Blue Crystal Solutions

Oracle Exadata Migration for 24×7 Availability and Improved Performance

A leading energy provider faced significant challenges with its database infrastructure, critical for supporting continuous electricity generation. As a company that operates round the clock, any downtime or system inefficiency directly impacts their ability to deliver reliable electricity to their customers. This case study explores how Blue Crystal Solutions (BCS) helped the company overcome key infrastructure limitations during a complex Oracle Exadata migration.

The Problem

The client’s database environment had reached its limits regarding storage capacity and performance, posing significant risks to their operations. Key issues included:

• Critical 24×7 Availability Requirements: As a critical infrastructure provider, any downtime during the migration process was unacceptable. The client required uninterrupted service to ensure the electricity generation process continued without disruptions.
• Storage Limitations: The client’s existing SAN (Storage Area Network) was full, and there was no capacity for further expansion. Without additional storage, the client’s database systems could not handle the growing demands of their operations, leading to potential performance bottlenecks.
• Outdated Database Versions: The client used out-of-date versions of Oracle databases, creating compatibility and performance challenges. These outdated systems were slower and lacked the latest features and security updates.
• Long Backup Times: The existing backup process took excessive time—sometimes tens of hours to complete. This created inefficiencies and potential vulnerabilities in data security and disaster recovery capabilities.

How Blue Crystal Solutions Helped

Blue Crystal Solutions was brought in to perform a comprehensive Oracle Exadata migration and resolve these critical issues. The BCS team, with over 20 years of experience in database management, employed several strategies to ensure a smooth and successful migration with minimal downtime.

1. Database and Virtual Machine Consolidation: BCS streamlined the client’s infrastructure by consolidating the database environment from 7 Solaris virtual machines to 4 Linux virtual machines. This consolidation reduced the environment’s complexity, freeing up resources and simplifying management. The client gained better compatibility with modern Oracle systems by switching from Solaris to Linux, resulting in increased operational efficiency.
2. Migration Using Oracle GoldenGate: One key requirement for the client was maintaining 24×7 availability during the migration. BCS used Oracle GoldenGate, a real-time data integration and replication solution, to facilitate a migration with minimal downtime. This ensured that critical services continued uninterrupted while the migration took place.
3. Operational Efficiencies: After the migration, the client could quickly scale their environment up or down without experiencing downtime, thanks to the flexibility offered by Oracle Exadata. The storage limitation issue was also addressed, allowing the client to expand storage effortlessly in response to growing data needs.
4. Performance Gains: Post-migration, the client experienced a 25-30% improvement in performance on the Oracle Cloud@Customer platform compared to their previous on-premise infrastructure. This performance boost enhanced overall business operations, allowing the client to process data more quickly and effectively.

Business Impact

The Oracle Exadata migration completed by Blue Crystal Solutions significantly transformed the client’s database infrastructure. Key outcomes included:

• Uninterrupted service during migration: Thanks to Oracle GoldenGate, the client maintained 24×7 availability, ensuring that their critical electricity generation processes continued without any downtime.
• Increased operational efficiency: By consolidating virtual machines, modernising the database environment, and streamlining storage, the client achieved better system management and faster processing times.
• Substantial performance gains: The 25-30% performance improvement in the cloud environment allowed the client to handle more transactions, respond to business needs faster, and improve the overall efficiency of their operations.
• No additional licensing costs: BCS’s migration solution enabled the client to bypass high I/O requirements and avoid costly Oracle licensing upgrades, saving the company significant capital expenses.

Blue Crystal Solutions successfully delivered a complex Oracle Exadata migration for a critical client in the energy sector. By consolidating their infrastructure, ensuring continuous availability, and improving operational performance, BCS enabled the client to future-proof their database environment. Learn more about what we can do with Oracle and Oracle Exadata.

Partnerships enable the modernisation of Department for Infrastructure and Transport TRUMPS Platform with AWS Cloud Migration

Partnering with expert IT service providers enables organisations to collaboratively achieve outcomes that might otherwise be out of reach. Through strategic collaboration, each partner brings unique strengths—be it technical expertise, project delivery experience, or deep industry knowledge—that contribute to a more robust, efficient, and future-ready solution for the customer. When aligned under a shared goal, this collective approach leads to smoother execution, faster delivery, and more impactful results.

