Developer: LinkedIn clicks with Sun and MySQL

LinkedIn clicks with Sun and MySQL

Largest professional networking service strengthened through combination of Sun servers, Open Source Software and Services to power over 25 million professionals worldwide

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

SANTA CLARA, USA: Sun Microsystems, Inc. has announced that the largest professional networking site, LinkedIn has selected Sun's MySQL Enterprise database subscription to support the company's rapid growth.

With a network of more than 25 million professionals in more than 170 industries from around the globe and many more joining daily, LinkedIn turned to Sun when it recognized the need to increase the speed and performance of the open source database that powers its public Web site.

Allowing members to create profiles, connect with and be found by friends, former colleagues, clients and partners, LinkedIn enables individuals to build out their networks with old and new contacts alike. Like many social networking sites, LinkedIn is experiencing sustained growth in popularity with membership numbers soaring and is seeing daily downloads of approximately 200 million. Wanting to maintain the highest levels of service, LinkedIn worked closely with Sun's MySQL professional services group to review its existing MySQL deployment and propose a suitable solution to meet the company's growth needs.

Jean-Luc Vaillant, chief technology officer, LinkedIn said: "LinkedIn has continued to see incredible growth among professionals spanning all sectors looking to build and leverage their networks. As a leader in our field, we are committed to providing the best service to our users, and a web experience that meets members expectations and that starts with IT."

He added, "The combination of Sun and MySQL means quicker access to the latest innovation in an open and reliable environment and this saves me time and money."

With much of its existing infrastructure based on Sun technologies, including the Solaris 10 Operating System (OS) and Sun SPARC Enterprise servers, LinkedIn leveraged its strong relationship with Sun to work closely with the MySQL team to develop a suitable plan for upgrading its database.

Opting for a three year subscription to MySQL Enterprise in conjunction with Solaris Everywhere and MySQL professional services, the team had the software installed and upgraded within two weeks of signing the deal. Sun's MySQL open source database now provides LinkedIn with a reliable and scalable infrastructure, capable of coping with future growth demands, speeding up site responsiveness and eliminating current backlogs during user interaction.

"Helping LinkedIn to scale their Web systems demonstrates the strength of combining the Sun and MySQL teams," said Zack Urlocker, vice-president of products, database group, Sun Microsystems. "Our focus is on delivering customers innovative solutions in a straight-forward, cost-effective way -- based on open source software and other high-performance, reliable platforms."

©CIOL Bureau