The challenge: Under an aggressive migration timeline, e-gatematrix needed to find a hosting service to meet advanced availability requirements.
SunGard solution: A fully-managed application infrastructure environment, enabling e-gatematrix to focus on core business issues.
e-gatematrix, an Atlanta-based application service provider (ASP), integrates the processes, systems and supply chain members involved in providing in-flight products and services for commercial airlines. These services, described as "above-the-wing", are a large part of what makes flying bearable.
When e-gatematrix learned that its Web host was planning to close its doors, it had to make some difficult choices - quickly.
"Having run data centres in my previous jobs, I knew I didn't want to be in the infrastructure business," says Jeff Flanigan, e-gatematrix's Director of IT Infrastructure.
"We want to focus on our core competency, which is software development and application support."
As he started due diligence, Flanigan established several criteria in his search for a new provider. "My goal was to begin a partnership with a financially stable IT services provider that is committed to the infrastructure business," he recalls. "I wanted to move my environment only one last time, and I was concerned about the financial viability of many vendors in this space. Also, disaster recovery is really important to us, and I wanted to have a vendor I could partner with in DR."
After interviewing several candidates, Flanigan found that the vendor that best satisfied his criteria was SunGard Availability Services.
No two configurations are alike
With access to a full portfolio of information availability services, SunGard was able to develop a custom solution for e-gatematrix.
In this case, the solution included a fully managed environment, featuring SecureSpace with upgraded power, accessible only by SunGard and e-gatematrix staff; managed Internet access; managed hardware (firewalls with multiple VPNs, load balancers, switches), Windows and Unix servers and software (eg, Windows operating system including IIS, Solaris operating system, Oracle databases, Veritas Volume Manager), and managed SAN and tape backup services.
All e-gatematrix has to do is manage its code and content.
But even though Flanigan had the partner he needed, he wasn't out of the woods yet.
The data centre that had been hosting e-gatematrix was scheduled to close its Atlanta facility on 30 April 2003, which meant that Flanigan's company was in need of a migration plan that was not only seamless, but also fast.
"In March 2003, we negotiated an 'accelerated migration programme' with SunGard," Flanigan recalls. "It was an extremely tight window, but both of our teams worked very closely from March through late April to accomplish a complex migration."
The result surprised more than a few e-gatematrix customers.
"We got calls from several customers, asking when we were going to make the migration, when they could expect down-time, and so forth," Flanigan says. "Those calls came two weeks after we'd migrated to SunGard.
"And we've garnered kudos on the migration from Delta Airlines, which is our biggest customer. Credit goes to both technical teams for coming up with a comprehensive migration plan that eliminated down time."
SunGard's concept of information availability - keeping people and information connected - resonates with e-gatematrix's Flanigan. "If our systems were to go down, it takes money out of our pockets. If we don't have an infrastructure, we can't serve our customers. We need to be on all the time."
SunGard is helping to ensure they are.
Share