PROFILE
Leading Sports News Network and Media Company
ENVIRONMENT
1. Microsoft® Windows® 2000
2. HP Prolient DL380 and DL 580 Server
3. Marathon Endurance® 6200
4. Marathon everRun FT™ Software
5. Marathon everRun HA™ Software
WINDOWS APPLICATIONS
• Microsoft Exchange
• Bottom Line Services
• VisualAll ScheduleAll
• MOS Server
• Microsoft File/Print
• SQL Server

THE COMPANY
One of the largest and most dynamic sports news networks in the world, relies on Marathon software to protect its important Windows applications from downtime. Dependable, continuous communication of information is a top priority for this media company&rtquo;s IT department. Writers, producers and news sources worldwide use Windows applications, such as email for instant communication of breaking news, scores and other time–critical information to on–air personalities. The company&rtquo;s radio hosts use email to make their programs interactive by reading and responding to listener emails while live on the air.

Field staff also rely on wireless email to access breaking news, promotional program data, schedule changes and important corporate information. In addition, several Windows–compatible applications such as file/print and SQL are critical for many of the company&rtquo;s business operations. With a reputation for 24–hour coverage, this company has no tolerance for even a minute of downtime for its key business applications due to component failures or even physical disasters.

THE SITUATION
For disaster protection, the media company&rtquo;s infrastructure is located in two fully redundant data centres. They needed continuous availability and protection against site disaster for their important applications that would deliver continuous service to end–users without the need for a "failover" process or operator intervention. They also wanted a system that would provide complete data protection; even for data in–transit during a disaster.
A key selection criteria was the ability to perform routine maintenance and repair on server hardware and to install most software patches without interrupting service to end users. They rejected technologies that relied on a shared disk or any other potential single point of failure.

That&rtquo;s why this media company chose to evaluate the patented, field–proven Marathon&rtquo;s everRun FT™ software. everRun software unites unmodified industry–standard servers into a single, fully redundant configuration that appears to the network, applications, OS and system administrators as a single server. Marathon computes through component failures, delivering seamless service to end users with no loss of application data, no need for transaction rollback and no loss of performance. Replaced components automatically rejoin the configuration without operator intervention. The company&rtquo;s IT staff chose Marathon software to make their IT services as efficient and reliable as possible by protecting email, file/print, Active Directory and several other key systems.

PUTTING MARATHON TO THE TEST
The media company tested Marathon using Compaq DL380s with Exchange 2000 email application for their fault and disaster tolerant systems. The company&rtquo;s state–of–the–art testing lab enabled them to simulate their real–world environment and conditions in which the test system would be used. Simulating use by 4000 end users, the testing program began with the boot up and component verification process to test system components and functionality.

The program then simulated the loss of network connection failures and the failure of every piece of server hardware. Testing included:
• Memory failure
• Major server hardware failure
• Restoration of failed server component
• Disk failure of Loss of network connection
• Loss of connection between the two redundant servers
• Power disconnect or catastrophic server failure

CLEARLY A STEP AHEAD
The Marathon technology performed as expected or better throughout the testing process. The application continued to operate continuously throughout each of the failure scenarios as well as through the installation of a variety of OS and application patches and bug fixes. System administration was simple and straightforward.

Based on these results, the company is considering use of Marathon to protect a wider range of key Windows–based applications.

"Marathon software was put through stringent testing. It passed its tests with flying colors and has exceeded the company&rtquo;s requirements for uptime and availability."