Ingwe Coal Corporation Limited, the world`s third largest publicly-owned coal mining company, is outsourcing the management of its networking infrastructure to Dimension Data Networking.
According to Hannes Pretorius, manager - Information Technology at Ingwe`s Johannesburg head office, one of the key benefits of the Dimension Data Managed Online Networks (MON) service is peace of mind. A range of round-the-clock remote management and operations services for Ingwe Coal`s mission-critical wide area network (WAN) infrastructure is provided.
"With network technology moving so rapidly it has become almost impossible for Ingwe to keep pace with the training and human resource requirements necessary to manage and maintain an enterprise-wide infrastructure of this size," he says.
"We realised that we must apply ourselves to our core competencies. With Dimension Data`s assistance we no longer need the technical know-how required to keep our network - with its many mission-critical applications - up and running.
"Nor do we involve ourselves in the day-to-day problems and faults that occur. Dimension Data has assumed full responsibility for this," says Pretorius.
Ingwe, which produces 65-million tonnes of coal per annum (from mines situated in Mpumalanga, KwaZulu-Natal and New South Wales in Australia), is, as part of the Billiton Group, one of the top 100 companies listed on the London Stock Exchange.
Pretorius reports that Ingwe`s network management costs have reduced significantly following the introduction of the MON service. For example, on-site call-outs have fallen dramatically.
"At the same time, the number of faults that occur have been reduced because - with the help of activity reports - we have been more pro-active in terms of identifying problem areas. Most of these have been resolved by Telkom, working in association with Dimension Data Networking.
"Fault resolution - even in remotely situated mines - is usually fast and effective with control being effected from the Dimension Data `bridge` in Sandton," he says.
"In the event of support personnel having to be dispatched to site, the full extent of the fault will have been predetermined and its resolution will be faster and less costly - with minimal down-time."
Ingwe joins a number of leading South African financial institutions and commercial enterprises for whom Dimension Data Networking is providing a managed network support service.
Dimension Data Networking has also carried out a redesign and upgrade programme of Ingwe`s 1 800 user WAN, which links its 9 mines in South Africa. The project was initiated in mid-1997 and culminated with the commissioning of the MON service - which currently monitors Ingwe`s Telkom line and Cisco router infrastructure - in January this year.
The network has moved from an IBM SNA environment into a modern IP-based, multi-protocol voice-over-data line network that is fully Year 2000 compliant.
Pretorius says the upgrade included the introduction of e-mail, Internet and extranet applications.
"While e-mail and intranet access have facilitated better information flows throughout the organisation, plans are in the pipeline to draw major customers, banks and clients into the Ingwe extranet in preparation for the introduction of electronic funds transfer, e-commerce and similar activities," he says.
Central to Dimension Data Networking`s MON service is the provision of in-depth trends analyses and reports concerning network activity and performance levels. These monthly reports give concise, easily understood information in the form of up-to-the-minute global snapshots, executive summaries and interpretations.
These views of the network are used by Ingwe to target problem-prone areas of the network, as well as plan future network expansion, segmentation and resource implementation.
"Our aim is to maintain uptime by ensuring that the network operation is constantly within defined specifications," adds Pretorius.
"An excellent partnership between Dimension Data and Ingwe exists and both parties have complete confidence in each others` abilities to make the correct decisions when it comes to the management of our network in order to achieve our objectives."
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