QUALCOMM

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Chipsets, systems software and development tools from QUALCOMM's CDMA Technologies division enable many of the world's most popular handsets and a broad array of other wireless devices. The division's R&D continues to advance state-of-the-art product features such as multimedia, position location, connectivity and security.

Developing and delivering these complex technologies and services requires the division to stay in close communication with its technology partners and customers. Until recently, the division performed those tasks with an integrated Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system based on Oracle E-Business Suite software.

The combined ERP and CRM system, running on Sun servers and the Solaris Operating System, proved reliable and met performance objectives. However, the design of the application suite made it necessary to take the CRM software offline in order to patch the ERP portion of the system. Because of the need for continuous availability of the CRM system, QUALCOMM chose to de-couple CRM from ERP and move its CRM applications to newer and more powerful Sun platform technology.

Sun already had a strong relationship with QUALCOMM, which uses more than 1,000 Sun Fire servers throughout its IT infrastructure. Advanced Systems Group (ASG), a Sun Advantage partner that provided expert integration and implementation services during the server upgrade, had also worked with QUALCOMM on successful past projects. When it came time to migrate applications from older Sun Fire 4800 servers to a next-generation business-critical platform, the Sun and ASG team was a logical choice. The Sun Upgrade Advantage Program enabled QUALCOMM to take advantage of trade-in allowance and reduce the cost and complexity of the migration.

The new CRM system uses 11 UltraSPARC IV+ - based Sun Fire V490 servers running Oracle E-Business Suite 11i on the Solaris 10 Operating System. QUALCOMM estimates that the new business-critical platform provides a 35 percent price/performance improvement over its older generation of servers. The new servers have surpassed QUALCOMM’s initial project goal of 99.9% application availability and are now approaching availability of 99.99%.

QUALCOMM is achieving further cost reductions and availability improvements by upgrading to the Solaris 10 Operating System. The IT staff has reduced administration time and enhanced system performance by using the Dynamic Tracing (DTrace) feature of Solaris 10 to monitor and diagnose applications and operating system performance issues. QUALCOMM is also using Containers to optimize hardware utilization and simplify management through faster deployment of virtual servers. To help maximize the value of its Sun technology, QUALCOMM IT managers took Solaris 10 courses from Sun Learning Services.

The combination of Sun Fire V490 servers and Solaris 10 enables QUALCOMM to reduce risks over the long term and scale its business-critical CRM platform in cost-effective increments. The Sun Fire V490 servers each scale up to four UltraSPARC IV+ processors, making it easy for QUALCOMM to expand by adding new processors or small-footprint servers. Solaris 10 provides binary application compatibility with the latest Web-based version of the Oracle E-Business Suite, enabling QUALCOMM to preserve its investments while upgrading to newer and more powerful technologies.