Oracle Database 10g RAC with Mac OS X Server and Xserve RAID delivers superior scalability and price performance.

Rotech Healthcare, Inc., has built its business by acquiring healthcare equipment companies in medically underserviced areas and incorporating them into a larger, more efficient network. As a result, Rotech processes information across varied and complex software, operating systems, and IT environments.

To consolidate its complex, multisite operations, Rotech developed a service-oriented architecture (SOA) to manage its data. The SOA and cluster technology enable Rotech to use service-based software that interoperates over different development technologies. The SOA uses nodes on the company’s IT network to make disparate software available to each employee in every location. Rotech staff in any office can seamlessly access all the information on the company’s internal network.

Using the cluster computing technology, multiple computers, storage devices, and redundant interconnections form what appears to users as a single, highly available system. Rotech IT administrators rely on cluster computing for both load balancing and high availability, spreading functionality across the network and ensuring uptime.

The challenge of an SOA is its reliance on multiple layers of software, servers, and applications to operate as a seamless intuitive interface. Today’s technology offers plenty of options, but finding cost-effective solutions can be time-consuming and full of integration problems. To economically support the critical functions of its SOA, Rotech implemented Mac OS X Server and Xserve running Oracle Database 10g Real Application Clusters (RAC).

Deploying Oracle Database 10g RAC on Mac products reflects Rotech’s movement toward a fully integrated computing grid instead of distinct silos. “We use multiple locations to process single orders,” explains Albert Prast, Rotech’s CIO and CTO. “For example, we’ll receive an order in Idaho, the call will be routed to our call center in Kentucky, and by the time the customer hangs up, the order will have been communicated to the customer’s local pharmacy or, if necessary, drop-shipped to the customer’s home back in Idaho — in less than five hours. We can’t operate each location as an individual entity or we couldn’t provide that level of service.”

“Try and Buy”

Deploying Oracle RAC on Mac OS X Server and storing it on Xserve RAID was unconventional, but configured comparisons indicated it would cost less than half of what running Oracle on Sun Solaris or other solutions would cost. To demonstrate performance, Apple offered Rotech a Try and Buy program, allowing the company to spec out and configure Mac products for Oracle, try them for 90 days, and then decide whether to make the purchase.

“This program alleviated the risk of trying something new,” says Prast. “For us, it verified Apple’s commitment to customer service — and we weren’t disappointed. The combination of Apple running Oracle basically creates a database that never breaks.”

Apple configured and deployed both Mac OS X Server and Xserve RAID for Oracle RAC independent of Rotech’s networks. The setup was completely functional before Rotech migrated its data. “It is the sort of innovative collaboration between Apple and Oracle that makes our cluster technology work. The solution can scale, it supports our SOA, and it just works,” says Prast.