.pdf version of this customer profile (119 KB .pdf)

Client:

A global Fortune 100 financial services company.

Challenge:

A global Fortune 100 financial services company needed to rearchitect the continuous availability IT systems that enable a core business process. Two strategic decisions lay ahead: The technology chosen would have to meet 24/7 uptime demands for at least the next decade. Perhaps even more important, the company had to select the right operational support model to ensure end-to-end service levels would be met while delivering impeccable availability and responsive performance. In addition, the company needed flexibility to rapidly respond to changes in its business climate.

Solution:

The financial services company concluded that fault-tolerant Stratus^® ftServer^® systems running the Red Hat^® Enterprise Linux^® operating system were the right choice for the technology platform. Continuous Availability Lifecycle Management (CALM) services were chosen to provide operational support: Decision-makers recognized that managing mission-critical environments requires a highly specialized approach they found in Stratus. Stratus’ flexibility, its culture of availability and its history of supporting mission-critical environments were all deemed essential.

Trusted availability advisors from CALM Professional Services designed a support model and workflow that precisely fits the client’s operational needs, drawing from best practices and industry governance guidelines that include ITIL^®, PMI, COBIT^®and Six Sigma^® frameworks. The CALM Managed Services team then began to manage the relevant application, middleware, database and server hardware using Stratus’ CALM platform, a set of preventive and predictive IT management tools.

Result:

CALM Managed Services delivered 100% availability during a production proof of concept, surpassing expectations. CALM services are being deployed to cover the IT infrastructure that supports this particular business-critical process worldwide. Stratus Operations Control Centers on different continents will not only provide “follow the sun” operational support, but also provide a means to ensure disaster recovery and business continuity.