Case Study
Fortune 100 Retailer Eliminates
Unplanned Downtime for Mexico Operations with Penguin Solutions
Fault-Tolerant Computing Platforms and Moneta
Challenge
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• Required continuous computing availability to process 75+ million transactions per month without downtime
Complex, country-specific payment regulations
Needed reliable hardware and local, in-region support
Existing solutions were costly and difficult to maintain
Risks of downtime posed a significant financial impact
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Solution
Benefits
Stratus Advanced Transaction Router (ATR) software
NCR Atleos Authentic software
• Stratus ftServer® platform from Penguin Solutions
System integration, service, and support from Moneta
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Removed the complexity of transaction switches
Standardized payment processing with NCR Atleos Authentic solution requirements
Maintained 99.999% uptime with no unplanned downtime
A Fortune 100 multinational retailer faced operational challenges with transaction complexity and service availability across its Mexico operations. At the center of the issue was commodity compute hardware that couldn't meet the processing demands of high transaction volumes and evolving regulatory requirements.
After reviewing market options for their mission-critical transaction processing needs, the retailer’s country division—with 3,000+ retail locations—engaged Moneta, a trusted technology provider with decades of experience in the retail space and a deep understanding of their customers’ evolving operational demands. Leveraging a longstanding partnership with Penguin Solutions and its Stratus-branded fault tolerant platforms, Moneta recommended Penguin Solutions Stratus ftServer—a continuously available, computing platform purpose-built to prevent unplanned downtime and ensure transaction integrity at scale.
Initial deployment success led to an ongoing agreement that combines Moneta's full-service rollout and support with the proven availability of Penguin Solutions’ fault-tolerant hardware platforms. The result: resilient, cost-effective, compliant transactions backed by superior computing reliability.
impact. This large retailer required a platform that could deliver both accurate and reliable processing at scale, which was critical to protecting revenue and customer trust.
In Mexico, retailers must comply with requirements around taxation, anti-money laundering, and consumer protection that differ significantly from U.S. standards. These stringent, country-specific payment regulations and service expectations meant selecting the wrong transaction technology partner could cause significant operational and business risks.
While Stratus platforms are designed to be simple, protected, and autonomous, regional preferences—such as the need for on-site support in Mexico—meant this retailer needed a solution combining reliable hardware with localized technical expertise.
In addition, the company was looking to save costs while ensuring uptime. While commodity solutions provided some functionality, designing and configuring them for fault tolerance was both expensive and challenging to maintain. With even a minute of downtime potentially leading to millions in lost revenue, the retailer needed to achieve higher levels of uptime while keeping infrastructure costs under control.
Fault-tolerant reliability, customization, and support with Stratus ftServer and Moneta
Moneta and Penguin Solutions developed a joint and customized strategy to help the retailer simplify operations and maximize uptime. This started with Stratus ftServer—an easily serviceable, fault-tolerant advanced computing platform designed to run mission-critical applications with no downtime or data loss. The platform’s hardware-based, fully redundant architecture delivers five nines availability with proactive health monitoring and self-healing capabilities.
For this retailer, the Stratus ftServer deployment created a robust payment processing infrastructure across multiple locations. They implemented payment processing systems at two active sites—a primary site and a disaster recovery site—that work simultaneously to handle transaction loads, with plans to add a third production site the following year. Across all their critical business applications, the retailer deployed 17 Stratus ftServer platforms between these two locations during the year-long rollout, ensuring comprehensive coverage for their mission-critical operations.
Next came the deployment of NCR Atleos Authentic software, a modern EFT authorization and routing system, running alongside the Stratus Advanced Transaction Router (ATR) software on the fault-tolerant Stratus ftServer platforms. Stratus ATR software ensures the continuous flow of traffic throughout global or localized networks, and with NCR Atleos Authentic, the solution handles massive transaction volumes with maximum throughput.
Custom-built for reliability, Stratus ATR is dynamically configurable, offering an easy-to-use command interface and integrated monitoring capabilities to deliver continuous closed-loop transactions. The system maintains client and server connections even if application servers become overloaded or unavailable—seamlessly routing requests to remote ATR servers and reconciling them once primary servers return online.
Finally, recognizing that even the best technology requires expert support, Moneta's full-service support model addressed the retailer’s need for local, in-region expertise.
Rather than relying on remote support, Moneta ensured quick assistance for any deployment, implementation, or operational issue with on-site personnel. This approach gave the company immediate access to expert help while freeing up local staff to focus on core business operations instead of managing the platforms.
Transforming transaction reliability and business resilience
The combined solution of Stratus fault tolerant computing platforms and Moneta service delivered measurable improvements across the retailer’s most critical operational areas, including:
Reduced downtime
More "nines" mean less downtime and protected revenue. The retailer achieved five nines of uptime (99.999%) with the Stratus ftServer platform, meaning systems could experience just over a minute of unplanned downtime per year on average.
For a business processing 75+ million transactions monthly, this reliability translates directly to revenue protection. Given that an hour of downtime now costs enterprises between $1 million and $5 million, the difference between four nines (52 minutes per year of downtime) and five nines of uptime is substantial.
Beyond the monetary impact of unplanned downtime, for a large retailer, downtime leads to transaction interruptions, which negatively impacts the customer experience. If transaction interruptions occur regularly, customers may choose to take their business elsewhere.
Protection of in-flight data
Commodity hardware is readily available but can be expensive to monitor and maintain over time. In addition, failure of this hardware can lead to sensitive data loss and reputation damage. The redundant computing architecture of the Stratus ftServer platform protects in-flight data in the event of component failure to ensure data integrity.
From a cost perspective, this means less time and money spent restoring and validating data. It also frees up IT resources for teams to focus on other high-priority tasks, such as improving network security.
Increased compliance
Stratus and Moneta work closely with global leaders in retail and banking technology to test and design reliable routing software. For large retail clients, this alignment increases compliance and reduces complexity. Instead of going through the dual process of selecting a third-party provider and vetting them, the company enjoys out-of-the-box adherence to country-specific regulations—critical for seamless operation in markets like Mexico.
Improved automation
For this retailer, automation proved crucial during high-traffic periods. Beyond seasonal peaks, Mexican retailers face additional sales events that create sudden transaction spikes—exactly when system failures would be most damaging.
The retailer deployed NCR Atleos Authentic running on Stratus ftServer platforms alongside Stratus ATR software. This powerful combination delivers 99.999% availability critical for high-volume transaction processing, with NCR Atleos Authentic handling over 10,000 transactions per second.
The Stratus ATR software adds an intelligent routing layer, maintaining client and server connections even if application servers become overloaded or unavailable. When traffic spikes occur, ATR seamlessly routes requests to available servers and reconciles transactions once primary servers are back online. Meanwhile, NCR Atleos Authentic's highly configurable architecture enables rapid response to changing business needs, all protected by the Stratus ftServer platform’s fault-tolerant hardware design.
Penguin Solutions, Moneta, and the future of reliable retail transaction
Large retailers contend with a dual challenge: increased transaction volumes and shrinking customer tolerance for delays or failed purchases. Combined with evolving country-specific compliance rules, retailers need fault-tolerant solutions that are reliable, automated, and future-ready.
For Penguin Solutions and Moneta, what began with one large Fortune 100 retailer with significant operations in Mexico has led to continued market adoption as more businesses recognize the need for simple, sustainable transactions.
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