A prime example of this is Blue Crystal Solutions’ partnership with Comunet and AWS to support the South Australian Department for Infrastructure and Transport’s (DIT) digital transformation project. Working as one integrated team, each partner played a critical role in modernisng DIT’s TRUMPS platform by migrating to the AWS Cloud.

The South Australian Department for Infrastructure and Transport Challenge

DIT oversees critical transport and infrastructure services, relying on the TRUMPS platform for licensing and registration, processing over 9 million transactions annually. With the decommissioning of its primary hosting facility, DIT needed to migrate TRUMPS to a new environment, aiming to modernise the platform, enhance resilience, and ensure uninterrupted service delivery.

The Government IT Modernisation Solution

By combining forces, the partnership executed a phased migration strategy. This included replatforming TRUMPS to AWS, implementing infrastructure as code, and establishing CI/CD pipelines for seamless deployments.

And the results?

• Successful migration completed on time and under budget
• Enhanced system resilience through AWS’s geographically diverse Availability Zones
• Improved agility with automated deployment pipelines
• Strengthened security posture leveraging AWS native tools
• Minimal disruption to end-users during the transition

Read the full Case Study by Communet.

Need help with your cloud migration? Talk to our expert team. 

About South Australian Department for Infrastructure and Transport

The South Australian Department for Infrastructure and Transport (DIT) is responsible for delivering safe, reliable and sustainable infrastructure and transport systems across the state. From managing roads, bridges and public transport networks to overseeing major infrastructure projects, DIT plays a vital role in supporting South Australia’s economic growth and connecting communities.

About Blue Crystal Solutions

Blue Crystal Solutions is an IT managed services company that gives organisations the technology they need to maximise security, efficiency, productivity, and growth. They provide managed services and consultancy for database, cloud, application, and infrastructure services across Australia, with offices in Melbourne, Sydney, Perth, Adelaide, and Brisbane. In IT, it’s all about the numbers, so Blue Crystal Solutions’s are:

• Thousands of databases, servers, and applications under support
• 60+ contracts actively in management
• Over 50 staff across the country
• Three major technology partners

About Communet

For over 25 years Comunet has been designing and implementing IT strategies that leverage technology to achieve business objectives for small businesses, through to enterprise organisations. With expertise across all areas of IT including strategic consulting, cloud technology, cyber security, and software, we help clients on their digital transformation journey. Through our partnerships with leading global vendors, we deliver the best technology solutions effectively and efficiently.

Planning the Oracle 12c to 19c Upgrade

A Victorian health organisation engaged Blue Crystal Solutions to uplift its Oracle infrastructure from 12c to 19c. The Oracle 12c to 19c upgrade was essential to support the performance, security, and stability needs of PowerBilling & Revenue Collection (PBRC), a critical application used to manage hospital billing.

The Challenge: End-of-Life Oracle Infrastructure

PBRC was operating on Oracle 12c, which was reaching end-of-life. This introduced growing risks for the healthcare provider, including slower transaction processing, limited database optimisation, and increased exposure to security vulnerabilities.

For organisations relying on real-time billing and sensitive patient data, an outdated database environment becomes a serious operational and compliance concern.

Our Solution: Oracle Upgrade for Healthcare Environments

Blue Crystal Solutions led the complete upgrade from Oracle 12c to 19c, using a structured and collaborative approach. We began with a detailed assessment of the existing database environment, identifying configuration dependencies and performance bottlenecks.

The upgrade was executed with precision to ensure zero data loss and minimal disruption to PBRC services. Our proven methodology included rigorous validation, post-upgrade tuning, and performance benchmarking.

Why They Chose Blue Crystal Solutions

The client selected Blue Crystal Solutions based on our proven expertise in Oracle technologies and deep understanding of complex healthcare systems. With over 20 years of experience in Oracle database consulting, we were able to bring confidence, structure, and efficiency to what is typically a high-risk transformation. Our reputation for successful PBRC implementations and long-standing support of healthcare IT environments made us the trusted choice to lead this upgrade. By partnering with Blue Crystal Solutions, the organisation could focus on its operational goals while entrusting the technical complexity to a specialised team.

