South African systems integrators and software development house, PM Tech has won a project management tender that entails the company installing an upgraded infrastructure in support of the existing enterprise system at Swaziland Electricity Board (SEB).
The project, due to go live at the end of April, includes the installation of a new Hewlett-Packard Unix-based server and upgrading SEB`s Oracle database.
Mincom will be responsible for implementing its MIMS applications suite, with PM Tech providing ongoing database administration and support.
"We had outgrown our old Oracle-based MIMS environment and were beginning to experience performance problems, so with both the database and application due to be phased out we decided to upgrade now," says Ephraim Kunene, SEB, which is the only power utility in the Kingdom of Swaziland, employing 740 people and supplying its own and externally-generated power to about 45 000 customers.
SEB upgraded from an HP9000 D270, HPUX 10:20, Oracle 7.3.4 and Mincom MIMS 4.1 environment to an HP9000 rp 5405, HPUX 11, Oracle 8i and MIMS 4.1. Oracle 9i was not an option at this stage as the MIMS version only runs on Oracle 8i.
PM Tech has been providing database support for the past two years using Enterprise Gauge, a suite of remote database and infrastructure monitoring and reporting tools.
"We have developed a good relationship with PM Tech over that period and have no doubt that they can provide the best quality of service on Oracle database administration. In fact, Mincom confirmed this stating that PM Tech would be the best partners," says Kunene.
PM Tech specified the hardware upgrade, which has enough power to meet SEB`s needs in the foreseeable future and coordinated the whole project.
"Our customers see us as the go-between, liaising with different vendors to secure the optimum solution. The reason we were awarded the tender to co-ordinate the whole infrastructure implementation project was because of the value-add we can bring to the whole project," says Cornel van Lingen, consultant, PM Ora Software.
"Our relationship with SEB coupled with the wide range of infrastructure support, implementation and consultancy services we provide meant we already knew their needs. This also enabled SEB to meet its objectives of dealing with as few vendors as possible on the project."
Having just two vendors involved - Mincom and PM Tech - with PM Tech coordinating the whole project means that the whole implementation is easier to control and manage, with one point of contact.
PM Tech, whose relationship with SEB started with Enterprise Gauge, now includes the supply of Oracle licences and support. The contract adds to the company`s increasing presence in Swaziland, where it has a number of well-known clients in the banking, financial, industrial and telecommunication sectors.
"We have been using the Enterprise Gauge suite for some time and it has proved to be very stable with no problems since it was installed. It keeps on running and reporting all incidents as expected," says Kunene.
SEB has its own database administrators, but under the terms of the contract, issues that are not resolved in-house quickly will be handled by PM Tech remotely or on site.
Share
Editorial contacts