VISUALIZATION

Leading Online Relationship Service Chooses Sun Servers for Performance Increase and Power Efficiency Gain: Sun Microsystems announced today that eHarmony, the Internet's #1 trusted online relationship service, is now using Sun Fire x64 (x86, 64-bit) servers in its datacenters to fuel the company's rapid growth. eHarmony currently has more than 14 million registered users, and on an average day in America more than 90 eHarmony members marry as a result of being matched on the site. Through its union with Sun technologies, eHarmony expects to significantly improve its data processing capacity while decreasing power consumption. Unlike the process found on many online dating sites where users must browse through hundreds of profiles and are responsible for making their own connections, eHarmony's patented Compatibility Matching System matches singles based on the 29 key dimensions that are necessary for compatibility and relationship success. eHarmony chose Sun's award-winning x4600 servers to help ensure that the site's heavy traffic and data analysis were being processed efficiently. "Sun's servers combine the fastest performance and the lowest power consumption on the market," said Mark Douglas, vice president of technology, eHarmony. "Sun is bringing true engineering to the table on the x86 platform. Sun has produced a remarkable modular architecture that makes swapping parts and future upgrades easy. Combined with the performance and energy efficiency, Sun was an excellent choice for eHarmony." Within two days of testing the Sun servers leveraging Sun's free trial program, eHarmony saw a significant performance improvement over the equivalent servers it had been using. Moreover, by switching to Sun, eHarmony can derive significantly more processing power out of the same physical space and the same amount of power it had been using. In effect, eHarmony can dramatically reduce its datacenter costs as it grows into the additional computing capacity that the Sun technology is providing. Energy conservation was particularly important to eHarmony because power availability is constrained in its area -- an issue that affects enterprises in many regions in the United Sates and worldwide. Sun's versatile architecture was also a key advantage for eHarmony. Sun's x64 systems are completely modular, allowing for processor boards, power supplies and cooling fans to be easily upgraded to support future computing need with minimal disruption to eHarmony's operations. Given all the advantages, eHarmony intends to gradually replace all of its servers with Sun systems. "eHarmony is a perfect example of the type of customer Sun attracts: web- driven, growing, hungry for more computing power but needing to deploy in an energy-efficient way," said Lisa Sieker, vice president of marketing, Systems Group, Sun Microsystems. "And it's by meeting the needs of demanding customers, with our servers and Solaris 10, that both Sun and customers like eHarmony will succeed in achieving our business objectives." For more information on Sun's free trials, Try and Buy Program, see: its Web site.