Eircom has undergone a major internal IT upgrade using HP Services Consulting & Integration.
HP Services Consulting & Integration specialists revamped Eircom’s email, file and print systems, overseeing design and implementation along with Eircom’s own IT department.
HP will provide ongoing management and support for the new system.
“File and mail services are critical business enablers. We needed to take our system to the next level to meet ongoing customer challenges,” commented Charlie McCormick, head of delivery for IT at Eircom.
“The plan was to install an IT system, which would take advantage of emerging technologies and enable us to respond quickly to evolving requirements, and in turn allow us to provide even higher levels of service within Eircom. The upgrade allowed us to create one Microsoft environment for file, print and mail.”
Following a public tender, HP Services was chosen as prime contractor. The new system was installed based on HP hardware and Microsoft technologies.
McCormick added this was one of the largest implementations of its kind in the Irish marketplace.
The Eircom and HP team set about designing a new IT system involving seven server clusters across two sites to ensure greater stability and performance. The new system features centralised management and higher availability and is designed to be easily scalable so that future upgrades can take place quickly and efficiently.
With a single manageable environment for file, print and mail, Eircom will be able to introduce new services and change more quickly to meet business requirements, said McCormick.
HP implemented the system across Eircom’s seven regional centres in Ireland with no interruption to the work of Eircom’s 6,500 users. The transition to the new system took place over a weekend with no data loss.
“All information stored on the file shares used by our 6,500 users was taken from the old infrastructure, put onto the new infrastructure and re-mapped over a weekend so when they came in on Monday morning there was no change to the way they had been working on Friday evening, although everything behind the screen was different,” said McCormick.
“This was a significant program which was delivered in conjunction with a number of HP’s partners, including Microsoft, Symantec and StorageTek,” said Brian Hurley, director of services, HP Ireland. “As the prime contractor, HP managed and designed the solution which has provided Eircom with a more resilient, easy-to-manage infrastructure. This is turn is allowing Eircom to experience value for money and an ability to respond to market demands with flexibility.”
By Niall Byrne
