AutoTrader web site switches to Linux

Variety of different platforms consolidated to reduce cost and improve efficiency

AutoTrader allows people to trade cars

Motoring web site Autotrader.co.uk and its parent company Trader Media Group have switched its platform to a Red Hat Linux system to improve resilience and performance.

The move will free up AutoTrader's internal operations team for other projects as the company expands.

The AutoTrader web site receives 10.3 million monthly unique users carrying out more than 106 million searches on new and used vehicles, and having as little downtime as possible is vital.

"We have acquired a platform that already includes all the core components required, such as messaging and web services, resulting in an enterprise-level infrastructure, out of the box," said Peter Hanlon, chief technical architect, Trader Media Group.

Previously, Trader Media Group was using a variety of different platforms to support various applications across the AutoTrader web site, a situation that was expensive, inefficient and led to siloed data.

The new open source platform has helped to build a strong community where staff can discuss issues and knowledge can be exchanged.

The system also allows Trader Media Group to buy, deploy and redeploy additional servers at more competitive prices.