Actian > Case Studies > Actian Supplies Emerson Network Power with 24x7 Support for Less than the Cost of a DBA

Actian Supplies Emerson Network Power with 24x7 Support for Less than the Cost of a DBA

Customer Company Size

Large Corporate

Region

Asia
Pacific

Country

Australia
Hong Kong
Malaysia
Philippines
Singapore

Product

Ingres Support Appliance
Infor Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solution ‘MK’

Tech Stack

Ingres Database
Nagios toolset

Implementation Scale

Enterprise-wide Deployment

Impact Metrics

Cost Savings
Productivity Improvements

Technology Category

Application Infrastructure & Middleware - Data Exchange & Integration

Applicable Industries

Electrical Grids

Applicable Functions

Discrete Manufacturing
Maintenance

Use Cases

Predictive Maintenance
Remote Asset Management

Services

System Integration
Testing & Certification

About The Customer

Emerson Network Power is a global leader in supplying business-critical power solutions. The company was in the process of centralizing their IT helpdesk in Manila, with the goal of seamlessly integrating the Australian operations with Singapore, Malaysia, and Hong Kong. Emerson used the Infor Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solution ‘MK’ as the central hub for information, distribution, and reporting. MK was built on Ingres Database and was integral to the daily operations of Emerson. The cost of downtime per business day was estimated at $1 million AUD, making it essential that a 24x7 disaster recovery resource was available to respond to any situation in a timely manner. Additional local support would be required to properly manage IT networks, systems, and databases for Australia. Due to the consolidating nature of the project, interoperability issues would become visible, and Emerson’s handling process would need continual development and improvement.

The Challenge

Emerson Network Power, a global leader in supplying business-critical power solutions, was in the process of centralizing their IT helpdesk in Manila. The goal was to seamlessly integrate the Australian operations with Singapore, Malaysia, and Hong Kong. Emerson used the Infor Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solution ‘MK’ as the central hub for information, distribution, and reporting. MK was built on Ingres Database and was integral to the daily operations of Emerson. The cost of downtime per business day was estimated at $1 million AUD. It was essential that a 24x7 disaster recovery resource was available to respond to any situation in a timely manner. Additional local support would be required to properly manage IT networks, systems, and databases for Australia. Due to the consolidating nature of the project, interoperability issues would become visible, and Emerson’s handling process would need continual development and improvement. To take all this work in-house would require hiring a minimum of three full-time employees which was considered an unworkable timeframe. Emerson needed a partner that could provide both the skill sets and knowledge base to service the Ingres database underlying the MK application, and provide a 24x7 support service with the highest level of support and continuity.

The Solution

Emerson commissioned Ingres to build a solution based on the best-practice ITIL/ITSM methodology. This met Emerson’s stringent specifications for disaster recovery services, and provided day-to-day support and reporting. Initial development focused on the Ingres 24x7 disaster recovery box in Emerson’s regional back-office. This server now creates a replication of the transactions processed through the MK application on a daily basis, with hourly journals created throughout the day. Ingres provided Remote Database Administration (RDBA), which is a customized service for Ingres clients that need high level administration skills, but do not want to take on additional internal resources. Ingres RDBA allowed Emerson to have access to a constant headcount of highly skilled technicians familiar with their environment, and who could respond quickly to any problem. The Ingres Support Appliance (ISA), an automated and proactive monitoring service based on the Nagios toolset, was used to quickly identify and resolve any issues. ISA identifies when loads on the database and MK applications are causing problems, notifying both the Emerson Help Desk and the Ingres team.

Operational Impact

Ingres exceeded all the performance KPI’s set by Emerson Network Power Australia.
ISA provided processes that record and proactively report solutions back to Emerson and led to an increase awareness of potential weaknesses in the system.
Emerson can now accurately plan for times of peak application and database load.
Ability to observe trends within the system and devise plans to reduce the number and severity of the faults.

Quantitative Benefit

24x7 Disaster recovery solution gave Emerson and its customers the security of severe database incidents responded to within 15 minutes and restored within 1 hour.
Fast ROI
Lower TCO