Even More Virtually Certain Than Last Time!

The level of interest in our last article about virtualisation was high and so, back by popular demand, Director John Bilyj returns to the blog this week to give a practical example of how the technology can work in an active business environment.

Ripon Select Foods is a large manufacturing operation in (you guessed it) Ripon, North Yorkshire, and their processing lines are monitored at many points with weighers which measure the flow of raw materials in and finished product out. The weighers are all connected to Atlas systems, distributed throughout the plant which take the weights and, as well as providing visibility for operatives of how lines are performing, feed the figures back regularly to the main system, which runs the Atlas ‘BarRed’ application, providing them with complete and live capacity & performance analysis of the whole plant.

The issue was that the 6 distributed systems are all slightly different, as different weighers throughout the plant provide their own, usually unique, interface for taking readings, so each system has its own unique combination of interfaces.

The mission was to provide backup in case of the failure of any of these individual systems. Atlas came up with a solution which provides a single machine with 6 VMs, each with an exact image of one of the systems out in the works. In case of the failure of any of these, rather than the machine being disconnected for a time whilst being repaired or replaced, and the attendant loss of vital production information, the PC with the virtual machines is connected in its place and the VM configured for that system is started and production monitoring is continued with minimal loss of information. The fact that one PC covers all the systems out in the works made the project a viable and valuable business backup solution.

If you have a similar requirement that lends itself to virtualisation, or indeed have production monitoring requirements of your own that Atlas could help you with, please contact your friendly Atlas consultant on 0333 666 3330 and discuss this mission-critical component with him / her.

One For The Ladies - A Man In Uniform!

Many of you will have met and spoken to Malcolm Black, who was a valued member of our sales team until he left Atlas in 2010 to join the Royal Navy. He is progressing very well with his Officer Training and really enjoying the experience.

Malcolm’s fame in the Navy appears to be growing following an appearance on the Discovery Channel this week! As part of his training he was lucky enough to go aboard the flagship aircraft carrier “HMS Ark Royal” on her final voyage for her final deployment before being decommissioned. It just so happened that the camera crew were aboard filming whilst the Officer Cadets were preparing for an exam. The highlight of the show was hearing the results being called out, “Mr Black, top of the class, 99%”. A big well done Malcolm, keep up the hard work.

The series has been interesting to date as it follows the illustrious ship during its mission to head up the largest International Naval peacetime exercise whilst trying avoid the ash cloud and experiencing having engineering issues forcing her to dock back at Portsmouth. You can watch the show on the Discovery Channel at 10pm each Tuesday. Episodes are currently repeated on Thursday at 10pm, Saturday 3pm and Sunday at 5pm. Keep an eye out for Malcolm.

Globe Works – The Colourful History Of Our New Home

Company secretary Daphne Butler has delved into the archives and explored the history of our new offices at Globe Works. From its build in 1895 to its use today as offices, the colourful history of a remarkable building is all here...

Globe Works is a building with attitude; it has history; is well-connected; and has always embraced new trends and technology. It stands four-square to the weather, in Cheshire, on Hospital Street, the east road to Manchester and London from Nantwich. Constructed out of brick in 1895, Globe Works was a state-of-the-art factory for the tanning industry which along with salt production had long been fundamental to local prosperity, but times and technology change, leather tanning dwindled, and Globe Works fairly soon was re-utilised as a warehouse for animal feed. Thus it remained until the 1970s when it was abandoned, became derelict, a ‘brownfield’ site, dangerous, fenced off; a blot on the genteel townscape.

Probably it would have all ended there, but in 1981 Crewe and Nantwich Council, with some relief, approved the plans of a local businessman with an eye for a bargain, to rescue the shell and restore it as Globe House, a five-bedroom home for his family plus an adjacent workshop for his repro furniture business. A ‘grand design’ that was an eco-friendly mix of reclaimed materials, original features and modern amenities including, in addition to central heating and double glazing, a heat-exchange system, an indoor swimming pool, a billiard room and a music theatre. Pool parties and music sessions became a source of notorious gossip.

Attracted by this trendy life-style, a local dentist put in an un-refusable offer for the property which was promptly accepted. But the odour of chlorine proved too much for his wife; the swimming pool was filled-in, and the heat-exchange system abandoned. The dentist experienced a professional hiatus, and another dentistry team took over, living in the main house and converting the one-time workshop into a modern surgery. The business grew to enjoy a very respectable reputation around the town.

Arthritis in the thumb joints (bad news for a dentist) forced early retirement, and so it was that in August 1991 John and Daphne Butler moved into Globe House complete with two teenage children, two large hounds, one Siamese cat, and a live-in Granny. They had come from ‘down south’ escaping to the country long before the notion became a gleam in a TV producer’s eye.

An out-sourced job turned into Globe Enterprises, and in 1996 the resulting IT business, Atlas Business, began trading with offices in the now updated and refurbished former workshop. Atlas grew tentatively but steadily. Cat-5 cabling networked Globe House, fibre-optics connected it to the internet. In 2001, a data centre was added just 4 miles away in the ‘Secret Nuclear Bunker’ at Hack Green – a new venture – what we might now call ‘cloud computing’.

By 2003 Atlas had out-grown its accommodation and moved out.

Seven years later, like the prodigal son, Atlas returned, now considerably bigger and stronger, to occupy the whole site, with space to spare for growth. ‘Globe Works’ etched high onto the south wall was re-adopted; an up-front Victorian building with modern high-speed links extending around the globe; a fitting and poignant location for a 21st century IT company.

Atlas Business - IT that works @ Globe Works – Moving still faster and better than the world around it!