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F E A T U R E

MMS: The Muscle Behind the Life Time Fitness Machine

July 8, 2002
By James Hutchinson

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Onward and Upward

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	In this article
	Introduction
	The Building Blocks
	Onward and Upward
	Environmental Concerns
	Web Services Glossary
	From the Ground Up
	Related Sites
	Best Practices

Life Time didn't stop with MMS 2.0. The company is now using version 4.0, a release aimed at decreasing some of the complexity related to the previous architecture. Specifically, the two Tomcat servlet systems created administration and maintenance headaches, so the team elected to collapse that functionality into the WebLogic application servers and kill the Tomcats. Because many of the MMS software modules reside on the same physical platform, running the servlet and EJB systems within the same box should allow for easier troubleshooting and optimization while cutting the complexity of code rollout.

But the Life Time application development folks can't rest on their laurels. A number of enhancements are in the works for MMS 5.0 and beyond. A Web services architecture will play a big role in future development efforts; in fact, Lien is considering BEA as the platform of choice for a Web service integration server. This decision will involve building JCA (J2EE Connector Architecture) adapters into key MMS software modules, focusing first on Life Time employee data systems.

Lien views Web services as the key transport mechanism for all future Life Time application development. About the Web service interface Life Time created using SOAP with scheduling system ASP Xtime, he says, "The first Web service implementation takes some time, but it's pretty simple once you go through it."

Turning Point

IT realized the current MMS architecture would not support a rollout to the Minnesota clubs, Life Time's largest membership base. So the group added a layer of servers to boost Java performance and stored member images at each club.

The appeal of Web services is the ability to move specific data elements among internal business systems and to external partners. Application-to-application integration for every business system creates a hard-to-support environment, says Lien. But a hub-and-spoke architecture, where the JCA adapters sit in the middle playing traffic cop and each application has a single interface to communicate to the central JCA integration server, will simplify code development and maintenance while decreasing time to production for new features and applications.

Other key application environment changes Life Time is considering include a move to a non-Microsoft client OS, possibly Linux, at the clubs. This would help drive down licensing costs.

Browser neutrality is another goal, though Life Time realizes this will be hard to achieve. Finding a browser that supports Windows, Linux and Apple Mac OS at the client is nearly impossible, especially as some non-MMS applications support only certain browsers.

Another focal point is software module administration and code maintenance. Lien says MMS is very segmented, letting software modules be reused or shared among varied business applications. The adoption of the JCA and, in turn, Web services will decrease the number of software integration points, thus easing maintenance.

Despite successes, using FreeBSD as a production OS has been a mixed bag. Life Time aims to gain better hardware control and support by deploying Sun SPARC systems running Solaris. FreeBSD will still play a role on department file servers, but the MMS environment and core business applications will run on Solaris wherever possible.

A final--and potentially far-reaching--matter for Life Time is resale of MMS. Just about any industry requiring member-management control could benefit from the maturity and modularity of the MMS code. Although major issues still exist around packaging, support, documentation and professional services, Life Time is eyeing MMS as a potential revenue generator and has launched this effort via an organization dubbed AveriSoft.