IN an attempt to improve their technological efficiency, Westport has installed the Sun Fire 12000 server system, the country’s first high-performance computer system, to aid them in their daily operations.

The Sun Fire 12000 system will be used to create a consolidated, manageable and scalable computing environment of database, storage and application servers.

The new server will allow consolidation of several database management systems running on different platforms into a single machine. This is expected to contribute to a robust operating environment with zero downtime.

“Over the past two years, Westport’s container volume has grown by 40%.

“In order to meet our target of 2.5mil TEUs by the end of the year, we need to be more efficient in planning for and moving containers on and off ships that call at Westport. This requires logistical speed and precision,” said Westport chief financial officer Chan Chee Keong during a signing ceremony last week that Westport had with Sun Microsystems, the company that will supply the port with the Sun Fire 12000 server

He said that Westport currently has 36 servers, varying from workgroup to enterprise servers which are running a host of platforms, from Sun Solaris, Windows 2000, to Linux Operating Systems.

“Even though this wasn’t much of a problem initially, such diversity hinders growth, as well as creating unnecessary redundancy. That’s the reason we felt a need to move towards a more consolidated environment.

The purchasing of the Sun Fire 12000 serves a new point of departure in terms of gathering, organising, managing and sharing information, which are all important towards making Westport more efficient,” said Chan.

He said that Westport has and continues to place a high importance in the adoption of information technology (IT) in its attempt to move towards world-class productivity, with the port spending more than RM10mil yearly on hardware and software.

The investment of the Sun Fire 12000 cost Westport RM5mil, but Chan said that the port would be able to recuperate this initial expenditure within a year.

“I believe that in the long run, Westport will save money with this system. Because machines become obsolete fast, we need great flexibility in terms of upgrade and maintenance options.

“The Sun Fire 12000 with its Uniboard technology guarantees that option, while simultaneously reducing significant amount of server downtime,” said Chan.

“What is important to us is that we’d be able to reduce our turnaround time in the ports, and therefore move more containers in an hour,” he added.

Sun Microsystems (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd vice-president and managing director (Asia South) Lionel Lim said that Westport’s IT infrastructure will be vastly improved with the addition of the Sun Fire 12000 server.

“The server consolidation will allow Westport’s database management systems, which are currently run on different platforms, to consolidate under a single architecture.

“Commissioning the server will not only allow Westport to become more efficient, but it will allow it to reduce its total cost of ownership, while increasing availability and manageability,” he said.