Complex Deployments

Shiny Tech in a Messy Business

Working in one of the harshest environments on the planet — oil fields — one company needed help to manage the complex logistics involved with deploying their rugged, vehicle-mounted servers. We took stock servers, configured and mounted them in the company’s custom ruggedized frames before shipping them out to oil fields all over the world. We even tested each server in a modified paint shaker before it left the building to confirm that it would survive in the field.

But deploying them was only the beginning.

After a short time in the field, the company noticed that servers became clogged with dust and other debris, causing them to overheat and eventually power down. This shutdown would halt operations and prevent the teams from continuing to do their work. Of course, they did receive warnings. If a server began to malfunction, the typical amber warning lights would illuminate to notify the team, but in the chaos of an oil field, the lights were too easy to overlook or ignore.

Again, the company needed a creative and customized answer, so we responded. We configured each server with a new soundcard and speaker and wrote custom drivers to make them work correctly. Now in addition to blinking lights, the servers blare an audible warning, alerting the local team more effectively to take action to clean up the server so that they can keep on rolling without losing access to their digital records.

Doing a Lot with a Few

The distributed nature of retail transforms many simple activities into logistical nightmares. One such company needed to rollout server upgrades to their 800 locations around North America. With enough qualified personnel, this would have been an easy job, but this job in particular fell to a small team of x86 specialists — three to be exact. These three individuals were expected to procure, set-up, configure, package, and ship each of the 800 different servers. And then they would still need to go on-site to install and configure the network at each location so that each server was available for remote management.

Instead, they brought us in, and we gave them an easy button.

We purchased and stored all 800 servers and managed all of the logistics:

• Imaging each server with a gold master image
• Adding a custom domain for each store location
• Packing and shipping each server to its designated store

Instead of sending one of the three x86 specialists to each site, we were able to configure each server for easy plug-in and power-on by the on-site staff. The company saved on shipping because we only needed to ship the equipment once (to each store), and we freed up the x86 team to make progress on other important projects for the company.