Online matches made Customer profile

in heaven
Leading dating site eHarmony has implemented a state-of-the-art data replication
solution from Dell to help subscribers find their perfect match and enhance Company eHarmony
strategic decision making Industry Online dating
Country United States
Employees 170
Website www.eharmony.com

Business Need
To deliver the best personalized
services for subscribers and help them
make a lasting match, eHarmony
needs to replicate and analyze data
from its production database in real
time.

Solution

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The dating site replaced complex,
legacy replication technology from
Oracle with SharePlex from Dell
Software, which is reliable, stable, fast
and easy to use.

Benefits
Improved decision making and
customer-facing services
Fast data replication at a third of the
cost of Oracle GoldenGate
Reliable, robust, well-documented
solution
Increased business insight and
success using real-time data
Streamlined database development
and administration

Based on a fast replication process that never Total solution financing from Dell
Financial Services
fails, SharePlex is helping us reduce the risk of
Solutions featured
potential business losses and poorly informed Database administration and

marketing and advertising decisions. development

Database replication and
integration
Navdeep Kumar, Director Data Services and Security, eHarmony Dell Financial Services
 The success of online dating service providers depends on their
ability to suggest potential partners for subscribers based on
their specific needs and preferences. Providers must also be
able to deliver personalized offers and promotions that increase
the chance of matchmaking success, build customer loyalty
and maximize revenues from advertising partners.

To achieve these goals, effective analysis
of subscriber data is a key priority for
leading online dating services. This is
the case at eHarmony, which uses a
patented Compatibility Matching System
to help subscribers find suitable partners
By replicating for successful, long-term relationships.
Dedicated to continual improvement
changes made by across all its services, eHarmony
subscribers quickly, conducts ongoing, rigorous scientific
research to keep the matching model
SharePlex helps the up-to-date and relevant for the sites
users.
marketing team
tailor products eHarmony invests heavily in the
IT infrastructure that underpins its
and promotions to matching engine and ancillary services.
The companys main production
customers based database, which houses up to 20
on their specific terabytes of client data, is updated
constantly by users online, providing
needs, which insight into their preferences. From
there, the company mirrors data to a
increases loyalty and secondary database using complex
revenues. replication rules, where it is analyzed
and manipulated to inform business and
marketing decisions and personalize
Navdeep Kumar, Director Data services for customers, with no negative
Services and Security, eHarmony impact on live systems and data.
Overcoming replication challenges
To maximize insight from subscriber data,
eHarmony needed to keep its secondary
database in sync with its flagship
production environment. Navdeep
Kumar, director for data services and
security at eHarmony, says, In the
past, we used Oracle Streams, which
we had to use destination side archive
log mining to replicate data from our
production systems to the secondary
database, but this often lagged behind,
which made it impossible to access and
act on the latest subscriber data.
With Oracle Streams, eHarmonys
replication processes were also
managed by a single member of staff,
creating a skills dependency and
introducing an element of business
risk. There was only one team member
who understood the Oracle technology
and process, which represented an
unacceptable single point of failure for
our operations, says Kumar.
In addition, there was no guarantee that
Oracle Streams would be supported in
the long term, which was a concern for
the IT team. Their concern was realized
when Oracle announced that Oracle
Streams may no longer be supported
or available in new Oracle Database
releases after version 12c. We need
technologies that are standardized
and fully supported, says Kumar.
Oracle Streams no longer gave us that
guarantee.
As an alternative to Oracle Streams,
eHarmony evaluated Oracles
GoldenGate solution. However, this was
an expensive option, and there were
additional charges for the professional
services needed to customize the
Technology at work
Software
SharePlex
Toad for Oracle

