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AXA is a worldwide leader in the insurance and investment industry, with 50 million clients and presence in 60 countries across Europe, North America and Asia-Pacific. AXA's mission is to serve as the local reference in providing insurance and other financial services in each geographic area.
In order to address its clients' unique needs, AXA requires constant access to computer systems that are reliable and efficient. To maintain consistent service to its clients, AXA relies heavily on HP's online IT Resource Centre (ITRC).
AXA regularly uses the on-line forum. " Thanks to the forum, we're able to find quick solutions to our problems," said Justo Expósito, UNIX systems manager for AXA. He appreciates the qualified technicians that provide instantaneous answers. " We can ask questions directly online to the experts, in real-time, and receive immediate responses. "
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Based in England, ServicePower is the leading vendor and integrator of intelligent scheduling software for customer relationship management. Garry Ferguson, system administrator, uses the ITRC to manage ServicePower’s systems.
Garry avidly uses the Maintenance and Support section tools and says the ITRC "saves us a great deal of time in searching for IT information from each individual vendor on each platform that we run, and frees up my staff for other tasks".
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Unilever, Hungary, is among ten regional groups operating under the Unilever umbrella, which is one of the largest consumer goods businesses in the world.
SAP R/3 on the HP 9000 platform manages many aspects of Unilever’s business. Learn how the ITRC helped improve availability to over 98 percent, including planned and non-planned downtime.
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Bertelsmann mediaSystems, the leading IT-service provider for the media industry, offers data center and network services, applications for media business, and Internet, e-commerce solutions.
Four BmS IT specialists maintain 100 mid-range HP servers, using ITRC services, such as patch management, to keep their systems current.
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Italy-based Pirelli, first recognized as a leading tire manufacturer, now generates 60 percent of its global sales from cables and systems for the energy and telecom markets. Pirelli Informatica, the internal IT service provider, relies on an HP Unix-based server architecture as the platform for mission-critical SAP and Oracle applications.
The HP IT Resource Center (ITRC) is Pirelli’s one-stop Website for tools and services. "The HP ITRC saves us time and money, while providing very effective support. It is a good offering from HP to its customers," concluded Gianni Minoia, Pirelli Informatica’s HP-UX manager.
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Royal & SunAlliance is the UK arm of the international Royal & SunAlliance Insurance Group. It provides insurance products in over 130 countries.
The company's UK operation uses around 50 HP 9000 servers of different models. Jim Crawford, its mid-range and server operations leader, points out that an inventory this size means constant change. "Just keeping track of the paperwork is confusing," said Crawford. The team uses HP Support Contract Assistant (SCA) to manage this task.
As Crawford explains, "The benefit is that there is a lot less paper flying around. It used to be that every time there was a change we had to wait for the contract to be printed at HP offices and then sent to us. Now it is available online and if we want a hard copy we can print it off."
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Oxoid Limited manufactures and markets culture media used in detecting microorganisms. Its IT infrastructure supports over 30,000 customers, and, until the HP Software Contract Assistant (SCA) made life easier, Oxoid struggled to maintain software contracts. Among the many benefits, Sharon Bartlett points out how much easier it is to stay current. "Now," she says, "I just type in the amendments and can see them as they progress through the system."
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Based in Germany, GK Industrie-Versicherungs-Service Versicherungsmakler GmbH, is an insurance broker who operates across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Housing a complex production environment, GK needs tools that can centralize communication and reporting and bring many elements together. When GK inquired, HP bridged the gap with its IT Resource Centre (ITRC).
The ITRC provides a single entry point to HP support that enables GK to search the details of existing support cases. Thomas Vollmer, project manager at GK, refers to a recent system problem, "Rather than beginning lengthy and precise checks of the system, we were able to log onto the ITRC. Within minutes we located details of a similar problem that had been experienced previously, which enabled us to immediately apply the solution and dramatically reduce the impact of the original fault."
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With offices and distribution outlets in the capitals of every European country, and five sites in America, Vitra Holding GmbH, a leading furniture design company, relies on HP servers for virtually all of its IT infrastructure.
