LONDON, September 11 /PRNewswire/ --

- Global Electronics Giant Announces Selection of Message Manager and Message Communicator From UK Based Provider, Halcyon Software, to Maximise Business Efficiency and Ensure Zero Downtime

Halcyon Software, the multi-platform systems management provider, http://www.halcyonsoftware.com has enabled the Australian and New Zealand arm of Tyco Electronics to achieve a 24-hour a day IBM System i-based ERP software support model without requiring additional staff or maintaining a constant on-site presence.

For Tyco, a global US$12.8 billion dollar provider of engineered electronic components, the reliability of its IBM System i-based ERP software is fundamental to business efficiency. The challenge, though, is for a relatively lean System i support team to provide around-the-clock support to ensure 24-hour up-time.

A change to proactive systems monitoring

A key member of that team is Abhay Kulkarni, Tyco Electronics' Senior Systems Engineer. "Just as is the case with most businesses," he says, "a fair amount of our System i's processing is done after hours, with end-of-day and end-of-week batch processing and reporting. But the reality is that - again - like most business, we don't have the personnel resources available to have someone monitoring the system 24 hours a day."

A direct result of that inability to provide 24-hour systems monitoring, if a problem occurred with any process, it was generally a case of the support team not knowing about it until a user contacted them with a query as to why their job was taking so long.

"Once we identified the problem, we generally found that a single problem had a cascading effect, holding up all the other jobs that were waiting in line," Abhay says. "If it happened overnight, then we wouldn't find out until the next morning when personnel - including senior management - were waiting to receive reports on the previous day's activities."

"Essentially, it was a classic example of reactive systems management; and we realised fairly quickly that we needed a solution that would help us change this to proactive."

A clear demonstration

Identifying the most appropriate solution for the company's System i monitoring needs demanded of Abhay and his colleagues that they conduct a thorough evaluation of all feasible alternatives. But it was a hands-on session that demonstrated clearly the perfect fit that was to be afforded by Halcyon's Message Manager and Message Communicator.

For the purposes of the demonstration, Abhay and a colleague were located in a Sydney office along with a Halcyon engineer and a remote terminal connected to an AS/400 in Melbourne. Abhay explains: "The Halcyon engineer logged in to Message Manager running on the AS/400, entered our mobile phone numbers and showed us how, with SMS messaging, we could receive system alerts from the server, then issue commands directly to the server.

"The level of control was such that we even had the ability to shut the server down with a simple SMS message. That," Abhay continues, "gave us all the proof we needed that Message Manager and Message Communicator was the ideal solution to meet our needs."

IT maintenance on the road

With the introduction of Message Manager and Message Communicator, the Tyco Electronics System i support team has been given a level of freedom in monitoring and management well beyond what they had expected initially. Now, immediately an alert is generated on System i, whether relating to hardware, operating system or software, an SMS is automatically sent to the support team members' mobile phones.

"When we receive the message," Abhay explains, "we see a reference number and customised message that explains precisely the cause of the alert. From there, it's a straightforward process of responding via SMS and issuing commands, such as retrying or cancelling a job."

Where the flexibility of the solution adds particular value for Abhay and his colleagues is in the ability to customise virtually everything from the wording of alert messages right through to escalation lists and mobile phones to which messages are sent depending on the type of alert. "The fact is that we're able to customise the behaviour of the system and ensure it contacts the right people whenever an alert is generated," he says.

Business continuity guaranteed

"For the business itself, it's resulted in a definite service improvement," Abhay continues. "Problems that previously might have resulted in extensive delays to job processing are now being addressed within minutes; and the number of calls we get from users about delays in their jobs being processed or reports not being received has almost totally dropped away.

"What it boils down to is our ability to provide a 24-hour a day System i support model without requiring additional staff or maintaining a constant on-site presence. That's what we had set out to gain - and it's precisely what we achieved."

Taking it to the next level

According to Abhay, the benefits being achieved by means of the Halcyon solution can be attributed to more than the software itself. Importantly, it's the people at Halcyon.

"When we looked into possible solutions, we were looking also for a fully supported solution," Abhay states. "And from the start, when we were given the demonstration, the commitment from Halcyon people on supporting their product and their customers at every level was obvious."

In commenting on how that commitment has been shown - and the benefits it has delivered to Tyco Electronics - Abhay says: "When the solution was implemented, it was done without interruption to our business or people, and any time we need to speak to someone at Halcyon - regardless of the time or issue - we can!"

So when it comes to voicing a recommendation to other System i administrators, Abhay is only too ready to put Halcyon Message Manager and Message Communicator forward as a best-of-breed solution. "The best recommendation I can give," he says, "is that it's a solution that works as promised, is easy to use and manage, is backed by people who know the products and always available, and helps us guarantee our users the performance levels they expect from the System i."

On behalf of Halcyon Software:

Halcyon Software Limited is an established software company with over 17 years experience in systems management. Halcyon writes software for IBM midrange servers as well as Windows, Linux, UNIX, AIX and Netware platforms. Large multi-national companies, corporate data centres, as well as small to medium-sized businesses use Halcyon Software products to proactively manage and automate their IT operations.

The Head Office is based in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, and its software is used throughout the world with distributors in Europe, Australia and the USA. Customers include Cap Gemini, Avon Cosmetics, Raleigh, Pataks Spices, Burberry, Early Learning Centre, Arcadia and Budget Insurance.

For further information, please contact: Lorraine Cousins/ Carole Chandler Halcyon Software Tel: +44-1733-234995 Fax: +44-1733-234994 Email: carole.chandler@halcyonsoftware.com Web: http://www.halcyonsoftware.com Sally Morgan The itpr Partnership Tel: +44-1932-578800 Fax: +44-1932-578801 Email: sallym@itpr.co.uk Web: http://www.itpr.co.uk

For further information, please contact: Lorraine Cousins/ Carole Chandler, Halcyon Software, Tel: +44-1733-234995, Fax: +44-1733-234994, Email: carole.chandler@halcyonsoftware.com. Sally Morgan, The itpr Partnership, Tel: +44-1932-578800, Fax: +44-1932-578801, Email: sallym@itpr.co.uk