Results: Modernised Oracle Infrastructure for Better Performance

Upgrading to Oracle 19c for healthcare delivered immediate results. The organisation experienced faster billing cycles, improved system reliability, and enhanced data security. With fewer interruptions and better query performance, teams were able to focus on service delivery and financial accuracy.

The improved platform also positions the organisation for long-term success, enabling future integrations, better resource utilisation, and full compliance with healthcare data regulations.

Long-Term Value

The Oracle upgrade has laid the foundation for future innovation and scalability. With the Oracle 12c to 19c Upgrade uplift complete, the organisation is better equipped to integrate new services and expand digital capabilities within its hospital billing operations.

Blue Crystal Solutions continues to provide ongoing Database Management Services, helping the organisation optimise Oracle performance and focus on its mission: delivering quality care.

Results: Modernised Oracle Infrastructure for Better Performance

Upgrading to Oracle 19c for healthcare delivered immediate results:

• Improved Speed: Faster billing cycles with reduced query processing times.
• Stability: Enhanced uptime and system reliability across the PBRC environment.
• Security: Strengthened data protection features with ongoing patch support.
• Compliance Readiness: Positioned the client for evolving healthcare regulations.

Upgrade legacy Oracle systems = long-term value

The Oracle upgrade has laid the foundation for future innovation and scalability. With Oracle 19c uplift complete, the organisation is better equipped to integrate new services and expand digital capabilities within its hospital billing operations.

Blue Crystal Solutions continues to provide ongoing Database Management Services, helping the organisation optimise Oracle performance and focus on its mission: delivering quality care.

Blue Crystal Solutions implemented a fully automated and integrated PowerBilling RevenueCollection (PBRC) solutions to help Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre eliminate rejected claims and delayed or uncollected payments - at a cost saving of $1.4m annually.

Enterprise healthcare billing meets automation

Blue Crystal Solutions (BCS), an experienced PowerHealth partner, helped Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre replace its five aging and manual billing systems with a fully automated and integrated solution for their Health Pathology Care billing.

The Patient Billing Challenge

The public health sector has been under relentless pressure to reduce costs year on year, whilst demand for improved quality and services to the public has increased. The challenge for Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre was to keep making improvements to the efficiency of their business in order to remain competitive whilst continuing to provide an affordable and sustainable service.

Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre identified significant improvements and savings that could be made by replacing their manual billing with PowerBilling and RevenueCollection (PBRC), an automated enterprise healthcare billing solution from PowerHealth.

PBRC is an enterprise-level patient billing system specifically designed for the healthcare industry. It connects to existing operational systems, gathering service data to support real-time hospital billing, therefore automating the billing process.

As well as significant efficiency improvements, the automated billing solution would allow Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre to recover lost revenues that would directly improve their ability to continue to provide a quality service to the public.

Oracle Database Environment support for PBRC.

BCS was engaged by Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre to provide Oracle architecture and implement an Oracle database environment to support PBRC.

BCS performed the initial design, testing and setup of the Oracle database environment using advanced failover features, combining Oracle Server,s thus providing a stable and robust platform for 24×7 support of their new billing systems.

In addition, BCS provided support to the project team for the duration of the implementation and was selected to provide ongoing post go-live support services for the PBRC, utilising BlueDiamond, a specialised and proven monitoring tool developed by BCS to enable a personalised, cost-effective premium support service.

The Benefits of Automated Patient Billing

This move to an automated and integrated system has enabled them to recover an estimated $1.4 million per annum in rejected claims and delayed or uncollected payments.

In addition to this, they benefited from:

• Improved efficiency and reliability underpinned by a highly available architecture.
• Reduced operational costs through automated enterprise billing capability.
• Prompt billing for services, reducing the inpatient submission-to-recovery period.
• Improved revenue collection due to a fully integrated billing solution.
• Peace of mind with dedicated, cost-effective Oracle support and monitoring of the billing system on a 24×7 basis.

Transforming Patient Billing Software with PowerHealth Solutions.

