Assembly Theatre Limited required a robust webserver solution that could be connected into their proprietry ticket database, over a secure channel, for live ticket availability information.

As the intended server hardware was client supplied and the timeframes were short, The Penguin Factory™ was able to remotely install and configure Gentoo® Linux® without ever needing physical access to the hardware. Securing this server installation was critical and was achieved using a hardened system and built-in firewalling.

Using standard Open Source software, namely Apache webserver, the programming language PHP and MySQL database software, the server was configured to operate this high demand website.

The system has been live since the middle of June, 2004 and has performed admirably without needing restarted.

"We had a tight turn-around to get the online ticketing site live for the 2004 programme launch - The Penguin Factory went out of their way to make sure this happened. They were very helpful, giving clear advice both during the server installation and while we were implementing our new online ticketing system. The new server has been an integral part of our success this year, trebling online ticket sales compared to the 2003 Festival Fringe."
Adrian Toll, Online Ticketing and Website Producer, Assembly Theatre Limited.