Dublin, 18 March, 2008. HP today released details of one of the largest overhauls it has ever performed on an Irish IT system. HP Services Consulting & Integration specialists working with eircom’s IT Department designed, implemented, managed and provide ongoing support for an upgrade of eircom’s Mail, File & Print systems. As a result of the upgrade, eircom has an even more resilient system which is, easy to use and manage, and which also provides increased flexibility for increasing business demands.
“File and mail services are critical business enablers. We needed to take our system to the next level to meet ongoing customer challenges”, says Charlie McCormick, Head of Delivery for IT at eircom. “The plan was to install an IT system which would take advantage of emerging technologies which would 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, based on resilient HP hardware and featuring Microsoft technologies.” This was one of the largest implementations of its kind in the Irish marketplace so it was important that we dealt with somebody who had the depth and scale to handle a project of this size,” adds McCormick. “A key driver in choosing HP was that it has a very strong service capability in Ireland and is one of Microsoft’s largest global partners.”
Having analysed the existing environment, the eircom and HP specialists set about designing a new IT system involving 7 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.
McCormick acknowledged the contribution of HP, saying; “We now have a single manageable environment for file, print and mail. This means we can introduce new services and change more quickly to meet business requirements. I have a lot of admiration for the depth of knowledge and commitment displayed by the HP team who worked on this project.”
A key challenge to this engagement was to achieve the migration with minimal impact for end-users. Working collaboratively with eircom’s IT technical specialists, HP Services successfully managed this with cohesive design, preproduction testing and monitoring exercises. It implemented the solution progressively across eircom’s seven regional centres in Ireland and supported it with a dedicated helpdesk. It also now provides outsourced managed services for the whole infrastructure.
All this was implemented with no interruption to the work of the employees at eircom. “A smooth and seamless transition was achieved with no data lost,” said McCormick. “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”.
Brian Hurley, Director of Services, HP Ireland, said “eircom and HP worked closely together to deliver the best business solution for the upgrade of the IT systems in eircom. This was a significant program which was delivered in conjunction with a number of HP’s partners, including Microsoft, Symantec and StorageTek. 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.”
Editorial contacts:
Jennifer Linnane, HP
Technology Systems Group Marketing
+353 (0)1 615 0000
Jennifer.linnane@hp.com
John Ward
Drury Communications
jward@drurycom.com
01 260 5000/ 087 689 6035
About eircom
eircom is the leading provider of fixed-line telecommunications services in Ireland. As the incumbent fixed-line telecommunications provider, eircom has the most extensive fixed-line telecommunications network in Ireland in terms of both capacity and geographic reach. The company has over 1.2 million customers and provides a comprehensive range of advanced voice, data and internet services to the residential, business and enterprise markets.
eircom is the leading broadband service provider in Ireland with over 560,000 broadband customers. The company which was formerly listed on the Dublin and London stock exchanges, was purchased by Australian firm Babcock & Brown Capital Ltd (ASX:BCM) together with the eircom Employee Share Ownership Trust (ESOT) in August 2006.
With almost 7,000 employees eircom is one of Ireland's largest employers
About HP
HP focuses on simplifying technology experiences for all of its customers – from individual consumers to the largest businesses. With a portfolio that spans printing, personal computing, software, services and IT infrastructure, HP is among the world’s largest IT companies, with revenue totalling $107.7 billion for the four fiscal quarters ended Jan. 31, 2008. More information about HP (NYSE: HPQ) is available at www.hp.com.
Registered Office: Hewlett-Packard Ireland Limited 63-74 Sir John Rogerson's Quay, Dublin 2.
Registered Number: 34508
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This news release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions. If such risks or uncertainties materialize or such assumptions prove incorrect, the results of HP and its consolidated subsidiaries could differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements and assumptions. All statements other than statements of historical fact are statements that could be deemed forward-looking statements, including but not limited to statements of the plans, strategies and objectives of management for future operations; any statements concerning expected development, performance or market share relating to products and services; anticipated operational and financial results; any statements of expectation or belief; and any statements of assumptions underlying any of the foregoing. Risks, uncertainties and assumptions include the execution and performance of contracts by HP and its customers, suppliers and partners; the achievement of expected results; and other risks that are described in HP’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including but not limited to HP’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended Oct. 31, 2007. HP assumes no obligation and does not intend to update these forward-looking statements.
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