About Chinese Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine
The Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) of the People's Republic of China is a state agency employing a total of 180,000 people. AQSIQ is in charge of inspecting all goods entering or leaving the country, and is responsible for ensuring correct quarantine procedures for animals and plants.
Challenge
AQSIQ is a large and complex organisation, managing a total of 35 Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine Bureaus in China's 31 provinces, with 19 in-house departments, almost 300 main branch offices and 200 local offices. Its work is crucial to the smooth running of China's economy and to the collection of state import and export duties. Equally, AQSIQ ensures that animal and plant products are imported and exported safely, to minimise the risk of contamination and the spread of diseases.
To support this vital work, AQSIQ runs an inspection and quarantine administration system called CIQ, enabling around 300,000 registered import-export companies to deliver statutory reports on inspections. The CIQ system was running on more than 500 physical servers, and was becoming increasingly difficult to manage. The operating system vendor did not provide updates and patches rapidly enough, and did not meet AQSIQ's expectations for quality of service and support.
Aiming to minimise risk and ensure more reliable support for its large community of internal and external users, AQSIQ opted to migrate to a new operating system that would provide timely software fixes and upgrades, from a vendor that could offer enterprise-level support.
Novell Solution
AQSIQ chose to migrate its CIQ system to SUSE® Linux Enterprise Server, working with Novell Technical ServicesSM to implement the new operating system on its existing hardware. The full roll-out across all regions was completed in one year, on time and on budget, and Novell also provided training services to AQSIQ staff.
"We felt that SUSE Linux Enterprise was the strongest option in technical terms, and Novell had a reputation for excellent services in the local market," said Bo Kong, IT Engineer and Project Manager in the Information Centre of AQSIQ. "Novell always keeps the kernel in the operating system up to date, and SUSE Linux Enterprise is a robust and well-integrated distribution."
With 500 servers dispersed over a wide geographic area, AQSIQ naturally tends to have a heterogeneous infrastructure: hardware is replaced at different times, and the organisation does not have a single preferred vendor. The comprehensive set of hardware drivers in SUSE Linux Enterprise Server was therefore an important factor in AQSIQ's decision.
"SUSE Linux Enterprise was able to support all our diverse server and network components with no problems," said Kong. "We experienced no compatibility problems or driver issues, and we are confident that we will have no such problems in the future."
The selection of SUSE Linux Enterprise Server will help AQSIQ keep its options open for the future, by enabling it to choose virtually any hardware architecture. It will also keep the cost of ownership low, providing excellent price-performance combined with the robustness and ease of management associated with more costly commercial UNIX operating systems.
Results
The rapid, problem-free deployment of SUSE Linux Enterprise Server by Novell Technical Services enabled AQSIQ to eliminate the risk and delays associated with its previous platform. The organisation now has a Linux distribution that offers regular, well-tested updates and patches, leaving it better protected against potential security issues and better able to serve its large user base.
"With first-class support from Novell, we have improved the availability and ease of management of the CIQ system," said Kong. "We can access real-time support to fix any immediate issues, and we receive routine checks in the background, helping us to keep the country's import-export activities running smoothly."
AQSIQ previously had difficulties keeping its operating system up-to-date and working efficiently. With SUSE Linux Enterprise Server, the in-house IT staff spend less time and effort managing operating system patches and security updates, and can more easily maintain the security, integrity and efficiency of the CIQ system. Staff can complete upgrades more quickly, and the rapid response from Novell Technical Services ensures that AQSIQ can resolve more complicated issues before they affect operations.
"With SUSE Linux Enterprise Server, AQSIQ has a professional, enterprise-quality Linux distribution backed by the global Novell support organisation. "SUSE Linux Enterprise has a clear, well-designed patch management system," said Kong. "We are responsible for running a nationwide system that has great importance to the economy. The excellent service and close attention to detail from Novell helps us to keep the CIQ system running optimally."