Tropics Software Deploys VMware Infrastrcture

Tropics Software Technologies (Tropics Software), a provider of workers compensation software, has deployed VMware’s virtualization and management suite, VMware Infrastructure 3, as the foundation of a robust business-continuity solution.

Headquartered in Sarasota, FL, Tropics Software offers workers’ compensation software to benefits administrators and insurance companies throughout the U.S. As the company has grown, its server environment also grew to include more than 30 physical machines, and the company’s data-protection requirements could no longer be addressed by simple tape backups. Tropics needed a comprehensive business-continuity solution and a way to contain server sprawl. As a small business with under 50 employees, Tropics searched for a solution that was as practical and affordable as it was reliable. VMware Infrastructure allowed the company to easily virtualize mission-critical applications, such as Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft Office, and custom applications running off of Oracle databases, and migrate the applications from physical servers to virtual machines.

Using networked storage, Tropics Software is able to take snapshots of its virtual machines automatically multiple times each day and back them up to a remote location, providing a high degree of data protection.

“Most of the business-continuity solutions on the market seemed to be really expensive or really complicated — usually both,” said Paul Troyer, Web and Systems Administrator for Tropics Software. “The VMware platform was simple and straightforward. We were able to hit the ground running and implement a reliable and scalable business-continuity plan simply and quickly.”

In addition to shoring up its business-continuity capabilities, VMware Infrastructure has significantly streamlined Tropic Software’s IT infrastructure. By consolidating its physical servers onto just two VMware ESX hypervisors, the company has experienced a significant decrease in power and cooling costs. At the same time, this consolidated virtual infrastructure has enabled the company to defer the purchase of new hardware and has increased the ease of administration.

“With VMware VirtualCenter, I can see and manage all of my virtual machines from one location,” said Troyer. “Additionally, features like VMotion let me do live migration of running virtual machines from one physical server to another to maximize application availability. These tools save a lot of administration time, which helps level the playing field for companies like ours that have a small IT staff.”