Plexxikon: Keeping Costs Low and Efficiency High

Plexxikon is one drug company that relies on Sun to support its computational needs. Plexxikon believed that the Sun platform provided the most robust transaction engine for its computational and information management system. Sun's massively scalable solution helps Plexxikon develop novel drugs from its Scaffold Discovery Factory more quickly and cost-effectively. Working with Sun and BASIS, Inc., Plexxikon determined that it needed a grid computing environment. The grid environment architecture consists of four tiers: the visualization tier, which allows scientists to view 3D renderings of protein structures and chemical compounds; the grid computing tier which prioritizes computing resources using Sun Grid Engine, Enterprise Edition software; the network services tier, which consists of several Sun servers in a high availability cluster; and the database services tier running Oracle8 i. Sun and BASIS, Inc. were very successful in delivering a world class solution under a very aggressive timeline. In fact, the solution was deployed in 8 weeks instead of the initial 10 week estimate, a nearly 20 percent reduction. Sun consultants worked with Plexxikon to configure its network services and database services tiers using Sun Cluster 3.0 software." The Sun StorEdge architecture and grid-computing platform infrastructure provide us with a strategic advantage, as we can efficiently handle vast volumes of highly complex data," says Dr. Milburn. Sun delivers the scalability required to help meet all our storage needs," he adds. Since its launch 2 months ago, the platform infrastructure powering the Scaffold Discovery Factory has sustained in excess of 99.99 percent availability while handling increasing computational loads. With the help of Sun, Plexxikon is in a solid position to discover new products for improving the human condition.

The pace of scientific research is advancing at an extremely rapid rate. From the Human Genome Project that will map out 30,000 to 100,000 genes to significant advances in drug discovery, scientists are making important breakthroughs faster than ever before. Propelled by powerful computing technologies, scientists can now crunch genomic and proteomic data at an unprecedented rate. Sun Microsystems, Inc. is leading the way in providing the computing environment that is facilitating these important scientific developments.

One drug discovery company that relies on Sun to support the computational needs of its drug discovery process is Plexxikon. The solution, which was designed and implemented by Sun and its Sun Partner BASIS Incorporated, is powered by Sun Grid Engine, Enterprise Edition software as well as Sun Fire and Sun StorEdge technologies. Sun provides a complete, reliable and massively scalable solution that can help Plexxikon develop novel drugs from its Scaffold Discovery Factory more quickly and cost-effectively than was possible in the past.

Technology Drives Drug Discovery

While the past decade has seen major advances in drug research, efforts to better understand exactly what genes are associated with specific diseases have created an additional challenge in finding new cures. Plexxikon is addressing this challenge with its unique protein family-based drug discovery approach to simultaneously process multiple protein targets implicated in multiple diseases. Plexxikon's proprietary platform, the Scaffold Discovery Factory, combines state-of-the-art technologies from a variety of disciplines, including co-crystallography, low-affinity biochemical screening and synthetic chemistry to rapidly discover new chemical scaffolds and high-quality drug leads.

To help ensure a high degree of accessibility and interactive capabilities with such a large volume of highly complex data, Plexxikon looked to Sun for assistance. Though the life sciences company examined solutions from other technology vendors, it ultimately believed that the Sun platform provided the most robust transaction engine for its computational and information management system. "We met with scientists from each discipline to map out the requirements for the information management system and then went to a variety of potential vendors for possible solutions," explains Dr. Michael Milburn, senior vice president of research at Plexxikon. "We chose Sun because it was able to provide a complete, reliable and scalable IT solution to help us manage our highly integrated drug discovery platform." The expertise provided by Sun Services' consulting and Sun Partner BASIS, Inc. was another key reason why Sun won the business.

Partnering with Sun

Plexxikon engaged Sun and BASIS, Inc., a SunToneSM program certified provider of enterprise mission-critical implementation services, to develop a complete solution that could handle the robust computational needs of the Scaffold Discovery Factory. "We required a platform that would accommodate some very demanding computational requirements," notes Dr. Milburn. "The Sun Fire and Sun StorEdge technologies, coupled with the expertise of Sun consultants and BASIS, Inc., offered a significant comfort level. In addition, Sun's continued commitment to the life sciences' market was extremely important."

Working with Sun and BASIS, Inc., Plexxikon determined that a grid computing environment was needed in order for its Scaffold Discovery Factory to deliver the types of results it required. The grid computing environment architecture consists of four different tiers: the visualization tier, which consists of high-powered workstations that allow scientists to view 3D renderings of protein structures and chemical compounds; the grid computing tier which prioritizes computing resources using Sun Grid Engine, Enterprise Edition software; the network services tier, which consists of several Sun servers in a high availability cluster; and the database services tier running Oracle 8i.

