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Case Studies | Volvo Construction

BUSINESS GROWTH AT VOLVO DRIVES IMPROVED SYSTEMS MANAGEMENT

Halcyon Software provides proactive system and network monitoring to assist IT Support Team

Volvo Construction Equipment Ltd, part of the AB Volvo Group, is running the Halcyon Systems Operations Suite (SOS) and Halcyon Network Server Suite (NSS) from Halcyon Software. The software was implemented in response to the increased need for proactive systems management as higher demands were placed on the IT support team by the growing network infrastructure in the UK.

Volvo Construction Equipment Ltd identified the need for Halcyon’s software tools following an expansion of the company’s server environment. The amount of servers being managed by the IT Support team had increased, providing Volvo with the impetus to re-evaluate its systems management software used to monitor both the IBM 810 and Windows servers networks.

Carl Seeger, IS/IT Manager of Volvo Construction Equipment Ltd. explains, “Volvo needed systems management software that could cope with a growth in the number of servers but also help the IT Support Team to take a proactive rather than reactive approach to systems management; being given advance warnings of potential problems and being able to flag or resolve them accordingly allows us to add a great deal of value to the business. That Halcyon was able to provide complementary software for the System i™ (iSeries™, AS/400™) and the Windows Servers was key to the decision making process.”

Prior to the implementation the IT Support team were having to manually deal with server alert calls, advising them of possible server or application problems, whether they were already being dealt with or not, now Halcyon Systems Operations Suite for the System i™ (iSeries™, AS/400™) running in tandem with the NSS software gives Volvo advance warning of all server and network problems. The IT Support team is now able to resolve issues quickly before the rest of the organisation even know they exist. The software can also put them firmly in control in out-of-hours situations. A power cut, for example, would be reported to the correct person via SMS and allow them to respond and resolve the problem remotely.

Seeger continues, “Currently we have eleven Windows servers running NSS, whilst previously the maintenance of these servers could prove time consuming, NSS allows us to automate most maintenance processes. For instance, if a fan failed in the computer room, previously we would have had to physically locate it. The Halcyon software tools tell us in simple terms what has failed and where it is, instantly reducing the time taken to resolve the problem from hours to minutes. The Enterprise Console GUI is particularly useful for overall management – we have it displayed so that all the helpdesk operators can also view it - so it’s a very visible tool in the IT department.”

Seeger concludes, "The software from Halcyon essentially does the job of a machine room systems operator and as a result saves us many man hours. Furthermore, the IT Support Team are safe in the knowledge that both Halcyon Systems Operations Suite and NSS will pick up any problems and alert them – often in advance of them becoming visible to the rest of the organisation. In general, Halcyon has been very helpful since we initially engaged with them. Its software engineers have offered us a lot of support to allow us to use Halcyon Systems Operations Suite and NSS to monitor our proprietary software. That they have engaged with us on our terms, to make sure that everything we need to do with the software is being done, is commendable and as such I look forward to working closely with Halcyon for the foreseeable future.”