A Customer Success
from the Experts in
Business-Critical ContinuityTM.
SFR improves its test center performance using the Avocent®
MergePoint Infrastructure Explorer software solution.
Prologue is SFR’s main test center. Its aim is to validate all the operator’s products
and services before these are brought to market. The center runs an IT pool,
including 6000 items of equipment which are used in 90 different parallel tests each
week. Avocent MergePoint Infrastructure Explorer software provides the opportunity
to manage IT assets more effectively and optimize their use.
SFR
Company
SFR
Location
Paris, France
Industry
Telecommunications
Web site
http://www.sfr.com
Applications
Avocent MergePointTM Infrastructure Explorer
Software
Advantages
• Simple, user-friendly tool which provides
a visual overview of what is physically
happening within the data center
• Centralized solution allowing all operational
teams to share a common reference point, as
well as providing better security
• Tool which provides a vast amount of
information relating to your IT assets
• Scalable solution
SFR is currently France’s second largest telecoms company. Conscious of the need
to give constant customer satisfaction, SFR chose to validate all its services and
equipment within the Prologue test center before launching them onto the market.
The center contains an accurate replica of the production network used by the
operator on a daily basis. In total, more than 6000 items of equipment can be used
during the 90 test runs carried out by the center each week.
It was in the aim of gaining a better insight, in order to manage IT assets more
effectively on a day-to-day basis and allow the Prologue testing teams to work more
efficiently, that SFR began using the Avocent MergePoint Infrastructure Explorer
software solution in the summer of 2009.
“We are more effective in our work, which allows SFR
solutions to be released more easily and on time. We need
to react quickly and have hosting capacity ready. Avocent
MergePoint Infrastructure Explorer software allows us to
achieve this.”
– Julien Pruvot, SFR
Data Center or Test Center?
“Here at the Prologue center, we find ourselves at the crossroads between telecoms
and information systems,” explains Julien Pruvot, Testing Platforms Manager within
the SFR Network Management Team. “Since we have all this network equipment
here, we prefer to call it the Prologue test center.”
However, this is a particularly important test center, because since the 2008
merger between SFR and Neuf Cegetel, the test center has become one of the most
important in Europe.
Any product or service which SFR offers to its customers
will previously have been tested at the Prologue center, as
will be products and services planned for the future.
Over a ten year period, the operator will have invested more than
one hundred million Euros in this test center. In concrete terms,
this investment represents a hosting capacity of 8000 m2 shared
between two types of structures: secure, air-conditioned cold sites
and workrooms in which SFR engineers organize and run tests.
The site has almost 300 permanent members of staff who use some
of the 600 available bays to carry out tests. These 600 bays provide
access to some 6000 items of network equipment (access network
equipment, core networks, service platforms, modems, telephone
terminals, etc.). This demonstrates that with a test center on this
scale, it is essential that the Prologue teams have tools available
which allow them to have a constant real-time overview of the entire
test center’s resources, their locations, connections, etc. In fact,
Prologue’s ability to make the best possible use of these resources,
and consistently provide its test teams with every means available for
optimizing efficiency, relies on this overview.
“We used to use two tools for organizing
the center: Excel™ and Visio™,” says Pruvot.
“For several years, that was enough. But,
we knew that we were missing a solution to
manage our IT assets in the broadest sense.”
B
CMD
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onfi
er C
Serv
ork
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Ne
age
Stor
ual
Virt
Asset
Mgmt.
“The merger with Neuf Cegetel and between the two operators’
respective testing platforms was the trigger for change,” says Pruvot.
“Our IT pool instantly became very large, and we needed a single
management solution.”
SFR therefore decided to carry out a market survey of data
center management tools in spring 2009. It was Avocent which
quickly stood out amongst the competition with its MergePoint
Infrastructure Explorer software solution. The software is a planning
and visual modeling tool specifically designed for data centers which
provides a graphic display showing every piece of equipment making
up the IT infrastructure. Through the software, all the equipment
within the information system is modeled in a rich, interactive
graphical interface.
