Pella Corporation Improves IT Performance and Efficiency with Oracle VM and Oracle Linux

To improve IT performance and efficiency, and lower operational costs, Pella Corporation, a leader in designing, testing, manufacturing and installing quality windows and doors, has standardized on Oracle VM (www.oracle.com/us/technologies/virtualization/oraclevm/index.html) , server virtualization software and Oracle Linux (www.oracle.com/us/technologies/linux/index.htm?origref=www.oracle.com/us/technologies/virtualization/oraclevm/index.html) .

In order to address rising maintenance costs for its legacy environment coupled with an overall desire to improve efficiencies across its IT infrastructure, Pella sought an alternative solution to run its mission-critical Oracle E-Business Suite (www.oracle.com/us/products/applications/ebusiness/index.html) environment.

Upon a competitive review of server virtualization solutions, including Red Hat and VMware, Pella chose to implement Oracle VM which aligned with its strategic vision of greater efficiency and performance at lower cost along with enterprise class support that Pella needed for its critical business systems.

By moving to a virtualized environment, Pella expects to reduce its infrastructure costs of hundreds of thousands of dollars per year to less than $20,000 per year. The initial savings in maintenance costs more than covered the project’s cost.

The reduction of 12 servers and three racks worth of space has also helped Pella lower energy consumption in its data center, extending the company’s commitment to supporting and executing sustainable business practices.

Oracle VM has significantly increased the processing capacity available to Pella by reducing its average CPU utilization from 30-40 percent down to eight-nine percent, even at peak utilization.

Using Oracle VM and Oracle Linux, Pella has been able to speed deployment of its business-critical applications, lower energy usage and reduce IT costs.

"Part of Pella’s 85-year tradition of innovation includes finding new ways to increase efficiencies and speed deployments for faster time to market,” said Jim Thomas, Director of IT Operations, Pella Corporation. “Standardizing on Oracle VM and Oracle Linux has helped us to deliver on this goal by reinventing what our data center and IT staff can accomplish for the business – and the results have been impressive. With Oracle VM and Oracle Linux, we have a more agile IT environment, can better serve our customers at a lower cost, and have the assurance that we are backed by Oracle's world-class support organization.”