Success Story

Success on Sun

" Sun is focused. They know where they're going with their server and storage solutions and how they can optimize and extend a university computing environment for faculty and students. This level of market focus and commitment to the needs of higher education isn't as apparent with Sun's competitors."

Tradition, Vision

Although it is a 106-year-old university established in the District of Columbia by an Act of Congress, American University is decidedly not old-fashioned. The university has six major colleges and schools, where 12,000 students annually study subjects ranging from arts and science to law and international relations. An active internship program places students in government agencies and Congressional offices nearby.

Recently, American University moved into Web-based and workflow-oriented computing by migrating from a mainframe-centric infrastructure to distributed computing approach with Sun Enterprise servers and Sun StorEdge technology.

Leveraging Previous Sun Success

"Sun has a vision, beyond it's leading-edge products, "says Whitman. "They've made a huge commitment to their servers, the Solaris platform, and Java technology."

Sun also impressed Whitman as a service provider. "Installing Sun in large or complex configurations, alongside a legacy mainframe environment, is a challenge. SunSpectrum Silver support service, which we modified to 7 x 24, really came through with the personal, expert-level support I needed."

Shifting Platforms, Paradigms

Building on the strength of his past experience with Sun products, Whitman's design for an enterprise computing infrastructure for American University included Sun Enterprise 5500/4500/3500 servers, Sun Ultra 5 and Ultra 10 servers, and Sun StorEdge L3500 tape library to run Lotus Notes and Domino server. The close alliance between Sun and Lotus has made Lotus Domino groupware applications, such as calendaring and discussion groups, a best-selling server/application solution. Ongoing collaboration between the two companies in future development means that new features will be optimized for Sun's Solaris operating environment.

Server & Storage for Back-Office, Legacy, and Distance Learning Applications

Sun replaced American University's mainframe storage silo with a small footprint Sun StorEdge L3500 tape library. The L3500 is the primary backup device for all of AU's enterprise servers, which includes not only Sun Enterprise servers (5500/4500/3500, Sun Enterprise 5 and 10), but also IBM RS 6000, DEC Alphas, Windows NT, and Novel Netware servers. It runs on a Sun Enterprise 3500 server and is much faster than the previous solution due to its use of DLT 7000 drives and a multi-link Ethernet connection, using the Sun 4-port Ethernet card and Cisco's fast "etherchannel" technology along with Sun trunking software, which provides a 400 Mbps data path to the backup device.

The same Sun Enterprise 3500 server performs Solstice Backup. "With the Sun solution, we can do multiple terabytes of backup now, encompassing all of the operating environments of our servers," says Carl Whitman.

With the Sun StorEdge A5000, the Intelligent Storage Server, connected through high-speed fiber channels, American University has a powerful, scalable solution for storage. One A5000 509-GB array is being used to store Lotus Notes' email, Lotus Domino Web server content, and course content for AU classes that use the Lotus Learning Space product. It is run by a Sun Enterprise 5500 server.

Another A5000 128-GB array is being used for Web server content, and will also handle academic computing research data. A third A5000 will support the data warehouse now in development.

American University is continuing to innovate in its information systems. A multimedia repository -- where course resources in Microsoft Powerpoint, AVI, Quicktime, and other graphical formats will be available -- is in the works. A dean of special programs is looking at leveraging distance learning tools within American University's new computing environment for use by university programs headquarters in major world capitals.

"Sun has helped us create a very robust environment, where our users have come to expect high speed and sophisticated new applications," says Greg Welsh. "We look forward to a long, creative and mutually rewarding association."