the impact outages such as these had on Oildex users. For example, SPENDWORKS is considered one of the company’s most mission-critical services. If it goes down, customers can’t process their invoices. This can have a direct influence on Transzap customers’ entire business operations. “Our SLA agreement calls for 99.5-percent application availability, but internally, our objective is 99.7 percent,” Marts says. Another issue dealt with Oracle database-licensing fees, which are based on the number of CPUs in use. Because Transzap was running Oracle on quite a few CPUs—with that number only increasing as the company continued to grow—that cost was spiraling out of control. These and other issues the company was experiencing prompted it to begin reconsidering its IT infrastructure, with an eye toward migrating its databases to a more reliable, flexible, scalable and virtualized environment. A Deal Sealer After exploring several possible alternatives, including using dedicated UNIX* OS-based boxes, Transzap decided to take a longer look at the System z9* Business Class. The platform was stable, scalable and virtualizable—meeting many of the company’s replacement requirements. A key deciding factor is the capability to run Oracle on Linux in a virtualized environment using the System z* Integrated Facility for Linux (IFL). This was a boon, because Oracle would charge only for the IFLs on which its database instances were installed, no matter how many times it was virtualized on guest Linux servers. Instead of paying licensing fees for the one production and six non-production Oracle instances on a per-CPU basis, it could whittle that number down to three licenses for its three IFLs, even though the company is going to up that number of Oracle instances to 10 using z/VM* to virtualize them. “This TCO aspect of the Oracle licensing kind of sealed the deal for us,” Marts says. ibmsystemsmag.com/mainframe http://www.ibmsystemsmag.com/mainframe Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IBM Systems Magazine, Mainframe digital edition - August/September 2009 IBM Systems Magazine, Mainframe digital edition - August/September 2009 Editor's Desk: IBM Makes it Easy to be Green Focus on Storage: System z, DS8000 and Tivoli Provide a Complete Encryption Package Trends: CICS Transaction Server 4.1 Helps Organizations, Compete, Comply and Control Case Study: Transzap Consolidates its Oracle Databases in a Virtualized Linux on Mainframe Environment Cover Story: IBM Poughkeepsie Green Data Center Showcases a Dynamic Infrastructure Feature: IBM Study Reveals the System z10 Provides a Cheaper, Easier-to-Manage Cloud Solution Feature: Women in IT Team Up to Succeed Developer: Process XML Documents Within COBOL and DB2 SSDs Are Integral to Enterprise Storage Infrastructures Product News Advertiser Index Stop Run: Gordon Bruce Talks His Way Into a High-Profile IT Gig Reference Point 2010 Mainframe Buyer's Guide IBM Systems Magazine, Mainframe digital edition - August/September 2009 IBM Systems Magazine, Mainframe digital edition - August/September 2009 - (Page Intro) IBM Systems Magazine, Mainframe digital edition - August/September 2009 - IBM Systems Magazine, Mainframe digital edition - August/September 2009 (Page Cover1) IBM Systems Magazine, Mainframe digital edition - August/September 2009 - IBM Systems Magazine, Mainframe digital edition - August/September 2009 (Page Cover2) IBM Systems Magazine, Mainframe digital edition - August/September 2009 - IBM Systems Magazine, Mainframe digital edition - August/September 2009 (Page 1) IBM Systems Magazine, Mainframe digital edition - August/September 2009 - IBM Systems Magazine, Mainframe digital edition - August/September 2009 (Page 2) IBM Systems Magazine, Mainframe digital edition - August/September 2009 - IBM Systems Magazine, Mainframe digital edition - August/September 2009 (Page 3) IBM Systems Magazine, Mainframe digital edition - August/September 2009 - IBM Systems Magazine, Mainframe digital edition - August/September 2009 (Page 4) IBM Systems Magazine, Mainframe digital edition - August/September 2009 - IBM Systems Magazine, Mainframe digital edition - August/September 2009 (Page 5) IBM Systems Magazine, Mainframe digital edition - August/September 2009 - IBM Systems Magazine, Mainframe digital edition - August/September 2009 (Page 6) IBM Systems Magazine, Mainframe digital edition - August/September 2009 - IBM Systems Magazine, Mainframe digital edition - August/September 2009 (Page 7) IBM Systems Magazine, Mainframe digital edition - August/September 2009 - Editor's Desk: IBM Makes it Easy to be Green (Page 8) IBM Systems Magazine, Mainframe digital edition - August/September 2009 - Editor's Desk: IBM Makes it Easy to be Green (Page 9) IBM Systems Magazine, Mainframe digital edition - August/September 2009 - Focus on Storage: System z, DS8000 and Tivoli Provide a Complete Encryption Package (Page 10) IBM Systems Magazine, Mainframe digital edition - August/September 2009 - Focus on Storage: System z, DS8000 and Tivoli Provide a Complete Encryption Package (Page 11) IBM Systems Magazine, Mainframe digital edition - August/September 2009 - Focus on Storage: System z, DS8000 and Tivoli Provide a Complete Encryption Package (Page 12) IBM Systems Magazine, Mainframe digital edition - August/September 2009 - Focus on Storage: System z, DS8000 and Tivoli Provide a Complete Encryption Package (Page 13) IBM Systems Magazine, Mainframe digital edition - August/September 2009 - Focus on Storage: System z, DS8000 and Tivoli Provide a Complete Encryption Package (Page 14) IBM Systems Magazine, Mainframe digital edition - August/September 2009 - Focus on Storage: System z, DS8000 and Tivoli Provide a Complete Encryption Package (Page 15) IBM Systems Magazine, Mainframe digital edition - August/September 2009 - Trends: CICS Transaction Server 4.1 Helps Organizations, Compete, Comply and Control (Page 16) IBM Systems Magazine, Mainframe digital edition - August/September 2009 - Trends: CICS Transaction Server 4.1 Helps Organizations, Compete, Comply and Control (Page 17) IBM Systems Magazine, Mainframe digital edition - August/September 2009 - Trends: CICS Transaction Server 4.1 Helps Organizations, Compete, Comply and Control (Page 18) IBM Systems Magazine, Mainframe digital edition - August/September 2009 - Trends: CICS Transaction Server 4.1 Helps Organizations, Compete, Comply and Control (Page 19) IBM Systems Magazine, Mainframe digital edition - August/September 2009 - Trends: CICS Transaction Server 4.1 Helps Organizations, Compete, Comply and Control (Page 20) IBM Systems Magazine, Mainframe digital edition - August/September 2009 - Trends: CICS Transaction Server 4.1 Helps Organizations, Compete, Comply and Control (Page 21) IBM Systems Magazine, Mainframe digital edition - August/September 2009 - Case Study: Transzap Consolidates its Oracle Databases in a Virtualized Linux on Mainframe Environment (Page 22) IBM Systems Magazine, Mainframe digital edition - August/September 2009 - Case Study: Transzap Consolidates its Oracle Databases in a Virtualized Linux on Mainframe Environment (Page 23) IBM Systems Magazine, Mainframe digital edition - August/September 2009 - Case Study: Transzap Consolidates its Oracle Databases in a Virtualized Linux on Mainframe Environment (Page 24) IBM Systems Magazine, Mainframe digital edition - August/September 2009 - Case Study: Transzap Consolidates its Oracle Databases in a Virtualized Linux on Mainframe Environment (Page 25) IBM Systems Magazine, Mainframe digital edition - August/September 2009 - Case Study: Transzap Consolidates its Oracle Databases in a Virtualized Linux on Mainframe Environment (Page 26) IBM Systems Magazine, Mainframe digital edition - August/September 2009 - Case Study: Transzap Consolidates its Oracle Databases in a Virtualized Linux on Mainframe Environment (Page 27) IBM Systems Magazine, Mainframe digital edition - August/September 2009 - Cover Story: IBM Poughkeepsie Green Data Center Showcases a Dynamic Infrastructure (Page 28) IBM Systems Magazine, Mainframe digital edition - August/September 2009 - Cover Story: IBM Poughkeepsie Green Data Center Showcases a Dynamic Infrastructure (Page 29) IBM Systems Magazine, Mainframe digital edition - August/September 2009 - Cover Story: IBM Poughkeepsie