SITA to monitor govt IT apps

By Leon Engelbrecht for SITA
Johannesburg, 04 Apr 2007

The State IT Agency (SITA) is setting up an enterprise operational centre (EOC) to better understand how to monitor and manage applications used by various departments to deliver their services.

Spokesman Elton Fortuin says a request for information for an appropriate solution was published in the Government Tender Bulletin of 30 March. Interested parties have until 27 April, a public holiday, to respond.

The solution must offer SITA:

* High-level "dashboard" visibility on how all monitored applications are performing.
* An end-to-end view of the components that contribute to the performance of critical applications, such as the desktop PC, the network and the associated application and database servers.
* Proactive notification of any application failures and the associated diagnostic information to assist in rapid fault resolution.
* The ability to extract a wide scale of reports for management of the applications. These reports will form the basis of SITA`s planning and communication with departments on the performance and availability of critical applications.
* The ability to consolidate multiple smaller service management centres/operation centres into a single EOC that integrates directly into Remedy ARS.

Fortuin adds SITA also seeks bids from potential suppliers to provide access transmission connectivity and "value-adds" on the Government Common Core Network (GCCN) to SITA on an "as and when needed" basis for a period of five years.

The GCCN is an IP/MPLS core-based network that provides MPLS/VPN converged network services, including data, voice, video and mobility solutions.

"A prime focus area is to deliver cost-effective services in previous-disadvantaged areas, as well as to improve existing transmission services," Fortuin says. Interested service providers have until 14 May to respond.

Additional information is available at www.sita.co.za under the "Tenders" menu item.