Levanta announced that the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, also known as LA Metro, has successfully deployed Levanta’s Intrepid Linux Data Center Automation solution. LA Metro, which runs over 200 Metro Bus lines and four Metro Rail lines in Los Angeles, California, selected Levanta as part of their initiative to enhance the efficiency, agility and operational resiliency of their data center.

Using Levanta, LA Metro has been able to add significant new functionality to its data center, while at the same time managing a significant growth, more than doubling their web site traffic (according to Compete.com) - without having to hire additional Linux specialists or IT staff.

LA Metro deployed Levanta’s Intrepid Linux Data Center Automation appliance to free up existing staff from the manual day-to-day tasks associated with maintenance of Linux servers, allowing them to focus on high-value activities, such as developing new applications and improving user experience.

“Prior to implementing Levanta’s solution, our system administrators had to spend the vast majority of their time manually tending to the day-to-day maintenance and operation of servers just to keep up with growing customer demand,” said Douglas Anderson, senior systems analyst for LA Metro. “Levanta’s Intrepid appliance has allowed us to streamline our system management processes as well as scale our IT operation without increasing our headcount. In addition, it has helped us create an error-free management infrastructure resulting in a major increase in system administrator productivity. Instead of fighting fires, sys admins have more time to focus on strategic enhancements such as building new custom applications and improving customer experience. With Levanta we are in a much better position to respond to changes in our customer needs quickly and cost-effectively.”

Trip Planner - The Killer App
One of the major reasons that LA Metro’s web site traffic has increased so dramatically is their new “Metro Trip Planner” – a web based program that allows consumers to type in their starting address and their target address – and then see how LA Metro bus lines or trains can get them to their destination the fastest.

LA Metro had previously written its own trip planning application for its internal call center, but this application did not scale easily. When LA Metro tried to port the call center application to the web site, the web site user load more than doubled – driven in large part by rising fuel prices.

“Public transit is a mission-critical business that runs 24/7. Data center uptime is crucial to their entire operation, both internal as well as customer facing services. System failures due to human errors can cause serious disruption, all around,” said Anil Uberoi, CMO at Levanta. “As a public agency, they are responsible for meeting LA’s transportation needs on a relatively limited IT budget. We are pleased that they have chosen Levanta’s data center automation solution to keep the heart of the city’s transportation system beating strongly.”

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