So when BGR hardware was coming to the end of its lifecycle and needed to be replaced, Dohmann decided that it would be a great idea to move from a proprietary infrastructure to one based on open-source software, and not just for the obvious money-saving reasons. "An open-source solution offers advantages like flexible installation without being tied down to licenses," Dohmann said, as well as the ability to commoditize the infrastructure on less-expensive x86 hardware. After comparing the Ingres open-source database with several other products, including Oracle's well-known proprietary database, Dohmann was persuaded. "They all involved higher conversion costs and greater administrative complexity, especially since we needed to convert every single application that accessed the database," he said.

The result: In 2007, BGR undertook a massive migration from a Sun SPARC infrastructure to Linux and Solaris x86 on commodity hardware. Additionally, BGR moved from Ingres's proprietary database to its open-source product. Because BRG was able to keep the same database, the migration was made easier, but it was still a challenge, Dohmann said. Some problems arose when he and his team had to "adapt around 100 programs in an extremely limited time period." The team had to work around the clock, completing the switchover of the entire database system and its respective applications in a single day to ensure the briefest possible downtime for the seismology data center.

Once the transition was complete, Dohmann was happy with the results. "We not only benefit from the lower cost of ownership attributed to the open-source business model, but from the strong community surrounding open source as well. The rapid feedback received from the community to queries on specialist topics is a major plus. In our sector in particular, the reliability and availability of data are decisive criteria."

Now that Dohmann has weathered the challenges of a successful migration to an open-source infrastructure, he said it's beneficial to have a good understanding of Linux before making the switch. "Familiarize yourself with the new operating system and test the installations...on the new system," before committing to a complete overhaul, Dohmann offers to other research facilities that may be considering a migration on the scale of the BGR's transition. And when moving from Sun hardware to commodity hardware architecture, Dohmann wryly recommended, "Transfer all your data in ASCII format."