September 1998

BY CURTIS NELSON

Communications companies serious about keeping pace with phenomenal growth and an increasingly competitive market need a dependable network testing solution that can identify potential problems before they affect service. UUNET Technologies, Inc., a subsidiary of WorldCom Inc., and recognized as one of the first commercial Internet service providers, used nearly one hundred personal computers to conduct extensive and continuous testing to make sure its services meet customer expectations for reliability and performance. Normally, this many computers would require a large room and would generate an almost unmanageable rat’s nest of cable — but UUNET’s computer bank fits neatly in a corridor, and has no cable mess.

UUNET was founded in 1987 and is headquartered in Fairfax, Virginia. The company’s network comprises over 1,000 points of presence (POPs) throughout the United States, and in Canada, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific region, as well as connections to ISPs around the world. UUNET forecast in 1995 that the testing solution that worked when the company was small would soon become inadequate. So, it looked for a new solution, using rack-mounted industrial computers, to meet the demands of its growing operation.

SAVING SPACE
UUNET uses computers in two distinct parts of its operation. First, developers bringing up new phone circuits use computers to place calls and load the circuits under active test before going into service. Second, UUNET has an ongoing quality assurance system that uses a bank of computers to emulate customers. The computers automatically dial into the network 24 hours per day, and then log and e-mail the results of each call to appropriate personnel. When UUNET started this testing, the company operated fewer than 50 POPs. It used four computers lined up side-by-side, and an electronic concentrator switch that allowed the computers to share one monitor and keyboard. Although that solution occupied a lot of space, it was satisfactory.

As UUNET began adding more circuits and POPs, more computers were needed as well. In 1995, as a rapidly growing Internet and dial-up network access provider, UUNET determined it needed eight dozen computers to evaluate, validate, and test the communications services it provides to customers such as the Microsoft Network, GTE, and Earthlink.

But Jesse Maupin, UUNET’s manager of capacity planning/NT systems, was concerned that it would take a very large room to accommodate 96 computers, and a very patient technician to maintain the corresponding cables and connectors. "The method we were using wasn’t going to scale without taking up a lot of space, and we would have wires going everywhere. We were looking for a [different] solution," says Maupin.

During a visit to UUNET supplier Ascend Communications, he found what he needed. "Ascend Communications had a similar need," says Maupin. "I saw these racks of small computers and said ‘This is what I need. Search over.’ I was there for a couple of days so I could see how they worked." He knew that small computers mounted in a much more manageable fashion were the solution to the combined space and management problem. It would also give his company the reliability and serviceability it needed to provide maximum uptime for testing.

The computers Maupin discovered at Ascend were CS500 5-slot computers from Crystal Group, Inc., of Hiawatha, Iowa. Each unit is a compact 8.75" (H) x 4.35" (W) x 16.91" (D) and per UUNET specifications, each has a standard 486/100 computer board. Today, UUNET has 96 Crystal Group computers mounted in four standard 19-inch racks that occupy less than 80 square feet of floor space, including walkway space between racks.

Each bank of 24 computers shares one monitor, keyboard, and glide point, rather than a mouse. "There really isn’t enough room for a regular mouse," Maupin points out. "This configuration allows four people to use 24 computers differently at one time. For us, that is an advantage."

FAST SWAPABILITY
Another consideration for UUNET was the volume of wires and cables for 96 computers. Occasionally, a computer will fail or a board will go bad, requiring a quick swap or move to another slot. One of the most time-consuming components of service is cable management. With two LAN connections, a phone line, video, keyboard, and two serial connections on each computer, swapping could take a lot of time.

To eliminate the mess of cables, the company looked for a cable management system, and opted for the self-aligning QuickConnect system from Crystal Group. It’s designed to eliminate cable-related failures and significantly reduce the time required to install or remove a computer for service or upgrades. The QuickConnect feature combines all cables coming from the computer into a single connector, which slides into a fixed, self-aligning connector on the back of the rack. All cables leading from this connector are wired in place. This option virtually eliminates your cable-related failures and lets you remove and install a computer in less than 10 seconds. Costly hours of time spent tracing wires and cables, connecting and reconnecting are gone.

"If you’re swapping two units you’ve really got to perform four operations. With Crystal Group’s QuickConnect you just pull one computer out and push another in and you’re good to go," Maupin notes. "I viewed the QuickConnect as a luxury item when I ordered it. I thought we would eventually get some value out of spending some extra money on it. Now I wouldn’t consider settling for anything less. It’s indispensable."

The small space requirement of the computers chosen, plus the simplified cable management system, offer a combined advantage: Easy expansion. As UUNET continues to grow and requires additional computers to test its service, the company’s solution will grow with them.

Curtis Nelson is executive vice president of Crystal Group, Inc., a leading manufacturer of industrial-grade fault-resilient computers specializing in the design and manufacture of space-efficient computer systems for the fast-paced networking and communications markets. Crystal’s fault-resilient computer systems perform mission critical applications while occupying as little as one-sixth the space of traditional computer offerings. Since its founding in 1991, the company has grown to 60 employees, with annual sales exceeding $14 million.