To help maintain high availability of its critical systems, Vitra uses the HP IT Resource Center, a Website that provides efficient online services and support for HP-UX, MPE and NT servers, and workstations. "We have a very good relationship with HP," said Marco Gersbacher, head of the computer network department at Vitra. "Through the ITRC, HP support helps us run the computing and networking environments of our company more efficiently, and that is critical to the success of our international business," he said.
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BAUD, based in Paris, France, specializes in wholesale food distribution. Mr. Olivier, systems manager, uses several of the ITRC services to help develop and maintain BAUD’s IT infrastructure. "We consider this resource an enormous IT asset and recommend it to anyone who has similar responsibilities," says Mr. Olivier. "The site is very well organized and user friendly," he adds.
In addition to researching problems in the ITRC’s Technical Knowledge Base, Mr. Olivier also submits hardware and software calls online, rather than by phone. He points out, "I can insert error messages to illustrate my request." He also can access call history at his convenience.
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Paula Fraser-Campbell, systems administrator for Avro plc, often consults the ITRC Forums and the Technical Knowledge Base to support Avro’s HP-UX environment.
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If we have a problem, usually someone else has experienced the same problem," says Fraser-Campbell. "The ITRC’s huge database of questions and answers is an invaluable fund of knowledge."
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Alain Jourdainne, systems engineer at CAMIF, relies on the ITRC to minimize the time he and his staff spend resolving technical problems. "It provides all the information we need about our systems," he explains. "Substantial and consistent help provides comfort and security."
From the ITRC, Mr. Jourdainne frequently accesses current patch information. He also favors using the ITRC’s online technical support over conventional telephone support.
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UK-based Reed Business Information (RBI), a subsidiary of the Reed Elsevier Group, publishes business material such as directories, newsletters, and reference books, and also provides online services.
RBI's technical-support manager, John Bardsley, explains why features like the Technical Knowledge Base make the ITRC his preferred support tool.
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The School of Economics and Commercial Law at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden has been using Hewlett-Packard servers and related software since 1991 and today provides over 1200 users with a smooth-running, trouble-free computer system.
The university has a software and hardware support agreement with HP, and uses the online HP Information Technology Resource Center (ITRC) to quickly resolve problems. Bengt Karlsson, the university’s information systems manager explains, "This increases the reliability of our computer system, and makes it far more secure. Overall, the ITRC offers just the right support solution for us."
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Elaxy, a Heyde Group subsidiary, is a leading German conglomerate providing financial-services software and solutions.
When Elaxy help desk employees need assistance, they use the ITRC to provide details to HP, including screen shots and error messages.
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Atmel Corporation is a worldwide leader in the design, manufacture, and marketing of advanced semiconductors.
Atmel in Nantes, France, runs 20 HP 9000 and HP 3000 servers, spread over France, Milan, Stockholm, Camberley, Paris, and Hong Kong. For efficient maintenance and repair, and accurate maintenance contract management, Atmel uses the HP IT Resource Center (ITRC) to log support calls. IT system administrator, Jean Iemmolo, says, "We do not lose time trying to call the support line," and adds, "We just send a message and receive an answer or solution very quickly."
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A division of GATX Corporation, GATX Capital is a finance and leasing company headquartered in San Francisco, California. When it needed managed services for its SAP environment, GATX selected HP. Jim Mathison, Vice President of IT at GATX, comments on their choice, "We needed to operate in a more stable environment, and with an outsource company that could demonstrate a deep understanding of the SAP systems. HP was the clear choice." GATX needed a fast, flexible transition to meet its business needs, and HP delivered. With procedures and protocols to ensure maximum availability, HP also assured GATX of the lowest possible risk."
Overall, I’d say we’re benefiting from HP’s experience, its high-availability standards and its partnership and consulting abilities that leverage our IT infrastructure to full competitive advantage," Mathison summarizes. "It’s clearly a top-level outsourcing operation, genuinely looking out for GATX’s best interests. We consider them a true partner in our success."
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