Increasing requirements for comprehensive IT and service monitoring
“Special connections” are the hallmarks of NetCologne Gesellschaft für Telekommunikation mbH. This means the connection to the region and the people in the Rhineland metropolitan region on one hand, and to variants of the modern communications networks and technologies that keep people connected on the other. With its own telecommunications network, NetCologne is one of the leading regional telecommunications service providers, cable network operators, and internet service providers in Germany. Currently the company has some 420,000 landline connections (telephone and internet), 200,000 broadband connections, and 14,000 mobile phone and 250,000 TV customers. The fiber optic network is currently more than 28,000 kilometers long, and one of the most modern in Europe. For seamless monitoring of complex technical infrastructure with 600 servers and more than 12,000 network elements, as well as associated services, NetCologne evaluated the market for professional monitoring solutions. The old system was no longer able to meet increasing requirements for consistent high availability and performance.
The modular monitoring solution from USU has impressed us across the board. With the assistance of integrated central monitoring, we can pass on this reliability to our customers.
Klaus Peitscher, Systemingenieur, NetCologne
At a glance
Company
NetCologne Gesellschaft für Telekommunikation mbH
Industry
Telecommunications
Key figures
Central monitoring of more than 600 servers and 12,000 network elements
Website
www.netcologne.de
About
Challenges
- The IT group is confronted with increasing requirements for futureproof, comprehensive, and professional umbrella monitoring of a heterogeneous system environment.
- The variety of servers, databases, networks, applications, and the associated servers must be centrally monitored and transparently managed.
- A self-service portal will visualize the availability of business-critical IT and business services and ensure compliance with Service Levels.
- Additional disciplines such as alarm management are to be integrated.
Why USU
- USU Service Monitoring covers all functional requirements, boasting standards and high flexibility for customer-specific adjustments.
- Integrability and modularity of the system and product offers future security.
- Multiple references attest to competence, efficiency and servicereadiness with successful completion of similarly complex projects.
Project Milestones
- Setup of the umbrella base system on the test server
- Data import from the previous system and development of interfaces
- Go-live after tests and training
- Setup of seamless reporting, significant increase in saved notifications over a period of 365 days
- Implementation of additional modules for Service Level Agreement and Alarm Management
Benefits
- Transparent and comprehensive monitoring of all NetCologne systems and applications (from management and operational perspectives)
- Rapid fault detection and fault correction across platforms, teams, and system boundaries, resulting in shorter system restart times and increased productivity through process automation.
- Improved service performance for end customers, monitoring, and Service Level Agreement review
Integrated monitoring platform from one source
After a detailed selection process, the decision was made for a comprehensive, modular solution including system-wide monitoring of business services, Service Levels, and alarm management. A central system is to aggregate all relevant information as a “data collector” and offer a central overview. As part of a detailed selection process, USU Solutions came out ahead because of its functional variety and easy system integration, as well as technical expertise. Additional criteria were the qualified support from Germany as well as the ability to integrate individual product enhancements into the platform. Topics such as anomaly recognition, Service Level monitoring, and reporting also contributed significantly to the decision-making process.
In the course of a multi-stage project process, and according to the provided specifications, a test system with all necessary interfaces and convenient graphic illustrations of relevant data was available after just a few weeks. In extensive tests, the system quality was successively improved and necessary individual adjustments or extensions were made. Due to the very good constructive and trustful cooperation within the project team, the successful go-live took place on schedule.
Transparent 360 degree monitoring
From individual monitoring of a heterogeneous service environment to uniform, centralized, and standardized IT monitoring including reporting for the entire organization—this was NetCologne’s stated project target. The monitoring solution from USU now comprehensively assists the technicians in the specialized departments at NetCologne with automated processes. A modern, multi-client capable self-service portal ensures comprehensive visualization of business-critical IT and business services availability, as well as Service Level compliance. With integrated alarm management, the responsible service technicians are notified through push messaging by app, SMS, or other channels, and in serious cases can ensure rapid and targeted problem resolution with impact and root cause analyses.