SFR was won over by the numerous advantages offered by MergePoint
Infrastructure Explorer software. The Avocent software made it
possible for Prologue to make capacity forecasts by identifying the
test center’s hosting capacity (in terms of available space and network
connections and potentially in terms of electrical and cooling capacity,
etc.). The software also allows simulations to be carried out before
new equipment is installed to check its overall impact on the data
center and optimize the use of existing equipment.
“What’s more, the Avocent France teams were based very close to
Prologue, which was reassuring,” continues Pruvot. “It was even
possible for us to meet the Avocent CTO to tell him about our needs,
the expected development of the MergePoint Infrastructure Explorer
software, etc. The Avocent close working relationship with its
customers was another important factor in our decision.”
Site
Security
Auditing
Monitoring
Cooling/CFD
Maintenance
Change
Mgmt.
Facility
Management
IInformation
f
i
Technology
INTEG RATION LAYER
Standardized, easy-to-use tools and facilities support exchange of data to and from the
MergePoint Infrastructure Explorer software database.
High density and virtual device management capabilities
help predict impact of growth and change.
MergePoint Infrastructure Explorer software was a natural choice for
SFR when working toward integrated management of its test center
equipment. Far upstream in the process, the Avocent teams had
already given advice on which type of server would be best suited for
hosting this solution.
it’s a very user-friendly and easy-to-manage tool. The graphic
representation of our test center is amazing: the visualization of
rooms and bays, with front and rear views, the ability to find out
about all the physical network connections, everything is very
precise, extremely useful and yet very simple to put in place.”
However, an audit carried out by NGN, an Avocent partner, and the
Avocent professional services team quickly showed that although
80% of Prologue’s network equipment was recognized by the
MergePoint Infrastructure Explorer software database, 20% was not
or could not easily be accessed for identification. Therefore, it was
necessary to implement a manual identification process.
SFR is discovering the advantages of this solution on a daily
basis. The test center teams require less time to prepare tests for
implementation. Prologue manages the existing IT assets more
effectively. These are just two of the numerous benefits.
During the summer of 2009, NGN and Avocent carried out a data
capture exercise covering all 1200 items of equipment which needed
to be added to the MergePoint Infrastructure Explorer software
database at SFR.
“Now that the database is up-to-date, we can input information
ourselves as and when we receive new equipment,” Pruvot adds.
“The MergePoint Infrastructure Explorer software is a great help;
“We are more effective in our work, which
allows SFR solutions to be released more
easily and on time,” says Pruvot. “We need
to react quickly and have hosting capacity
ready. MergePoint Infrastructure Explorer
software allows us to achieve this.”
A Customer Success
from the Experts in
Business-Critical ContinuityTM.
Although there are inevitably minor issues to be ironed out following
the implementation of such a solution, SFR appreciates the close
cooperation with the Avocent teams in facilitating the integration of
this solution within the SFR data center.
“We are preparing to migrate to version 2.2 of MergePoint
Infrastructure Explorer software, which should allow us to improve
performance even further,” explains Pruvot. “But, we will assess
whether the application library and updates offered by Avocent
will integrate more network equipment. We would also like to be
able to incorporate all our cold sites into the tool and to print the
site plans. In any case, we appreciate the Avocent presence during
these changes.”
“We’re currently in the middle of the ford, halfway through our
transformation. But, we are already very pleased with the advantages
offered by the MergePoint Infrastructure Explorer software. We
may even be interested in expanding the range of Avocent solutions
we use. The MergePoint Infrastructure Explorer software is part
of a wider suite of applications and there may be opportunities
for Prologue to use additional components from this range. In any
case, it seems to be a real advantage for a telecoms operator to use
this type of tool. In the future, other important SFR sites could be
managed in the same way,” concludes Pruvot.
The supplier is helping Prologue to achieve its aim of ensuring
maximum use of the MergePoint Infrastructure Explorer software
solution at the site. In particular, Avocent has offered training to help
the teams get used to the new system.
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Avocent logo and MergePoint are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Avocent Corporation or its affiliates in the US or other countries. Excel and Visio are either trademarks or
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