Sasfin, the JSE-listed banking and financial services group, has outsourced the management of its network, disaster recovery and related services to MTN Network Solutions (MTNNS). The deal, which went live recently, was established to allow Sasfin to consolidate all of its different branch network services and suppliers into one.
Says Peter Oeschger, IT Manager of Sasfin: "There where technical and financial reasons for selecting MTNNS as our network provider. The technical ability relates to the ability to consolidate various telecommunications infrastructure into one pipe, such as the branch network, Internet and INet financial feeds. The economies of scale achieved by this have resulted in a significant cost saving not only in the consolidation but also in the ability to redirect resources in the company previously used to manage these services.
"The first part of our migration was the branch network and moving these lines has resulted in responses on the network 400% better than before. This is due to the fact that we are now using quality of service and bandwidth management to manage traffic as apposed to throwing bandwidth at the problem. Other areas such as disaster recovery and GPRS as well as the above services have made MTNNS the best company to run the Sasfin branch network and Internet services."
Disaster recovery of network devices and services has been one of the driving forces in Sasfin`s relationship with MTN Network Solutions. MTNNS, through its direct collaboration with MTN, has access to 13 hosting facilities situated in all major regions within SA, where disaster and recovery services can be provided. In addition, it has international sites in both London and Washington. These infrastructures will allow Sasfin to deploy redundant network devices crucial to Sasfin`s business continuity plans. The off-site Sasfin devices hosted in these facilities will be able to replicate Sasfin`s normal services in the event of a primary services being compromised by a telecommunication or power failure.
"Each individual switching centre follows the N+1 world standards which means that for each key infrastructure component within these centres there is a redundant or additional device for backup. This spans power supply, UPS, aircons, and even Telkom facilities. These centres are also highly secure with each one being managed by a team of engineers," says Stuart Hardy, Sales Director of MTNNS.
Another technology identified by Sasfin was the GPRS product provided by MTNNS. The GPRS service allows Sasfin mobile users to connect to the Sasfin network from any point in the country via the MTN GSM cloud to retrieve e-mail or financial information. Branches also have the ability to use this technology as a form of redundancy in case of a diginet line failure, and can connect their branch networks directly into their VPN. The unique way in which MTNNS has implemented GPRS with MTN, extends the same security and access control of a VPN into their GPRS APN, integrating the whole of the MTN cellular network as part of the client`s secure VPN.
"MTNNS has successfully implemented over 10 GPRS services and is selling on average two to three new mobile data solutions each month. The GPRS network forms part and parcel of the MTNNS network and therefore once clients connect to the MTNNS network for Internet or VPN-related services, such as Sasfin, they are also by default connected to the GPRS network as well," says Hardy.
"MTNNS`s focus is moving away from the traditional, but now commoditised Internet access business, and is concentrating on true network services. Sasfin identified this, and the ability to run all their service requirements, including their VPN, Internet, GPRS, real-time financial feeds and disaster recovery, through one provider and down a single line was the deciding factor," concludes Hardy.
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