Betfair has embraced
server virtualisation to improve IT usage and increase speed of
application deployment.
The betting firm is using ControlCircle for datacentre services
to support the project. Server virtualisation allows more
applications to be tested and run on a single machine.
As a result, a
utility computing model means time to market for new
applications is up to six weeks faster.
Virtualisation also means IT assets are better exploited, with
IT spending curtailed as over-provisioning is avoided and less
power consumed.
As part of the plan, a separate datacentre was established for
Betfair within weeks by ControlCircle, so that virtual environments
can be set up and tested.
With more than one million registered customers, Betfair handles
more than 300 bets a second and five million transactions a day. It
says it has taken about 1,000 man years to build its Java-written
bespoke exchange, with an investment of £75m.
Nick Laflin, Betfair utility computing programme manager, said,
"In the past, every time we launched a new application, new
hardware would be deployed. Datacentres are often notoriously
under-utilised, with some server resources remaining idle for 85%
of the time.
"This is due to over provisioning where more hardware is bought
to handle peak traffic demand. We are looking carefully at how
virtualisation can help avoid this while increasing flexibility and
saving costs for the company."
Using server virtualisation software, Betfair's goal is to
rapidly provision virtual machines and allocate capacity to support
specific sporting events, for example, or allow applications and
services to be easily moved as required between its datacentres
around the world.
Laflin said, "The old model was like an arms race. As new
applications were launched, it meant more and more physical
hardware and more and more datacentre space and more and more cost.
Given Betfair's exponential growth, this is not sustainable.
Virtualisation will allow us to sweat assets and increase
efficiency."
ControlCircle is providing space in London to facilitate test
projects. Laflin said, "We would have been too constrained trying
to test virtualised systems in a production datacentre environment,
so ControlCircle has quickly given us greenfield space and the
flexibility to do this, in the timescale we wanted, which was
within a month."
Initially, ControlCircle is providing Betfair seven racks for
the test environment (four for networking technology and three for
servers), cabling and installation services, and connectivity to
other Betfair infrastructure.
Having implemented production systems abroad, Betfair is now
virtualising application programming interface test systems used by
third parties who write and develop software which links into its
sports exchange. This allows companies or individuals to review how
changes, additional functionality or new software will behave in a
live context.
Laflin said, "It is early days in terms of virtualisation
projects within production, but we have an 18-month roadmap and
expect to virtualise as many systems as is practicable."