Clouds silver lining

Tomago case study – Using CHARON™-AXP

Challenges

Tomago Aluminium had been running one of their key production systems on an aging DEC Alphaserver for the past eight years. While the proven software running on this OpenVMSbased system was a good functional fit, the age and reliability of the platform was a significant cause for concern. For Tomago, the challenge was to find a means of upgrading and modernizing their computer hardware, while avoiding the significant costs associated with migrating to a new hardware platform and rewriting their applications and programs. An emulator package, which would theoretically enable the existing software to be housed on a modern Windows system, was an obvious alternative, but the risk was that the emulator software would not be capable of creating an exact replication of the legacy AXP system, which was critical for the ongoing productivity of the entire plant. An exact fit was imperative.

The Solution

Tomago’s IT supplier, Fujitsu, had evaluated all available emulator software packages and were confident in recommending the Stomasys CHARON-AXP cross-platform virtualization software as the best practice solution to meet the aluminium producer’s needs. This decision was based on the CHARON software’s proven ability to replicate the legacy AXP system exactly, and factored in the active involvement of UBS in the migration process, since they had already successfully completed over 120 AXP migrations. Tomago then requested reference sites from UBS and contacted existing CHARON users in Australia to confirm their positive experiences with the system.

Because the software programs running on the legacy system were mission-critical, the Tomago Project Team made risk minimization a priority during the implementation
process. Accordingly, they decided that the live migration would not go ahead until the ability of the CHARON system to replicate the AXP functionality had been proven, and
these trials were undertaken with active support of both Fujitsu and UBS. The initial migration took place in a development situation in order to validate that everything that
was running on the legacy system was also running on the emulator system. Because of this diligent preparation, the live migration was absolutely painless and took place in less than four hours.

The Results

he migration from the aging AlphaServer to the CHARON-AXP software was completely successful, and has delivered an OpenVMS application that is fully functioning and
performs identically to the legacy system, without compromising access to Windows, Oracle, or the connection to essential LAT devices used to capture data in the
manufacturing process. As Tomago Project Manager Lesleyanne Clifton points out, the CHARON-AXP emulation of the legacy software was so perfect, and the migration so painless that the majority of end users were not consciously aware it had taken place, even though all internal users were officially notified of the changeover.
The overall efficiency of the system has been greatly enhanced, since backup has been converted to a virtual tape application built into the CHARON system, and as a result,
nightly backup that used to take 5 hours now takes 30 minutes. The new IBM X Series Server now running the CHARON software occupies a fraction of the rack space required by the legacy system and reduces operating costs, since it consumes significantly less power and emits less heat, a factor in reducing CO2 emissions. The new system has a useful life of at least 10 years and can be expanded at any time during or after this period should extra system capacity be required in the future.

About Stromasys

Stromasys SA is a privately held company headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, serving thousands of users in more than 50 countries. Stromasys develops and markets Cross-Platform Virtualization solutions that allow owners of PDP, VAX, and Alpha computers to continue to run their business-critical applications unchanged on modern, industry standard computer systems. Stromasys SA was established in 1998 as part of a management buyout of DEC’s (Digital Equipment Corporation) European Migration and Porting centre following the HP/Compaq merger. The vast experience gained from years of large-scale migration and porting projects, System-level VMS engineering projects, and development of Binary translators eventually led to the development of the CHARON-VAX and CHARON-AXP products. For more information, please visit www.stromasys.com.