Sun consultants worked with Plexxikon to integrate customized configuration tools that allow Plexxikon to display the configuration, including comparison, for both hardware and software residing on the server environments. "Sun consultants helped us design a network management architecture that is optimally configured for quality-of-service requirements such as manageability, security and availability," says Dr. Milburn.

Sun consultants also oversaw the delivery of the project using industry project management best practices from the Project Management Institute, which are encapsulated in the SunToneArchitecture Methodology. "The project management from the Sun consultants was critical in helping us monitor the project's progress, which included elements such as scope, budget and time," says Dr. Milburn. Together, Sun and BASIS, Inc. were very successful in delivering a world class solution under a very aggressive timeline. In fact, the solution was deployed in 8 weeks instead of the initial 10 week estimate—a nearly 20 percent reduction.

Sun Power, Reliability and Scalability Key

At the heart of the Scaffold Discovery Factory platform is Sun Grid Engine, Enterprise Edition, which prioritizes jobs and determines availability to help optimize overall computing resources. "Without Sun Grid Engine, it would be like driving down a freeway without traffic signals or signs—we would have a lot of accidents," explains Dr. Milburn. The company estimates that certain computational tasks, which would take up to a week using a non-grid computing environment, can be done in approximately 1 day—a 600 percent reduction, helping give the drug discovery company a significant lead in securing intellectual property and revenues before the competition. Though Plexxikon has not deployed all of the applications for the Scaffold Discovery Factory, it is designed to power more than 30 different applications concurrently on its grid-based platform infrastructure.

Sun Fire technology is the transaction engine for the Scaffold Discovery Factory, providing Plexxikon with a powerful, extremely reliable and highly available solution for running its network services. The mainframe-like dynamic domain reconfiguration features of the Sun Fire servers can offer the ability to seamlessly scale the system to meet increased computational needs, while their built-in redundancy and concurrent maintenance capabilities help deliver impressive total systems performance.

"One hour of downtime translates into a significant loss in research time," explains Dr. Milburn. "So availability was another key consideration for us." To help ensure high availability, Sun consultants worked with Plexxikon to configure its network services and database services tiers using Sun Cluster 3.0 software. Sun Cluster provides a means for building fail-over and redundancy into the platform architecture and facilitates enhanced management of the solution.

Sun Stores Critical Data

To manage the growing amount of new scientific data available, Plexxikon required a robust, flexible storage solution. Projecting transactional and storage growth in excess of 300 percent over the next 2 years, Plexxikon sought storage technology and an accompanying architecture that would rapidly scale. "The Sun StorEdge architecture and grid-computing platform infrastructure provide us with a strategic advantage, as we can efficiently handle vast volumes of highly complex data," says Dr. Milburn. "Data storage and retrieval is a key element of our business, so it is important that we invest in a storage solution that delivers results today and far into the future. Sun delivers the scalability required to help meet all our storage needs," he adds.

Sun's long standing business relationship with Oracle was another key consideration for the scientists at Plexxikon. "Oracle and Sun offer a highly scalable and secure development and deployment platform," says Dr. Milburn. "The close working relationship of the two companies was an important factor in our decision."

Positioned for Success

Plexxikon engaged Sun training specialists for skill assessments and training in the administration of its Sun server and storage platform infrastructure. Training included administration of the Sun Fire and Sun Enterprise servers, Sun StorEdge technology, Sun Grid Engine, and Sun Cluster 3.0 software. These training specialists provided key support in Plexxikon's efforts to train its staff in managing the solution for optimal performance and reliability. While Plexxikon is equipped to sustain business-critical availability, the company has also invested in a SunSpectrum Gold support agreement to help resolve issues that might cause degradation in performance. Plexxikon also relies on the ongoing support provided by BASIS, Inc. to manage day-to-day systems performance needs while the company continues to expand its staff.

Since its launch 2 months ago, the platform infrastructure powering the Scaffold Discovery Factory has sustained in excess of 99.99 percent availability while handling increasing computational loads. With the help of Sun, Plexxikon is in a solid position to discover new products for improving the human condition. While the goal may seem simple, the process is not. "We face many computational and scientific challenges ahead and Sun has provided a robust and powerful end-to-end solution that will allow us to face these challenges head-on," summarizes Dr. Milburn. "With Sun at the core of our drug discovery platform, we are confident that we will make significant strides in finding small molecule drugs that will have a dramatic effect on treating human diseases."