PM Tech, the software solutions development, networking and IT consulting company, has formed a strategic business alliance with Integrated Tertiary Software (ITS), the developer of administration solutions for tertiary education institutions.
PM Tech and ITS have agreed to jointly market and support the PM Ora remote database monitoring control solution, developed by PM Tech, to ITS users.
Announcing the new business relationship, Mike Leeuwen, a director of PM Tech, says the companies will work together to address the need for enhanced - yet affordable - database administration functionality at tertiary education institutions.
The solution will be offered on the basis of an outright sale, or as an extension to ITS` existing database monitoring and administration service.
"The agreement, which also includes PM Ora`s SQL and desk-top monitoring offerings, comes at a time when, with the amalgamation of many SA higher education institutions, the need for optimum database performance has become crucial," says Leeuwen.
Zadrik Welthagen, technical sales manager at ITS, says a trend within the tertiary education area is towards larger institutions. "The growing volumes of data at these institutions means that optimum performance and the ability to identify and respond quickly to problems has become even more important," he says.
ITS, whose solutions are developed on the Oracle database, already provides a range of batch-based database monitoring services to its customers using software it has developed over the past 10 years.
Pieter Campbell, technical director at ITS, says his company developed its monitoring service because, most tertiary education organisations cannot justify the employment of a database administrator, databases still need to be monitored continuously if smooth and efficient performance is to be maintained.
"When we identified the need to extend these services with additional functionality such as the provision of Web-based, on-line database monitoring, we decided to look for a suitable product rather than re-invent the wheel," he says.
ITS opted to use the SA-developed PM Ora solution to enable it to expand its offerings.
"Functionally, it delivers what our customers have asked for in terms of graphical reporting, online monitoring and real-time problem alerts. It also provides trends analysis," says Welthagen.
"More importantly, being a South African-developed product, it is rand-based rather than dollar-based. In the cost-sensitive tertiary education environment, this is a critical factor. In fact, I think it`s fair to say that not many SA institutions would be able to afford an international solution."
Technical co-operation between PM Tech and ITS has already progressed to a high level. PM Ora developers have been working closely with ITS technical staff and have developed numerous software-plug-ins to meet specific ITS requirements.
Currently, all SA Technikons use ITS administration solutions, as do around 60% of the SA.
PM Ora Professional allows database administrators to manage Oracle databases from any client workstation equipped with an Internet browser. It offers management the chance to access true and up-to-date information in easily understandable and user-friendly graphic formats.
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