Green Data Center Showcases a Dynamic Infrastructure (Page 30) IBM Systems Magazine, Mainframe digital edition - August/September 2009 - Cover Story: IBM Poughkeepsie Green Data Center Showcases a Dynamic Infrastructure (Page 31) IBM Systems Magazine, Mainframe digital edition - August/September 2009 - Cover Story: IBM Poughkeepsie Green Data Center Showcases a Dynamic Infrastructure (Page 32) IBM Systems Magazine, Mainframe digital edition - August/September 2009 - Cover Story: IBM Poughkeepsie Green Data Center Showcases a Dynamic Infrastructure (Page 33) IBM Systems Magazine, Mainframe digital edition - August/September 2009 - Cover Story: IBM Poughkeepsie Green Data Center Showcases a Dynamic Infrastructure (Page 34) IBM Systems Magazine, Mainframe digital edition - August/September 2009 - Cover Story: IBM Poughkeepsie Green Data Center Showcases a Dynamic Infrastructure (Page 35) IBM Systems Magazine, Mainframe digital edition - August/September 2009 - Feature: IBM Study Reveals the System z10 Provides a Cheaper, Easier-to-Manage Cloud Solution (Page 36) IBM Systems Magazine, Mainframe digital edition - August/September 2009 - Feature: IBM Study Reveals the System z10 Provides a Cheaper, Easier-to-Manage Cloud Solution (Page 37) IBM Systems Magazine, Mainframe digital edition - August/September 2009 - Feature: IBM Study Reveals the System z10 Provides a Cheaper, Easier-to-Manage Cloud Solution (Page 38) IBM Systems Magazine, Mainframe digital edition - August/September 2009 - Feature: IBM Study Reveals the System z10 Provides a Cheaper, Easier-to-Manage Cloud Solution (Page 39) IBM Systems Magazine, Mainframe digital edition - August/September 2009 - Feature: IBM Study Reveals the System z10 Provides a Cheaper, Easier-to-Manage Cloud Solution (Page 40) IBM Systems Magazine, Mainframe digital edition - August/September 2009 - Feature: IBM Study Reveals the System z10 Provides a Cheaper, Easier-to-Manage Cloud Solution (Page 41) IBM Systems Magazine, Mainframe digital edition - August/September 2009 - Feature: Women in IT Team Up to Succeed (Page 42) IBM Systems Magazine, Mainframe digital edition - August/September 2009 - Feature: Women in IT Team Up to Succeed (Page 43) IBM Systems Magazine, Mainframe digital edition - August/September 2009 - Feature: Women in IT Team Up to Succeed (Page 44) IBM Systems Magazine, Mainframe digital edition - August/September 2009 - Feature: Women in IT Team Up to Succeed (Page 45) IBM Systems Magazine, Mainframe digital edition - August/September 2009 - Developer: Process XML Documents Within COBOL and DB2 (Page 46) IBM Systems Magazine, Mainframe digital edition - August/September 2009 - Developer: Process XML Documents Within COBOL and DB2 (Page 47) IBM Systems Magazine, Mainframe digital edition - August/September 2009 - Developer: Process XML Documents Within COBOL and DB2 (Page 48) IBM Systems Magazine, Mainframe digital edition - August/September 2009 - Developer: Process XML Documents Within COBOL and DB2 (Page 49) IBM Systems Magazine, Mainframe digital edition - August/September 2009 - SSDs Are Integral to Enterprise Storage Infrastructures (Page 50) IBM Systems Magazine, Mainframe digital edition - August/September 2009 - SSDs Are Integral to Enterprise Storage Infrastructures (Page 51) IBM Systems Magazine, Mainframe digital edition - August/September 2009 - SSDs Are Integral to Enterprise Storage Infrastructures (Page 52) IBM Systems Magazine, Mainframe digital edition - August/September 2009 - SSDs Are Integral to Enterprise Storage Infrastructures (Page 53) IBM Systems Magazine, Mainframe digital edition - August/September 2009 - Product News (Page 54) IBM Systems Magazine, Mainframe digital edition - August/September 2009 - Advertiser Index (Page 55) IBM Systems Magazine, Mainframe digital edition - August/September 2009 - Stop Run: Gordon Bruce Talks His Way Into a High-Profile IT Gig (Page 56) IBM Systems Magazine, Mainframe digital edition - August/September 2009 - Stop Run: Gordon Bruce Talks His Way Into a High-Profile IT Gig (Page 57) IBM Systems Magazine, Mainframe digital edition - 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