Blue Crystal Solutions have long been working with PowerHealth Solutions, an Australian software development company specialising in activity-based costing, hospital billing, and patient safety solutions for healthcare organisations.

Our collaboration has elevated the Oracle database services available to healthcare clients through their renowned PowerBilling & Revenue Collection (PBRC) enterprise billing system. With PBRC implemented, manual handling of patient billing systems becomes autonomous. And the benefits are immediately felt.

Our expertise in application and database consultancy, management, and administration uniquely positions us to deliver tailored Oracle database services to PowerHealth Solutions’ customers. We can support in-house IT teams, particularly during the implementation phase of the PBRC system, providing Oracle database management services.

Our Client, a trusted leader in healthcare applications, faced a mission-critical PostgreSQL locking issue that halted operations. The outage disrupted access to essential patient data, appointment scheduling, and overall practice management, forcing temporary closures. Our Client urgently needed a reliable and responsive database recovery solution.

The Blue Crystal Solution: Expert PostgreSQL outage support for healthcare applications

Our Client engaged Blue Crystal Solutions for emergency database support. The Blue Crystal Solutions team immediately prioritised the issue, assigning Senior Postgres Specialist and Chief Technology Architect, Daniel Cox to lead the resolution. Within two hours of his involvement, Daniel identified and mitigated the root cause of the PostgreSQL locking problem.

From initial contact to full resolution, the entire process took just 4 hours. The approach included:

• Rapid diagnosis of the issue.
• A short-term fix to restore system functionality immediately.
• Recommendations for medium- and long-term solutions to ensure future stability.

The Results? Fast database recovery thanks to responsive database support teams

Our Client experienced a seamless and rapid healthcare database recovery. The system was restored to full functionality in record time, allowing doctors to regain access to patient data and resume their critical work without further delays. Blue Crystal Solutions’ responsiveness and expertise ensured minimal disruption to our client’s operations and reaffirmed the trust of their healthcare providers.

Our Client praised Blue Crystal Solutions for their professionalism, expertise, and responsiveness. Fei Teng, Chief Technology Officer, highlighted the stark difference between Blue Crystal Solutions and other providers, noting that the niche expertise within the team was instrumental in solving the issue swiftly.

“Daniel Cox is a true professional—he asked the right questions, knew exactly what to do, and had our system back up within two hours. It was a lifesaver for our operations.”

Fei also emphasised the importance of having an Australian-based team, which ensured faster response times and greater accountability. The delays experienced with other providers, some of which took weeks to respond, only underscored the critical value of Blue Crystal Solutions’ immediate action.

Why Choose Blue Crystal Solutions?

Our Client commended Blue Crystal Solutions for their unmatched ability to deliver urgent PostgreSQL support and database recovery solutions. As a company in the health space, they couldn’t afford downtime and needed a provider that could get them back online. Blue Crystal Solutions were able to do just that, enabling the following experience for our client:

• Rapid Response times: from the first contact to full resolution in under 4 hours.
• Deep Expertise: access to senior specialists who bring decades of experience in PostgreSQL troubleshooting and mission-critical database solutions.
• Local Australian Support: as a locally based team, our client recieved faster response times and compliance with healthcare data security needs.
• Professional Execution: A tailored approach that provides both immediate fixes and long-term stability.

Client Testimonial: “A Lifesaver for Our Operations”

“The service provided by Blue Crystal Solutions was incredibly impressive. The team responded with urgency, understood our challenges immediately, and resolved the issue in record time. Blue Crystal Solutions’s responsiveness and expertise set them apart. While others took weeks to respond, they resolved our critical issue in hours. Their commitment to their clients is evident in every interaction.”

A Trusted Partner in Healthcare IT Support

Blue Crystal Solutions’ ability to resolve a mission-critical PostgreSQL outage in record time showcases their expertise and dedication to customer success. Their tailored approach, immediate action, and technical proficiency have made them a trusted partner for our client and other healthcare organisations.

Our Client has since signed on with Blue Crystal Solutions for continuing management of their databases to ensure a seamless services to the national network of Doctors and Healthcare professionals that rely on this critical platform to support their patients.

Learn more about our specialised services for your PostgreSQL Environment.