Mountain View, Calif. – Jan. 22, 2007 – Azul Systems, the award-winning leader of enterprise server appliances for business-critical Java™ applications, today announced that benefits outsourcing leader CitiStreet has deployed the new Vega™ 2-based Azul Compute Appliance to cost-effectively scale its infrastructure and ensure a positive user experience. With Azul, CitiStreet has created a scalable platform that consistently satisfies service-level agreements even in the face of a rapidly growing user base and fluctuating traffic patterns. The Azul Compute Appliance has delivered up to 10 times the computing capacity at a fraction of the cost and footprint required for conventional servers, while completely eliminating the noticeable application delays caused by garbage-collection pauses associated with large-scale Java deployments.
According to NelsonHall, the global benefits administration outsourcing market is set to grow across all geographies as companies seek to reduce costs while complying with emerging legislation and offering attractive benefits packages to employees. Growth in the benefits administration market is expected to be at 10 percent CAGR over the next few years, with the overall global market reaching more than $22 billion by 2010.¹ As one of the largest global benefits-delivery firms in the United States, CitiStreet has $200 billion of assets under administration and currently services more than 17,000 plans and 11 million participants, and these numbers continue to grow. Azul is the infrastructure provider of choice to help Citistreet and other benefits outsourcers meet that escalating demand.
“Cost-effectively managing the growth we are experiencing with our benefits administration offerings requires scalability and performance of business critical Java applications more than traditional servers alone can deliver,” said Barry Strasnick, CIO, at CitiStreet. “The new Vega 2-based Azul Compute Appliance delivers the necessary capacity as a shared network service, allowing us to meet the scalability, reliability and memory needs of Java applications critical to delivering high-quality service to our business customers.”
CitiStreet deployed six Azul Compute Appliances, four in its main data center in Quincy, Mass., and two in its disaster recovery facility in Jacksonville, Fla. The introduction of appliances has eliminated the need for CitiStreet to purchase up to ten times the amount of conventional server hardware. And with hardware-assisted garbage collection, the appliances have completely eliminated application delays due to garbage-collection pauses.
“The huge growth of benefits outsourcing is still just the tip of the iceberg in the accelerating trend toward the web-based delivery of business-critical applications built using Java, but conventional servers alone simply cannot ensure throughput and scalability of large-scale Java-based applications,” said Stephen DeWitt, president and chief executive officer at Azul Systems. “With Azul, CitiStreet can continue to attain the massive scalability it needs and satisfy its service-level agreements while controlling IT costs through reduced hardware requirements and reduced costs for system management, real estate, and power. The Azul Compute Appliance creates an infrastructure where cost savings can coexist with higher service levels.”
¹ https://www.hroassociation.org/file/3480/nelsonhall-reveals-
findings-of-latest-benefits-administration-outsourcing-research.html and
https://www.hroassociation.org/file/3511/hr-outsourcing-study-on-global-benefits-administration.html
About Azul Systems
Azul Systems is a global provider of enterprise server appliances that delivers compute and memory resources as a shared network service for transaction-intensive applications, such as those built on the Java™ platform. Our family of Azul Compute Appliances enables transparent, massively scalable infrastructure that supports the business priorities of today’s most demanding enterprise environments and delivers increased capabilities, capacity and utilization at a fraction of the cost of traditional computing models. More information on Azul Systems can be found at www.azulsystems.com.
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