Case study: Linux proves a firm foundation for Macmahon
Linux manages more than half of Macmahon Holdings' new IT infrastructure -- but the way Macmahon got there is just as interesting as what it got.
Snapshot on www.macmahon.com.au
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Mining and construction contracting
Everyone is eager to see the possibilities of a new job, and Jason Cowie, chief information officer at contracting company Macmahon Holdings, was no exception. But when he began his role at the mining, civil construction and maintenance giant in 2003, Cowie soon realised the magnitude of the challenge before him.
With a 56Kbps modem as its Internet backbone and a melange of ageing Microsoft Windows and Novell NetWare servers clustered under a desk in a crowded server room that Cowie initially took for his office, it was clear from the beginning that the company -- which employs more than 3,000 people in Australia, New Zealand and Malaysia and turned over AU$966 million in revenues last year -- was long overdue for an IT infrastructure refresh.
The new infrastructure was about much more than just technology, however: with over 50 sites distributed in several countries -- many of them in remote areas where telecommunications was deficient and IT support sporadic at best -- Macmahon needed a more-with-less approach that would support its growth. That growth was significant: given the booming resources industry, user numbers at Macmahon have increased from 400 when Cowie started to more than 1,500 now.
Macmahon's IT team, however, is relatively small, with just three network operations staff and 10 people handling IT altogether.
Rather than rush into any particular architecture, Cowie first took the time to meet with business managers -- nearly 60 of them -- to spell out their business goals and their expectations from IT. Several key themes emerged: the new infrastructure needed to tie all IT services back to a single username and password, needed to consolidate all data into a single infrastructure, and needed to be accessible from anywhere.
"Because we are in so many locations, the biggest frustration for people was them saying 'because we move our employees around a lot between projects, every time they move we have to reconfigure their systems'," Cowie says. "When that all sunk in, there was no infrastructure I wanted to keep. We were starting from nothing."
Building on pillars
In a fit of planning, Cowie began planning a technical infrastructure to match the business requirements his efforts had identified. Business goals were grouped into a "four pillars" philosophy in which the project would be built around four key functions: mobility, centralisation/virtualisation, integration, and collaboration.
To deliver the new environment, which in 2003 was christened "Global One" and commenced as a five-year rollout, Cowie identified four key infrastructure areas: communications, network core, delivery, infrastructure and systems. Four key vendors were identified to supply these components: Telstra for communications, Novell for the network core, Citrix Systems for delivery, and IBM for infrastructure.
As part of their selection, Cowie was clear from the beginning that each vendor needed to work closely with every other to deliver and integrate their offerings into Macmahon's new systems infrastructure. "We needed top commitment from everyone," he explains. "This is where we created the very specific partner model with vendor responsibilities, our responsibilities, joint responsibilities, and outcomes that would deliver us a win/win scenario."
This approach required an unconventional approach to areas such as budgeting and margins, with Cowie expecting -- and getting -- openness from vendors in exchange for a commitment to ensure a fair go from the projects for all involved. By taking this approach, Cowie not only ensured that vendors had skin in the game, but he was more willing to embrace new technological approaches with the knowledge that the vendors would be right behind the company and its users.
The Linux step
Willingness to embrace novel solutions became a real benefit for Cowie as discussions with Novell hit on the top of Linux, to which Novell has become intensely committed since it purchased SUSE Linux four years ago.
Novell's range of identity management, desktop management and other tools all run on top of what the company now calls Open Enterprise Server (OES). And while some Macmahon consultants were still sceptical about Linux, Cowie says the careful four-pillars approach gave him the comfort to embrace the platform.
"Novell wanted to talk about getting Linux into the environment, and we had no issue with that," says Cowie. "At the time of the decision, a lot of advisors said going with Linux was a gamble and that we were going too cutting edge. But we believed in the partnering model and that it would get us through whatever issues we would encounter."
Citrix Systems, for one, was informed that it would have to work in its Windows-based product with the Linux-based Novell product portfolio. And IBM, which has significant Linux experience of its own, was called upon to ensure the Linux suitability of infrastructure including servers, storage area network boxes, tape libraries, and more. This proved immensely useful throughout the project, since all three infrastructure players had the enthusiasm and the experience to make Global One a reality.
Close collaboration around Linux led to some very real tests of the partner model: at one point, for example, Macmahon was having trouble with support for some redundancy features in its network. After escalating the issue to Novell and IBM, a conference call was organised within hours, bringing in Novell's lead SUSE developer to help resolve the issue.
"Everyone has wanted to see this succeed, and has bought into the vision and into the fact they have their own piece of it," says Cowie. "If we hadn't had the strength of the partnering model, our choice to go to Linux would have been a gamble: it was new, and other companies were supported out of the US. But the vendor pillars have been the key reason why this has succeeded."
Proof of life
The switch was flipped on Global One on 1 July this year, on budget and six months earlier than initially expected. Since then, the company has enjoyed a robust infrastructure that has centralised user authentication and desktop delivery, using Citrix Presentation Server to give employees access to their own desktops no matter where they travel.
Telstra has supported the rollout with a variety of infrastructure, ranging from 6Gbps fibre links between Macmahon's two datacentres and 1Gbps Office links and Internet pipe, to Next-G routers for remote offices and Next-G data cards for mobile users. A future upgrade will use this infrastructure to move Macmahon's voice infrastructure to voice over IP.
The benefits have quickly added up, according to Cowie. Company data is stored on one network, and backed up continually with full datacentre disaster recovery methods in place. New software can be rolled out within minutes thanks to the thin-client environment, which has extended the useable life of desktop equipment and specialised thin terminals. And, because connectivity is no longer a problem, users have been able to collaborate more effectively than ever.
OES -- which now runs every user and desktop management product in Novell's portfolio as well as Macmahon's DNS servers, access gateways, Web site, file-and-print and other servers -- has played a major part in making all this happen.
In the long term, the company will convert at least 90 percent of its business to thin terminals, which are gradually replacing notebook and desktop PCs. Within a year, Cowie believes the company's entire network core will be running under Linux, as alternatives to the few Windows-only servers are steadily identified and implemented.
"We've had great stability from the Linux platform," Cowie explains. "The kit runs and works well on the Linux clustering, and we've had no issues from file and print servers and so on. The performance we've received out of Global One has exceeded expectations, and we've got a cohesive network. People in remote locations have said we've delivered more than they expected we would, so it has worked out well."
You said that .NET -based software will never be supported on Linux. That's not entirely true; Novell's Mono project enables a large number of .NET applications to run fine on Linux. We have a few such applications at our office that run on both platforms.