Case Study: Andalys Ltd
In Order To Be Close to Its Readers Across the World, a Web Site Moved to the U.S.
"Readers around the world have access to the Avec Mobile Web site at any hour of the day, any day of the year.
There's not a really a quiet moment on the site. When the traffic on Avec Mobile increased to a new level,
we decided to move our servers from Finland to the U.S. Working together with BF Engineering, we built a whole new Web server and migrated existing databases to the new site so smoothly that not even a reader in Rotorua,
New Zealand couldn't have noticed any disruption on our pages."
Ari Hakkarainen, Andalys Ltd.
Andalys Ltd provides consulting services for companies marketing ICT product and services, writes content for online and print media, and publishes Avec Mobile publication on the Internet. The clients for Andalys include small and medium size businesses, corporations, and media companies. Avec Mobile Internet publication provides practical advice for consumers on mobile phones, GPS devices, cameras and wireless technologies.
The majority of Avec Mobile readers are from the U.S., UK, Australia, English-speaking regions of Asia and from Europe. Originally hosted in Finland, it soon became obvious that Finland wasn't the optimal location for a global online publication. Access times for the majority of readers were far slower than access times for the minority of readers. The solution was simple; move the Web site closer to its readers. In effect, it meant moving the Web server closer to global Internet traffic hubs.
A U.S Internet service company was selected as the provider for the Internet server and bandwidth capacity. The Avec Mobile production server comprises a database that is hosting the published articles, pictures, videos and software. First, the new server that included a number of new features was built on the new site, and thoroughly tested. Once everything was working, latest data from the live site was migrated to the new server.
The Avec Mobile Web site is built on Typo3 Content Management System with a number of custom PHP programs.
The result was a new system that enabled faster access for Avec Mobile readers and allowed the development of new services for the site. System administrators have enjoyed more advanced tools that lets them manage the site content, email, reader comments, spam, and other daily tasks. After the successful project, BF-Engineering has continued to consult and develop system administration tools for Avec Mobile.
