The existing Nisa-Today’s solution, based on IBM p670 had been outgrown from a capacity
viewpoint, and in particular, more CPU and storage capacity was required. The main issue was
that the existing solution was inhibiting continued growth, and the number of orders that could
be processed daily was forecast to hit the limits. Additionally, the Retek/Oracle software needed
to be upgraded and the upgrade could not be supported on the existing infrastructure. The need
to retain and analyse more EPOS data was the cause of the data storage problems - the solution
had completely reached its limits.
Nisa-Today’s existing solution comprised an IBM based server environment, running on IBM
Power4 & UNIX AIX5.1, with Oracle 9i database and application server. Overlaying this were two
main systems; an ERP application with a focus on merchandise planning, Retail Management
System (RMS) from Oracle, and an Order Capture System (OCS). The OCS application takes order
information in three different ways, from the web interface, telesales staff and the EPoS systems.
As Nisa-Today’s customer base has grown, so too has the number of people using the system.
Wayne Swallow, IT Director at Nisa-Today’s, recognised that problems could potentially occur as
demand on the system continued to increase. “Our systems were starting to show signs of strain
under the increasing number of customers orders that we were dealing with. It was imperative
that we tackled this problem and reduce batch processing time to ensure the system continued
to meet the current and future needs of the business.”
Swallow approached Attenda, who hosts and managed the existing Nisa-Today’s IT systems,
for help with addressing the potential issue. Attenda looked into improving the IT infrastructure
and worked with trusted partner, Morse, to provide consultancy, project management and
implementation services for this important upgrade.
“It was important that we worked with someone who had the skills and expertise to understand
our complex environment,” continues Swallow. “What impressed us about Attenda and Morse
was the way they really got involved with us and became a part of our team in order to make
sure they could align any changes with future business goals.”
The new infrastructure which has been implemented comprises two large IBM p570 servers, running
24 logical partitions, the latest AIX v5.3 operating system, automated tape backup solution, CISCO
network and Oracle 10g database. A high end enterprise storage solution has been implemented
using IBM DS8000 SAN storage and utilising the DS8000 flashcopy feature for off host backups.
The solution has also been designed with four high availability clusters using IBM HACMP clustering
product, to protect the core production Oracle databases. The new solution has enabled Nisa-Today’s
to quickly simplify its IT infrastructure by standardising on and optimising the use of IBM p series
servers, as well as upgrading the operating systems, database and application servers. The existing
infrastructure was consolidated into four physical servers and a single storage array.
Morse was appointed to oversee this important upgrade, to provide consultancy, project
management and implementation services. In order to get the most out of the server estate and
stabilise performance, Morse recommended that it would be beneficial to implement a virtualised
server solution and adopted IBM’s Hypervisor virtualisation technology for the solution. By combining
Power 5 and AIX 5.3 architecture upgrades, micro-partitioning across the server pool could be
applied, thus enabling processing capabilities to be shared, improving scalability and reliability.
The extra capacity has cut the batch processing time in half, giving space within the batch windows,
an important factor for the business which operates 24/7 and is growing. The solution is forecasted
to provide at least three years capacity growth, based upon the existing business volume forecasts.
The Attenda project took 9 months from implementation, application migration and test through
to project go-live and was completed to budget.
Attenda’s proven relationship with Nisa-Todays meant that they were the obvious choice to help
design the new infrastructure. Their experience in IBM system P design and operation and expertise
in the latest virtualisation technologies, was vital to ensure that the system was designed to be able
to accommodate both the current and future needs of the business.
Working closely with Morse, Attenda could assist in optimising the design of the new infrastructure
and then managing the solution from proof of concept through to operational go-live and ongoing
system operational management and support. Attenda and Morse were already long-term
business partners and this gave Nisa-Todays the reassurance that the project risk was minimised.
Nisa-Today’s now has a more flexible IT environment, server resources are shared and can therefore
be utilised by applications on demand. This has enabled batch processing times to be cut in half,
whilst improving the user online transaction processing experience.
All Nisa-Today’s customers now have faster OCS access over the web interface, making it easier to
place orders ahead of the cut off time at noon. The application can now scale to cope with the high
and increasing numbers of users. The solution has increased system stability and taken out the risk
of downtime, thus eliminating financial losses due to missed orders and warehouse delivery cut offs.
Wayne Swallow is delighted with the results, commenting “We are now able to process orders
20-30 times faster than before. Not only are we processing orders in 10 minutes, much shorter than
the maximum time limit we have to adhere to, but it is also much easier to cater for the growing
number of users.”
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