PhotoWorks Powers its Linux-Based E-Commerce Business with DataDirect
Problem: Integrate new acquisition quickly, with reliable middleware
Seattle-based PhotoWorks® Inc. is the leading provider of digital and film photography services. Its technology allows photographers to send film, memory cards and CDs to PhotoWorks.com to upload, organize, e-mail and order pictures online. In May 2004, PhotoWorks acquired competitor PhotoAccess, and its IT department was left with the daunting task of merging the two companies’ technology systems.
During the transition, PhotoWorks adopted Red Hat Linux Enterprise AS to run its Web-based applications and they switched to Microsoft SQL Server from Oracle to store all its vital company and customer data. Managing this transition smoothly was critical, as was the performance and reliability of the final architecture that would power their Web site.
It was imperative for PhotoWorks to find a fast and efficient data connectivity solution for the critical link to integrate the two systems. Because PhotoWorks is an online business, their well-being is contingent on a Web site that runs flawlessly. In short, Photoworks needed a truly enterprise class means of connecting their Linux application to SQL Server. Their business depended on it.
Solution: DataDirect Connect for ODBC – for Linux
The company turned to DataDirect Technologies, designers of premium data connectivity software, to solve its quandary. DataDirect is known throughout the industry for its standards-based data connectivity. It was also the only company that could deliver a high-quality ODBC solution to connect applications running on Linux to any major database – including both Oracle and Microsoft SQL Server. Alternative methods were simply not fast or scalable enough, making them completely unviable in their data-intensive business environment.
PhotoWorks implemented DataDirect Connect® for ODBC to provide the link between PhotoWorks’ Web-based, business applications and its customer-information database. The company saw immediate results. DataDirect Connect for ODBC gave PhotoWorks.com customers fast and reliable access to their digital portfolios and the ability to upload, share, browse, edit and order photos online with the greatest of ease.
“Our Web site is our business and to win and retain loyal customers, our technology needs to deliver the highest level of performance,” said Jerry Barber, vice president and CTO at PhotoWorks. “After an exhaustive evaluation of drivers on the market, it was clear that DataDirect Connect for ODBC not only offered the cross-platform connectivity that our IT group needed, it gave us the performance and scalability that our customers demand and have come to expect from us.”
