Adoption of SCD to build a new, low cost and reliable
infrastructure to withstand a sudden peak in traffic
However, the Train Service Information service was faced with a challenge. When a sudden peak in traffic to the server occurs, the server responsiveness degrades, leading to customer complaints about inaccessibility and slow response. The degradation sometimes affected even update procedures of train service information at the command center, which controls train operations.
A major disruption occurred on July 23, 2005, when the Tokyo Metropolitan area was hit by a tremor with an intensity of up to upper 5 on the Japanese seismic scale, which centered in the northwestern part of Chiba Prefecture. Unlike JR lines in the effected area, which suspended service for up to four hours, Odakyu trains continued to operate almost normally. However, an earthquake in the evening generated a rush of traffic to Odakyu's Train Service Information server from passengers anxious about the availability of transportation back to home, bringing the service to a complete halt.
This incident made Odakyu to realize the need to establish a system to ensure that necessary information was provided in any situation, and the company started fundamentally reviewing its content delivery infrastructure. Odakyu came to a decision to deploy "Smart Content Delivery (SCD)," NTT Communications' content delivery service, as the best way to resolve the challenge.
Mr. Katsumi Takeno |
With a cache server on NTT Communications' global IP network directly connected to major ISPs in Japan and abroad, SCD substitutes for a corporate Web server (origin server) to deliver web content steadily. One of the features of SCD is that it is designed to be implemented through simple configuration changes, without the need for the client to make any major modifications to its existing system structure.
"Although we also received a proposal for server and network infrastructure enhancement from our web hosting provider, we were uncertain about cost effectiveness because of the unpredictability of what scale of enhancement would be enough to withstand peak traffic," Mr. Katsumi Takeno, Assistant Manager, IT/Card Department, Corporate Strategy & Planning Division, says. "In this regard, SCD has freed us from cost concerns, because it is highly reliable and requires no additional investments in preparation for unpredictable traffic peaks and other extraordinary situations." In fact, he had once been recommended SCD and heard about how its clients benefited from SCD. Therefore, SCD was the first thing that came to mind when he faced the need to improve the infrastructure, Mr. Takeno admits.
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