Overview

To deliver reliability, availability and serviceability requires a systems engineering approach to the combination of hardware, software and network. Reliability begins with highly available hardware (like fault tolerant EMC storage and clusters of Sun, HP and Intel-based blade servers). The next step is to forget that it is highly available and make sure there is 100% redundancy—globally.

Hardware and network can only create potential however, as it is the software that needs to remain available. Software must be capable of running in many places at the same time, isolated from but able to communicate with other software. This is the power of service-oriented architecture, and the Enterprise Service Bus. GXS Trading Grid^® applications are implemented as services, which can be run on many servers, some separated by oceans. Services “back up” to the powerful Oracle 10g RAC database system, allowing access from data centers around the planet.

Finally, serviceability of the GXS Trading Grid is being constantly improved. Serviceability improvements allow operators to update software (such as adding new services) and troubleshoot problems without an outage. Serviceability is key in a system that is running 24/7 globally, and includes strong change control processes as well as highly tailored network management tools.

Benefits

Reliable, available and serviceable solutions from GXS deliver the following benefits:

• Reduced risk—your project success is assured
• Lower cost—no unexpected expenses or burden for your IT team
• Improved customer or vendor relationships—no adverse impact to your trading partners