MoneyGram leveraged Novell’s Expanded Support program to migrate its Linux platform to SUSE Linux Enterprise Server, enabling immediate cost reductions and creating an environment that allows their Linux and Microsoft Windows Server 2008 technology to interoperate seamlessly.
USA —
09 Nov 2009 —
Overview
MoneyGram provides payment services to help people and businesses economically and efficiently move money around the world or close to home. With more than 180,000 agent locations in 190 countries and territories, MoneyGram’s services need to be up and running 24/7. Because the company’s heterogeneous data centers required a two to three-hour outage on weekends for scheduled maintenance, MoneyGram sought a solution that would eliminate the interruptions and ensure anytime availability for its customers around the world. To address these challenges, MoneyGram standardized its Linux infrastructure on SUSE Linux Enterprise Server from Novell, enabling immediate cost reductions and creating an environment that allows their Linux and Microsoft Windows Server 2008 technology to interoperate seamlessly. The company has reduced the maintenance and licensing costs of its IT infrastructure, while improving reliability and standardizing on an Interoperability platform that provides scalability to meet growing business demands.
Situation
MoneyGram’s IT systems process hundreds of thousands of transactions worldwide each day, and the company expects the volume of these transactions to continue double-digit growth each month. IT is critical to the business, enabling the affordable, reliable, and convenient payment services that customers rely on daily around the world. With a mix of 350 physical servers and 240 virtual servers running Windows Server and more than 320 physical servers and 91 virtual servers running Red Hat Enterprise Linux, the company’s heterogeneous data center required a 2-3 hour service outage on weekends for scheduled maintenance. The inefficiency of maintaining multiple versions of Linux for each hardware configuration and the high costs of support and licensing for Red Hat Enterprise Linux were limiting the company’s ability to meet growing business demands. “If we bring our systems down at our U.S. headquarters, it means somewhere in the world we’re affecting our customers,” said Paul Boespflug, Senior Manager, Technical Services, MoneyGram International. “We have customers who travel a long distance to perform a transaction, and we want to ensure the service is available for them whenever they need it.”
Solution
MoneyGram made the decision to migrate its entire Linux environment to SUSE Linux Enterprise Server to achieve an immediate reduction in licensing costs. The company gained a three-year support package from Novell and Microsoft with greater value than they were receiving with Red Hat’s support program. With expanded support from Novell, MoneyGram also receives technical support for existing Linux deployments, including Red Hat Enterprise Linux, during the three-year period as the company transitions to SUSE Linux Enterprise Server. “Because of the expanded support from Novell for our existing Red Hat infrastructure, we have the flexibility and confidence for executing a successful migration to SUSE Linux Enterprise Server,” said Boespflug. Through the process of evaluating the Novell solution, MoneyGram decided to extend the agreement beyond the initial three-year term for another three-year term. Because the company can run SUSE Linux Enterprise Server on both physical and virtual servers, and regardless of whether a machine has two or four CPUs, the Linux migration process was simple and easy. In addition, the solution gives MoneyGram seamless interoperability between its SUSE Linux Enterprise Server and Windows Server 2008 environments and the benefits of the collaborative interoperability initiatives between the Microsoft and Novell. MoneyGram can finally avoid service downtime with simplified patching and updates, and a highly reliable, standard version of SUSE Linux Enterprise Server combined with solid support from Novell.
Benefits
By standardizing the company’s Linux platform on SUSE Linux Enterprise Server, MoneyGram achieved an immediate cost reduction of $180,000. This reduction came from Microsoft’s Certificate program coupled with Novell’s advanced Subscription Model, which allows greater flexibility in server deployment without the costly tax for multi-processor servers. With an integrated SUSE Linux Enterprise Server and Windows Server 2008 environment, the company has minimized downtime by simplifying the patching and update process and eliminating the extra costs associated with different hardware configurations. “Because our infrastructure is basically our product, we now have a lower cost of doing business,” said Boespflug. MoneyGram has also increased operational efficiency by reducing the complexity of data center administration. Standardizing the company’s Linux platform has made the patching and build process significantly more automated, helping IT staff save considerable time on maintenance and allowing them to focus more on the IT projects that drive revenue and add value to the business. IT staff only need expertise around one distribution of Linux and they now have access to streamlined support for their Windows Server and SUSE Linux Enterprise Server infrastructure. With seamless interoperability across the company’s Windows Server and SUSE Linux Enterprise Server platforms, and intellectual property protection, MoneyGram now can operate with greater confidence as the company has minimized intellectual property concerns related to its choice of vendor. Combined with the ability to provide cost-effective, reliable 24/7 services for customers around the world, the company can now scale easily to meet growing business demands.
The Microsoft-Novell Agreement
On Nov. 2, 2006, Novell and Microsoft announced a series of agreements to jointly build, market and support new solutions to improve interoperability, deliver powerful new virtualization capabilities, make Microsoft and Novell products work better together, and give customers peace of mind that both companies stand behind the products they deliver. More information about the Microsoft and Novell agreement, including other customer announcements, can be found at http://www.moreinterop.com.
About Novell
Novell delivers infrastructure software for the open enterprise. Novell is a leader in enterprise-wide operating systems based on Linux and open source and provides the enterprise management services required to operate mixed IT environments. Novell helps customers minimize cost, complexity and risk, allowing them to focus on innovation and growth. For more information, visit http://www.novell.com.
About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.
Microsoft and Windows are trademarks of the Microsoft group of companies. Novell and SUSE are registered trademarks of Novell, Inc. in the United States and other countries. The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.
* Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds. All other third-party trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
For more information, press only:
Rapid Response Team, Waggener Edstrom Worldwide for Microsoft, (503) 443-7070, rrt@waggeneredstrom.com
Bruce Lowry, Novell, (415) 383-8408, blowry@novell.com