Managed Hosting

Does Your Company Suffer From:
Data Center Limitations
Relocating
New Application Management
24/7 Operations

essextec Expertise

Tom O'Rourke Principal IBM Managed Services

IBM Managed Hosting allows the client to house their computer infrastructure in a highly secure and redundant data center off premises and have the operational management of that environment handled by a team of skilled IBM certified professionals. Network performance and bandwidth management, responsibility for backup, data retention and archiving are all part of this daily care and feeding. Our clients would prefer to focus on the core competencies of their business and turn IT loose on deploying new applications that offer significant returns. This is difficult to do when 80% of their weekly IT staff time is spent on putting out fires.

Clients choose to host for a variety of reasons, from philosophical to hard cost savings. We find usually one or more of the following triggers are present. First, the cost of running the current infrastructure is expensive and management wants to explore other options. The client may be deploying a new application that resides on hardware and/or operating systems for which there is little or no internal competency or experience. Additionally there may be physical liabilities and limitations around the client’s data center, including less than adequate space, security and dependable power. It may be time for a hardware refresh and the client does not care to make a major capital outlay. It may be consistent with a client’s direction to outsource any functions that are cost centers and not direct revenue producing. In any case, essextec has the skill set and support of IBM to recommend and implement the best strategy for your business.

Case Study
Client: A US-based subsidiary of a global freight management company.

Challenge / Problem / Requirements: The client wanted to move its US operations and infrastructure away from its European hosted environment. They were also experiencing problems with the difference in time zone and skill deficiencies of their internal European IT support.

Test / Benchmark: After several meetings and customization of the original scope of work, the client chose our IBM solution. essextec, a Sales Agent for IBM Managed Solutions, provided a well-priced, bundled service offering at a regional IBM Certified Data Center. essextec worked closely with the client’s logistics application vendor to size and customize this new infrastructure.

Solution / Implementation: A fully managed environment for logistics applications, new IBM System i520, System p510 application server, and IBM System p510 database server. 500gb dedicated backup, 3mb bandwidth, 5 VPN connections for remote sites.

Benefits: The client experienced a decrease in latency and 24/7 best of breed management and support from the regional IBM Certified Data Center. This benefits the logistic services the client provides its customers. After the go live period, the customer may decide to include their Canadian and South American operations into the data center as well.

 

The Solution
essextec provides the full portfolio of IBM’s upgraded Managed Services. These services are designed for your specific industry and are intended to give smaller businesses access to the type of capabilities currently deployed in enterprise accounts - without the complexities and at a price and function that small and mid-sized businesses can consume.

IBM Managed Services gives smaller customers affordable access to the latest technologies, enabling them to avoid huge infrastructure investments.

 

 

 

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