CERN, the home to European particle physics, chose Oracle Weblogic Server to handle technical applications and copious HR and administrative Java-based web applications used by CERN employees. Oracle got its start by scheduling the interventions of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC).

The nuclear research facility will also utilize Oracle WebLogic Suite Virtualization Option which ties Oracle WebLogic Server and Oracle JRockit Virtual Edition together. The suite will allow CERN to provision and deploy virtual machines faster, as well as maximize hardware and management resources at a lower outlay.

“We chose Oracle WebLogic Server and Oracle VM because they enable us to make better use of our physical and virtual resources and it covers all the needs of our applications with better efficiency, less risk and an improved quality of service,” said Carlos Garcia Fernandez, computer scientist at CERN. “Oracle WebLogic Server easily integrates with the other Oracle products we have at CERN and provides a consistent and stable platform for deploying numerous applications in a large scale environment.”

Oracle Weblogic Server on JRockit Virtual Edition runs directly on the hypervisor using Oracle VM, and thus, eliminates operating systems and frees up system resources. CERN will be able run more application server instances on the same hardware. To prove this, a test was performed on a representative workload using CERN’s APT (Activity Planning Tool), an application used to manage resources and budgets, plan new contracts, order replacements and other important administrative operations, and the result confirmed that Oracle Weblogic Suite Virtualization can work as good as a physical machine. It also identifies bugs and captures the production state of the machine. This comes in handy for analysis in the event of memory leaks.

Oracle VM runs business-critical database and application workloads, as well as set up and directs software applications at a reduced cost. It is also integrated into CERN’s Extremely Large Fabric Management System to automate installation and configuration of a bare metal server without human interaction in mere 20 minutes.

Cloud companies are working closely with research agencies and the government to aid in their transition to the cloud. More prominently, HP recently announced a $2.5 billion contract inked with NASA, our other favorite group of super geeks. The space research giant assigned to HP its bulk IT infrastructure, inclusive of its personal-computing hardware, standardized software, peripherals etc. IBM, on the other hand, has closed a $7.7 million deal with the government offices of New York City, to set up its storage data center.