India`s leading document company selects CA`s Unicenter TNG to bring order to complex it infrastructure

Computer Associates International, Inc. has announced that Modi Xerox Limited (MXL), India`s leading document company, has selected Unicenter TNG to manage its existing distributed network and serve as the infrastructure for the company`s expansion plans.

MXL, a joint venture between ModiCorp and Xerox, is one of India`s leading manufacturers of photocopiers and accessories, providing equipment to many of India`s major companies. The company has an ISO 9002- and ISO 14001-certified plant at Rampur that manufactures photocopiers, toners, photoreceptors, fax rolls and cartridges for the local and foreign markets. The sales function of MXL operates on a two-pronged strategy: It sells directly through four customer business units while also marketing its products through sales promotion agents in more than 1,000 locations. The company expects significant revenue growth in the next three years.

"We needed a solution that would manage our entire heterogeneous network while also providing us with the necessary information regarding any possible system malfunction," said Hari Balasubramanian, executive director of software operations at MXL. "We also had to consider issues related to improving the overall levels of internal service. After a comprehensive evaluation, we found that Unicenter TNG was the right choice to meet the mission-critical IT needs of our organisation."

MXL`s offices are connected via microwave and VSAT links. The internal networks are all Intel/SCO Unix application servers and Intel/WinNT LANs, with the IBM 320 and 330 servers. MXL also has Compaq ProLiant 5000 and Olivetti P960/980 machines. MXL`s network encompasses several hundred desktops, all running multiple applications. Effectively managing such a distributed network was steadily becoming a challenge for MXL`s systems engineers. The expansion plans also presented specific challenges, since network downtime was something that could not be tolerated in a company conducting business in such a mission-critical environment.

"We interfaced with the MXL engineers, evaluated their needs and crafted our solution to fit into their needs perfectly," said Ven Subbarao, managing director, CA India.

The company`s network served a large number of users spread over multiple locations. To this end, MXL is leveraging the Remote Control Option (RCO) of Unicenter TNG for comprehensive management of its multilocational network from any remote location, enabling administrators to address critical issues immediately, whether they are on or off site.

MXL is also employing the Response Manager Option of Unicenter TNG, a proactive management application that allows administrators to collect network wide performance metrics, analyse network performance, and provide automated baselines and thresholds that create alerts when performance problems occur in the client/server environment.

By leveraging the Advanced Storage Option (ASO) of Unicenter TNG, MXL can address data storage issues. At the same time, MXL relies on the Unicenter TNG Asset Management Option (AMO) for software rollouts and to guard against the use of unauthorized software. MXL will also employ the Unicenter TNG Advanced Help Desk Option (AHD) to support its network proactively and address the entire problem life cycle through automatic detection, response, correlation and escalation.

In addition to MXL`s current needs, the company is planning a major expansion of its network involving its Lotus Notes application, which is installed at several locations. MXL plans to increase the scope of this deployment significantly and needs this expansion to be implemented without any interruption in the present workflow.

"Unicenter TNG offers unparalleled functionality to effectively manage a challenging and diverse IT infrastructure such as MXL`s," said Subbarao. "MXL`s choice of Unicenter TNG for management of its complex network affirms the superiority of CA`s IT management solution in India and around the world."