Ominous skies over Lodz, Poland by Flickr User Maciek
As we have all experienced, weather is often unpredictable and can change quickly. With the constant unknown, we depend on weather services and meteorologists to quickly update their data to provide us with the latest conditions and forecasts. To do this, online weather services such as Germany-based WetterOnline must be able to rely on their backend technology.
Much like the weather websites and apps available in the U.S., WetterOnline offers up-to-date weather and forecasts for your current location or for desired locations across the globe. As the largest online weather information service in Germany, WetterOnline needed to update their existing data center in order to process the vast amounts of data required to provide these meteorological services. The weather service’s previous infrastructure was proving to be extremely costly and lead times for adding new services restricted the company’s agility.
WetterOnline now relies on a virtualized end-to-end solution from Dell for its wide range of meteorological services for corporate customers and online viewers. WetterOnline has replaced almost 170 physical servers with just 18 Dell servers. The end-to-end solution is arranged in three server racks, each with four Dell PowerEdge R820 containing Dell Networking S4810P 40 Gigabit Ethernet switches and two Dell PowerEdge R720 machines. The underlying virtualization software is VMware vSphere version 5.5. This solution includes two R720s in each rack, offering 12 terabytes of FusionIO (ioDrive2) flash storage that speeds up applications, improves response times, boosts efficiency, reduces storage latencies and eliminates input/output bottlenecks. The solution is complemented by Dell ProSupport Plus.
WetterOnline can now quickly process data to update weather reports and keep users informed of the latest conditions. Previously, the company’s radar service was pushing out updates to customers every five minutes. The old hardware took four minutes to process the data. It now takes less than three minutes to complete, a 25 percent reduction. In addition, the processing speeds of some customized services have increased by as much as 60 percent.
According Bernd Kuhlen, Head of Systems Administration at WetterOnline, “The new virtualized Dell solution has been instrumental in allowing WetterOnline to more quickly inform our users. It provides the technological basis for future improvements. We have boosted productivity and are delivering services faster.”
For more information on WetterOnline, check out their case study.
