Secure-24 brings high security and performance to hosting customers

Industry: Hosting
Challenge: To build fully-supported high-performance infrastructure with all the benefits of open source solutions - rapid innovation, choice, and cost-effectiveness.
Solution: Platform: Red Hat Enterprise Linux
Hardware: Dell with Intel 64-bit processors, EMC Storage
Software: Red Hat GFS, MySQL; Systems Management Red Hat Network
Benefits: A single point-of-interface and full support for critical components of solutions stack. Low TCO. Flexibility of open source.

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Secure-24 provides information security and managed hosting solutions for companies who need a reliable, high-quality hosting alternative to in-house solutions. They focus on serving security-conscious, data-driven companies, such as financial institutions, healthcare, tier I and II automotive suppliers, as well as OEMs. High performance and high availability are paramount to the success of Secure-24. This is why they chose Red Hat Enterprise Linux and Red Hat GFS on Dell servers with Intel 64-bit processors when they began building out their IT infrastructure.
Support, innovation, freedom make Red Hat an easy choice.

The idea of freedom of choice and rapid innovation throughout their technology stack was very appealing to Secure-24, so they knew they wanted to utilize open source solutions whenever possible. Linux was their first choice in operating systems and they began looking for technology providers that could meet their high support requirements.

After an extensive evaluation process, we were confident that Red Hat Global File System was clearly the best choice, which will allow us to scale over a large number of application servers while keeping costs down for our customers.

– Matthias Horch, Project Manager

“It was imperative for us to have a fully supported solution. All components had to have top notch support - from the hardware, to the storage components, to the operating systems, the file system, the database, and the application/web layer.” said Matthias Horch, project manager at Secure-24. “We have used Red Hat for many years, first as an operating system, then as a complete open source solution to our operating needs. Red Hat Enterprise Linux met our support requirements and then some. With the Red Hat and Dell partnership we have a single point of contact for supporting all the technologies we require.”

Secure-24 chose Dell servers with Intel 64-bit processors as their hardware based both on cost-effectiveness and performance. “Dell provides us with a certified and fully supported environment. We have a single point of interface for all support issues, including the hardware, storage, operating layer, and business-critical software,” said Horch. “We chose Intel 64-bit processors because of the inherent Hyper-Threading technology, which increases the application’s overall performance by more efficiently using processor resources and increasing processor throughput.”

The digital assets that Secure-24 processes vary noticeably in file size, so the system is designed to provide fast access to very small and very large files alike. Additionally, a file-system was required that supported simultaneous access from different servers and users. “After an extensive evaluation process, we were confident that Red Hat Global File System was clearly the best choice, which will allow us to scale over a large number of application servers while keeping costs down for our customers,” said Horch.

With security as a top concern (along with performance), Secure-24 required an efficient, reliable mechanism to ensure their servers were kept with the latest patches and security fixes. Red Hat Network, which is included with all subscriptions to Red Hat Enterprise Linux, provided an ideal solution. “Red Hat Network allows us to quickly review the current status of all of our Red Hat Enterprise Linux servers. It provides us the ability to view which servers need to be updated, which updates are required, and the security impact of the updates.” Horch said. “this significantly helps us in our maintenance and patch management process.”

Secure-24 wins new customers with Red Hat solution

[Red Hat Network] provides us the ability to view which servers need to be updated, which updates are required, and the security impact of the updates.

A leading global advertising agency based in the U.S. needed the ability to electronically manage their digital assets, such as television commercials, radio spots, print advertisements, and promotional material. Since advertising is a deadline-driven business, high availability and reliability were critical for this customer, who demanded a high-performance solution.

Secure-24 determined that the best course of action would be to implement a digital asset management process. This would improve their client’s productivity by giving them easy access to all their digital files worldwide, thereby saving them valuable time and reducing project costs.

According to Horch, “Our choice for this client was pretty easy. We determined that Red Hat Global File System, together with Red Hat Enterprise Linux for 64-bit systems, would provide the reliability and scalability that they demanded.” A MySQL 64-bit database cluster created a fast resource pool for all stored assets, and EMC offered a solid fiber-attached storage platform for redundancy and additional scalability.

Internet security is top priority for Secure-24, and to ensure this, the application is separated in functional and confidential groups. Different DMZs, together with staged firewalls and intrusion detection systems for the individual layers, are strategically deployed to stop intruders and worm attacks. To keep their client’s peace of mind, generations of disk-to-disk

Red Hat Enterprise Linux comes with top-notch support and services that our clients demand. The partnership between Red Hat and Dell extends that support to cover the entire solutions stack.

“Red Hat Enterprise Linux comes with top-notch support and services that our clients demand. The partnership between Red Hat and Dell extends that support to cover the entire solution stack, and this is what this advertising agency needs. We haven’t had any problems, but if we ever do, it’s good to know that we’ve got experts behind us to ensure that we will always meet our clients’ demands,” said Horch.

Predicting success and growth

Red Hat solutions have become integral to Secure-24 by providing many of their hosting customers with an effective and cost-efficient solution. “there are many areas where Red Hat impresses us–the ease of updating and patching our systems with Red Hat Network, the strong working partnership with Dell and EMC, the reliability and performance of Red Hat Global File System, and especially the support we receive,” Horch said.

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