MNG updates Web architecture

MediaNews Group last month deployed software that lets it automate how it synchronizes content across scores of Web sites.

The Denver-based group publisher rolled out RepliWeb Deployment Platform version 4.0, said Chad Bolk, a network administrator.

The software, from Coconut Creek, Fla.-based RepliWeb, eliminates the need for companies to manually oversee if content across multiple Web sites is consistent.

“It makes sure all of the images and (Microsoft Internet Information Services software) is replicated,” Bolk said.

MNG oversees 150 Web sites from its Denver-based data center. Content is updated 24 hours a day seven days a week, and ensuring all the sites are synchronized and replicated is a must, Bolk said.

The upgrade “gives us a real comfort level,” Bolk said. “If a server crashes, all the images will continue to be displayed. It’s really IT’s best friend.”

Setup

The app runs on two servers, overseeing images and content, respectively. As MNG papers post new content, the information is replicated immediately. “We have thousands of very small image files, and every other app we had used before would choke (trying to replicate the data),” Bolk said.

“We needed something that was extremely robust to support our data needs, and this is as close as it can be to 100 percent uptime,” he said.

RepliWeb released the update late last year, said Chief Executive Officer Yossi Moriel. “Large enterprises stand to lose a great deal of money if their information doesn’t get deployed in a timely and accurate manner,” he said. “This automates several deployments that were once dependent on manual script writing.”