IT Action implements, manages and supports the IT infrastructure running the bank's international commodity trading operations
Challenge
The bank was running a successful trading operation in London using core technology on a Microsoft platform
Expansion of their operations required the installation of Murex's risk and trading application to support the bank's commodities trading business
The bank required the skills and experience necessary to support the platform for the new system, which was running on Sun Solaris and a Sybase database – new technologies for which there was no support capability in-house
Support for the new system needed to be available 24 hours a day, 6 days a week
Solution
IT Action presented the bank with alternative implementation and support options for on-site and off-site infrastructure location and varying levels of service
IT Action worked closely with the relevant infrastructure hardware and software providers and with the application vendor Murex, in order to install and set up the bank's new system
The final solution included a Sun Solaris Veritas cluster system on mid-range servers, using a Sun StorageTek hardware RAID for shared storage space and a firewall-to-firewall VPN using Checkpoint
During the implementation IT Action worked with Murex to fully understand their recommended installation, upgrade and maintenance requirements, and implemented these fully to ensure guaranteed performance of the application and its underlying infrastructure
For ongoing support the bank has utilised IT Action's dual location resilient monitoring system to constantly monitor and alert on potential issues on both the bank's production and development systems
The Sybase ASE database is proactively monitored to check for availability, space, and performance, and custom application monitoring has been developed to ensure the functionality and availability of the Murex application
Backup monitoring facilities were also installed within the bank's IT data centre to provide final notification of any issues
IT Action provides the bank with ongoing round-the-clock support for the system
Business Value
Access to fully experienced financial IT specialists in the relevant Sun Solaris and Sybase technologies has enabled the bank to deploy and run the new system without the lead time and expense of employing their own specialist support staff
The use of IT Action's tried and tested monitoring and alerting systems and robust support procedures has guaranteed the smooth and reliable operation of a system critical to the bank's business
Support and issue resolution provided by IT Action's in-place 24x7 support operation and service has delivered new levels of critical support over and above the bank's required levels of service
Out-tasking support to IT Action delivered the support levels required by the business at a lower overall cost compared with the option of providing support internally
