SELDA INFORMATICA SCARL Deploys Ipswitch Network Management

SELDA INFORMATICA SCARL uses WhatsUp Gold to constantly monitor the vital parameters of certain subsystems, including databases, mail services, web applications.

The Company

SELDA INFORMATICA SCARL is a leading IT organisation in Italy specialising in centralised and mobile services for Executives. Aside from developing and managing the various components of the consortium’s members IT systems, SELDA INFORMATICA SCARL also carries out external activities for its customers in managerial spheres. The company mainly operates in the pensions, health, insurance, educational/training and trade union sectors. About 300 users in 12 business premises – comprising partners and customers of SELDA INFORMATICA SCARL – access the private network managed by the company, which uses MPLS technology. SELDA’s two server farms comprise circa 150 servers and two IBM mainframes.

For a company like SELDA INFORMATICA SCARL, it is of primary importance to have a thorough control of network traffic to prevent saturation that could have a negative impact on the quality of the services it offers. For SELDA INFORMATICA SCARL, one of the main challenges in terms of network management is indeed control of the quality and type of traffic to identify any situations of instability or excess consumption levels that could be associated with unlawful activities, like malware, viruses and prohibited downloads.

The Problems

With a network structure comprising 12 nodes and featuring different interconnected business premises that use networking, Intranet, VoIP and Internet services, SELDA INFORMATICA SCARL needed to have direct control over both the network flows and the service levels of the applications based in the server farm. Control, analysis and intervention are the keys for SELDA INFORMATICA SCARL, as it requires a precise overview on the correct functioning of its network in order to anticipate service disruption complaints from its customers.

Before turning to Ipswitch, SELDA INFORMATICA SCARL had used a mix of tools and solutions that were in part purchased and in part proprietary. These components were not aggregated, were complicated to analyse as a whole and above all were difficult to use for staff without the necessary expertise.

The Solution

After a series of assessments of the products available on the market, SELDA INFORMATICA SCARL contacted Apex, a Gold Partner of Ipswitch, to assess the implementation of WhatsUp Gold, Ipswitch’s integrated solution for the monitoring of networks, servers, VoIP, applications and wireless devices.

“The product immediately appeared to be complete, easy to introduce to the network environment and easy to implement and configure. The dashboards can be aggregated to provide a single control medium. Another interesting feature is the product’s ability to control the functions of the underlying system and all the applications it runs, including by aggregating data and isolating critical factors through alarm signals”, commented Liberato Antonio Cafiero, Manager of SELDA INFORMATICA SCARL’s Technological Systems, Networks and Infrastructure. “We are also very satisfied with our partner Apex. From the outset we established an excellent relationship of trust and collaboration”, adds Cafiero.

Quick and easy implementation

It took just a few days to configure WhatsUp Gold. “After four days of it being installed and a couple of days of training, we had a suite of dashboards that completely monitored our systems. We were able to implement the product configurations to adapt them to our requirements with just a few days of support”, states Cafiero.

Flexibility, ease of use and excellent performance are the main reasons that led Selda to choose Ipswitch. “It was essential for the product to be flexible and configurable on the basis of our requirements. The configuration had to be simple and not require any special skills or long periods of training. WhatsUp Gold guarantees all of this”.

The cost of the licences was also an important factor behind SELDA INFORMATICA SCARL’s choice: “The excellent cost/ benefit ratio and the limited TCO of the product, that appears to be complete straight from the basic platform, was certainly a factor in our decision to adopt this solution”, continues Cafiero.

The Advantages

SELDA INFORMATICA SCARL has been using WhatsUp Gold for a few months to control a large number of devices. The company’s network comprises 12 nodes; with Ipswitch’s solution the traffic levels in each node are controlled. By monitoring in real time it can carry out analyses and intervene on suspicious traffic before any damage is caused.

SELDA INFORMATICA SCARL also uses WhatsUp Gold to constantly monitor the vital parameters of certain subsystems, including databases, mail services, web applications.

The company has seen immediate benefits following the implementation of WhatsUp Gold. “Slowing down of applications, workstations that develop abnormal and excessive traffic, congestion on the databases and service disruptions for applications and the web can happen often. Thanks to WhatsUp Gold we are able to conduct prompt analyses on the causes of problems and tackle them quickly, thus significantly reducing costs and analysis timeframes even for complex problems”, explains Cafiero.

There is also no shortage of advantages from a financial perspective. “Avoiding shutdowns resulting from technical glitches immediately translates into financial gains. Moreover, for our customers, who are mainly pension schemes and healthcare funds operating at a national level, potential service disruptions or systems malfunctions would produce major damage to their image and efficiency”.

“We are very pleased with Ipswitch’s solution. WhatsUp Gold is a complete product that is easy to use and implement and which can control complex factors in a simple manner. We plan to increase the number of devices it controls and integrate the WhatsUp Gold platform with other Ipswitch solutions, like AlertFox for the monitoring of website uptime and performance, with the aim of covering even more parts of our network through a single control platform”, concludes Cafiero.