2
solution for the companys specific
needs. GoldenGate would have cost us
more than all our other Oracle licenses
put together, says Kumar. It just wasnt
a viable solution for us because of the
extremely high price tag.
Delivering data replication at a third of
the cost with Dell
During eHarmonys search for an
efficient, cost-effective replication
solution, the companys Dell account
manager suggested SharePlex from
Dell Software, which provides a near-
real-time copy of production data
without affecting the performance and
availability of production systems. We
liked the fact that SharePlex captures
data from the source database and
provides real-time feeds to create a
read-only data warehouse for analytics
and reporting, says Kumar. With
SharePlex, we have been able to address
our complex replication requirements
at a third of the cost of the Oracle
GoldenGate tool.
Although the core functionality of
SharePlex was ideal for eHarmony,
additional features were needed to meet
the companys complex replication
requirements. At no extra cost, Dell
engineers helped us customize code
to update only the required columns
in the secondary database, giving the
finance and marketing departments
the information they need without
putting customers sensitive personal
information at risk, says Kumar
Increasing reliability and reducing
business risk
With Dell software, eHarmony gained
a reliable, robust solution that is easy
to deploy and use. Instead of relying
on a single team member for our
replication activities, SharePlex gives us
a stable, well-documented solution that
minimizes business risk going forward,
says Kumar. Because SharePlex is
intuitive and easy to use, we have also
reduced our reliance on specialist
Oracle consultants, which has delivered
significant cost savings for us.
3
The reliability of the SharePlex solution
is contributing directly to eHarmonys
bottom line. We get better performance
with SharePlex, with the assurance that
data will be replicated and transferred
in a timely way, says Kumar. Based on
a fast replication process that is very
robust, scalable and reselient, SharePlex
is helping us reduce the risk of potential Instead of relying
business losses and poorly informed
marketing and advertising decisions. on a single team
Using real-time data to increase
member for our
business insight and success replication activities,
To ensure that subscriber data used to
inform marketing decisions is constantly SharePlex gives
up to date, SharePlex replicates data
from eHarmonys production systems
us a stable, well
to the secondary database in real time. documented
Oracle Streams and GoldenGate tend to
lag behind when it comes to replicating solution that
production data to our secondary
database, which negatively affects our
minimizes business
ability to analyze the data and make risk.
timely, profitable decisions, says Kumar.
By contrast, SharePlex takes real-time
Navdeep Kumar, Director Data
replication in stride, and it quickly
Services and Security, eHarmony
catches up in the event of a delay or
technology outage, which improves
the speed and quality of our decision-
making process.
Streamlining database development
and administration
At eHarmony, a team of database
developers is constantly working to
enhance database functionality and
unlock insight from subscriber and
operational data. Based on the success
of the SharePlex deployment, the
developer team ran a trial of Toad
for Oracle, and many team members
now use the software as their de facto
development environment. The tools
and workflows available in Toad have
enabled database developers to increase
their productivity significantly on key
development projects and to automate
routine administration tasks, says Kumar.
If our developers have an issue, they can
also access a wealth of online resources
or reach out to the global Toad World
developer community to find a fast
resolution to their query and move
forward with their project.
Minimizing capital investments and
maximizing value
Many online operations such as
eHarmony have business models that
rely on monthly subscriptions, so large
one-off investments in technology are
often cost-prohibitive. At the outset
of this project, eHarmony outlined
its requirements for financing the
solution over a one-year period based
on quarterly payments. Our business
model means we prefer financed
solutions to one-off capital investments,
says Kumar. With Dell Financial Services,
we were able to spread out the cost
of our Dell Software solution over four
quarterly payments, which was a great
benefit for us.
The financing solution provided by
Dell Financial Services gave eHarmony
immediate access to next-generation
software that is improving the decision-
making process and maximizing
revenues. Waiting for funding to invest
in the latest technologies can be a
false economy, says Kumar. With Dell
Financial Services, we got fast access to
the Dell Software solution we needed,
which has enabled us to maximize our
return on investment and provide far
better services for both subscribers and
the business.
View all Dell case studies at Dell.com/casestudies
Availability and terms of Dell Services vary by region. For more information, visit dell.com/servicedescriptions
April 2014. Dell Inc. Dell, Dell Financial Services, SharePlex and Toad are trademarks of Dell Inc. Oracle and
4 Java are registered trademarks of Oracle and/or its affiliates.
This case study is for informational purposes only. Dell makes no warranties - express or implied -
in this case study.
Enhancing business decision making
and customer-facing services
The ability to replicate and analyze
Our business
data in real time is helping eHarmony model means we
make faster, better-informed business
decisions and provide personalized prefer financed
services for customers. By quickly
replicating changes made by subscribers,
solutions to one-off
SharePlex helps the marketing team capital investments.
tailor products and promotions to
customers based on their specific needs, With Dell Financial
which increases loyalty and revenues,
says Kumar. At the same time, we can
Services, we were
provide the latest subscription data to able to spread out
the finance team, which helps us report
on performance more effectively and the cost of our
make better strategic decisions.
SharePlex solution
While the SharePlex solution releases over four quarterly
insight from subscriber data, it also
ensures that sensitive customer data payments.
never falls into the wrong hands. We
are able to handle extremely complex
Navdeep Kumar, Director Data
replication rules with SharePlex, so Services and Security, eHarmony
we can avoid replication of sensitive
information to the secondary database,
says Kumar. This means we can protect
our customers by keeping their personal
details private and ensure that their trust
in us is never misplaced.