A Data Center Integration Case Study

Eureka!'s staff has proven their ability to move quickly and effectively to provide connectivity and data center capability. This case study is an excellent example of Eureka! coming through to solve a difficult problem which involved global networking as well as project management issues.

In late 1995, the Philippines began a project to create CyberCity on the Naval base vacated by the U.S. at Subic Bay. Subic Bay was a U.S. Navy base for 100 years, so most of the electrical and communications wiring was surprisingly good for a third world country. However, the state of the technology was about 30-40 years old. Technical support had to come from Hong Kong or the U.S.

CyberCity was designed as a network data center with current technology and world-wide connectivity. The entire base would be wired into a metropolitan area network so that any space leased to businesses would have network capability already wired into the buildings. CyberCity would be marketed to attract other high-tech businesses to the area. The Philippine government, via SBMA (Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority), contracted with Sun Microsystems to own and manage this project. The contract encompassed providing:

         network hardware and software,

         end-user computer hardware and software, and

         system integration services

Sun then sub-contracted with a Washington, D.C. system integration company to provide consulting and implementation services. The length of the contract was 10 months. Based on the deadlines agreed upon, Fidel Ramos, the president of the Philippines, invited the leaders of APEC (Asian Pacific Economic Community) to come to Subic Bay on November 27^th, 1996 to show off CyberCity.

As of October 1996, there was no power or air conditioning in the machine room and there were no technical people on site. The sub-contractor was not delivering and Sun was in a bind. It was 10 months into the contract and no one on site at Subic Bay knew Unix or networking.

Eureka! was hired by Sun Microsystems and the Philippine government to complete the system integration work to bring the data center and metropolitan area network online at Subic Bay. A member of the Eureka! staff flew to Manila on October 30th.

The specific task was to bring up a data center, network, and a distributed network of PCs in 5 weeks. The hardware included a Sun Enterprise 10000, numerous Ultras and Netras, a RAID array, Cabletron hubs and switches, Cisco routers, and 200 PCs running Windows 95 and PC NFS. The software included Lotus Notes and a large software package from Oracle to run on the Enterprise. A Manila Telco was sub-contracted to build a fiber network connecting the buildings and was responsible for in-building data wiring. Although the hardware and software had been delivered, none of this worked on November 1st.

The existing Internet link was 64K from Manila to the US. To emphasize how inadequate this is, the entire bandwidth from the Philippines to the US was commandeered one night downloading Netscape's proxy server from Mountain View to Subic Bay. Therefore, in addition to setting up the local network, there was also the task of bringing up a 256K data link from Subic Bay to the US.

Eureka! was able to supply engineers with a broad knowledge of computer and networking hardware and software. The lead Eureka! engineer acted as the general manager during the day and was hands-on with the integration work early and late in the day. Once Eureka! became involved, Sun and their sub-contractor began to send engineers to assist. Eureka! sorted through the talent provided to leverage the most productive skills. Excess resources were sent home as the team had to be lean and fast. Eureka! had 5 weeks to deliver once on-board.

By working smart and working long days, there was a functional data center with all the Sun hardware and software up and running by the conference date in late November. The Oracle database package was running on the Enterprise 10000. Numerous offices in four buildings on the campus were connected to the data center via fiber with Cabletron gear. The PCs were installed with Win95 and PC NFS. The routers were up and running and the site was on the Internet through a 256K satellite link to California.

President Clinton and other world leaders showed up, played golf with Ramos, and were impressed with CyberCity. The Philippine government considered the project a clear success. Eureka! was proud to play such a critical role in achieving this goal.

Once the showcase had been successfully staged, Eureka! stayed on-board at Subic Bay until the second week of December to complete training and turnover to the local data center team.