CA`s Unicenter TNG goes the distance for the Fiat Group`s Information Technology Services

Computer Associates International, Inc. (CA) has announced that Information Technology Services (ITS) - the provider of in-sourced IT and communication services for the Fiat Group - has deployed CA`s Unicenter TNG eBusiness management solution, to centrally monitor and control 40,000 individual daily jobs and 1,200 midrange network servers that support the separate companies which comprise the Fiat Group.

The Fiat Group represents one of the world ` s largest industrial organizations with 2000 revenues of over 57,6 billion Euros generated by some 223,000 employees in 64 countries. ITS, a Fiat Group Company, was founded in 1993 as an independent company focused on consistently providing high quality information and communication technology services. With a yearly revenue of approximately 300 million euros and more than and 1,000 employees worldwide, ITS now serves a broad international customer base, both inside and outside of the Fiat Group.

A key requirement for ITS is the ability to manage and integrate data and resources from numerous geographically dispersed organizations - all in the face of a constantly changing and expanding computing environment.

ITS was specifically formed to bring together into a single nerve centre the systems and management activities of all Fiat Group subsidiaries. The consolidation process begun in 1993 is still ongoing today.

Strengthened by the application rigorous standards of best practices, the services provided by ITS consist principally of hardware, software, and network management and control for Group companies who apply open market criteria when choosing their service providers.

ITS` mission is to ensure full continuous-cycle operation and availability of the increasingly heterogeneous systems under its control - including Windows NT, multiple Unix and Linux platforms, AS/400, VAX, Alpha and NetWare - aiming to minimize downtimes which are enormously costly for Fiat`s plant and suppliers.

In the face of such a daunting array of systems and quality of service demands, ITS began searching for a centralized eBusiness management platform capable of monitoring, controlling, and troubleshooting a mass of IT systems accumulated over 15 years of distributed computing activity, and selected Unicenter TNG after an extensive evaluation.

The strength of CA`s technology was matched by the commitment of its sales and field services staff during ITS ` intensive deployment, extending the value of the Unicenter TNG solution and fostering an ongoing partnership between the two companies.

Based on the successful implementation of Unicenter TNG, ITS is licensing additional CA solutions, including eTrust Access Control. Integrated with Unicenter TNG, eTrust Access Control represents a comprehensive solution for the protection of business-critical data and applications, playing a key role in managing access rights, accounts and user policy for the various systems under ITS` charge.