Jean-Pierre Le Treut, Outsourcing business manager, Bull

IT Cost reduction was always a central point of Outsourcing : when justifying a first externalization projects, renegotiating an existing contract or managing competition between two suppliers, arguing on reduction of IT recurring costs remains the booster. But Outsourcing and the evolutions with Cloud services are transforming CIO in value generator within their Company.

The various contributions of Outsourcing
Of course, thanks to the maturity of the market, outsourcing or « Managed Services » are highlighted by many promising values: access to best practices of the market, to standards, to the expertise, to the industrialization and innovation, reduction of time to market for new products or services, rationalization, flexibility and scalability. But at the moment of the final choice, those criteria will loose importance facing the direct contribution of Outsourcing on costs.

Costs? Which costs?
The apprehension of costs in the domain of Outsourcing strongly evolved during the 15 last years: from 1995 to the beginning of 2000, the issue was to lower costs, which supposed to have a baseline allowing comparing external cost with existing internal costs. This baseline requires to be able to measure its own internal costs. At this time (and still sometime nowadays), electricity costs (of the Data Center) are for instance charged to general services department and not to the IT department; same thing for telecommunications costs which are smoothed to all in the facility fees.
Management costs (managing internal teams or managing external contracts) were also rarely well identified.

In these conditions, the reduction of costs brought by one outsourcing operation could become difficult to prove or to quantify precisely.

The contribution of Managed Services

Little by little, financial models become more and more accurate and comparisons easier to build. Moreover, Outsourcing deals were diverse and simplified: we are more and more speaking about Managed Services or selective Outsourcing rather than global outsourcing contracts. Customer outsource functions (Help desk, infrastructure management, application management) to different providers selected on their specialization and specific know how in domain, the Customer having the role of integrator and prime contractor.

On such reduced and precise perimeters, identifying costs and wins is more accurate and relevant.

Since some years, the notions of Catalog of services and works items are bringing a new way of thinking to cost reduction. First of all, provided that the content of each work item of the catalog is precisely defined (deliverables, level of services, pre-requisite….), comparing prices (or costs) of one elementary services can be done between two providers or between on provider and internally: cost of one ticket solved at the level of the Service Desk, yearly cost to administrate a server, cost to deploy one n-tier application in production…

Pay per use is now possible
Moreover, using these elementary costs allows implementing a full and precise invoice based on consumed items during the period. The variability of the IT invoice depending on business needs is now possible, reconciling Business and the creation of value for the company with its transversal support operations and its costs.

Cloud Computing
Building a variable invoice is made possible thanks to two evolutions: on one side, the maturity of the recurring IT operations domain (elementary services are more accurately evaluated, identified through their content, workload and costs); on the other side, for IT beyond outsourcing, Cloud Computing is a new step defined by a pay-as-you-go model.
Automation Suites for Cloud are all structured on a portal exposing priced elementary items of a Service Catalog. This software embed an invoicing module where chargeback and billing features allow to automatically collect Service items which have been “consumed” during the period, to price them and to allocate global costs to various charts of accounts.

New constraints
This flexibility generates new constraints and opportunities: providers should industrialize and standardize in order to better mutualize their production facilities and share resources which are “consumed” in a variable manner by different customers. Providers must carefully manage their capacities in order to guarantee a perfect reactivity in answer to customer’s solicitations while managing the lowest level of “non-used” capacities.

Customers on their side must fully take advantage from this news facility: liberate resources which not more used or only used for comfort. A “cost killing” function must be established as well as an internal invoicing: presenting costs to business lines is the only way to force them to liberate resources.
Allocating costs to precise charts of accounts in the business lines will allow getting a better estimation of the global cost of one application, of one project or one new product: the contribution of IT to the business will gain in visibility.

We definitively enter a new phase of Information Systems which mixes technical features (Cloud, provisioning, orchestration, Service brokerage) and economical stakes (pay per use): chasing the costs is finally evolving toward seeking for value.

More information >>> http://www.bull.com/outsourcing-services/outsourcing-costs-reduction.html

The role of CNAF – the family branch of the French social security system – is to serve those receiving its benefits: managing legal entitlements and developing social action for families in France. With its strong values of equality, solidarity and neutrality, it guarantees the proper use of public funds and is committed to constantly improving the performance of its services and its management.

As the contract between the State and the various social security agencies comes up for renewal, the Information Systems Directorate at CNAF has committed itself to a new way of providing IT services, designed to build smoother and more proactive relationships with users in the organization, that totally reflect their needs, while also improving productivity.

A pilot project: data lifecycle management

CNAF has chosen to use one of its strategic activities – data lifecycle management – to pave the way for its new customer-driven service delivery model.  

For an organization like CNAF, keeping on top of the constant changes to data infrastructures involves not only implementing operational best practice in order to provide the expected service levels, but also putting in place a real system of governance covering both projects and production.

The benefits expected to result from this kind of approach are in line with the challenges being faced: a whole new dynamic between IT and the business, and a shared view of requirements and costs for, ultimately, greater efficiency and more control over spending. In other words, the ability to address any new requirement from the business in a responsive and relevant way, focusing on the best choices in terms of infrastructures and offering more appropriate service levels, without additional costs.

The services catalogue: cornerstone of the transformation

Very rapidly, CNAF started to think through the strategy it needed to deploy in order to put in place this new approach to data lifecycle management. And it turned to Bull to support it through this step-by-step transformation towards a customer-oriented service delivery model.

As Jacqueline Ben Soussan, Manager of the Storage, Back-up and Archiving sector at CNAF and the head of this project, explains: “Although we had a clear vision of what we’re trying to achieve, we were also looking for an objective, external view and the added value that a specialist in IT transformation could bring to support us. Thanks to Bull, with all its methodologies, tools and expertise, we have been able to embark on the process, to structure it and so establish the foundation stones of a service-driven culture.”  

Bull consultants are involved at several levels: they are mapping the storage capacity of various organizations within CNAF and providing dashboards to see the precise utilization of resources, using Vision, Bull’s unified infrastructure monitoring solution delivered in SaaS mode. Finally, they are carrying out in-depth audits that will enable them to propose new ways of doing things, which will help CNAF rethink its data lifecycle management strategy.

So Bull is helping to lay the foundations for a services-oriented organization, focusing particularly on standardization and consistency of services, a repository of operational best practice, quantifying the cost of services, defining the services catalogue and, eventually, putting in place project governance systems.

“This transformation should enable IT to deliver real value to the business functions within the institution, as well as a clear vision of what they can expect in terms of performance, quality and costs. It’s a fundamental change, which will boost the organization’s overall maturity,” concludes Jacqueline Ben Soussan.

Plus d’information >>> http://boost.bull.com/solutions/excellence/

The leading Belgian logistics company, Katoen Natie, has chosen Bull as its preferred partner for the supply of servers and storage solutions worldwide. Having delivered pilot projects in Thailand and Belgium, new initiatives are about to begin in France, Singapore and Italy.

Katoen Natie chose Bull for its expertise in storage, its international presence and its business approach centered on customers and service delivery. “We often use our state-of-the-art infrastructure as a key selling point with potential new customers,” explains Frank Brugge, ICT Manager at Katoen Natie. “The way in which ICT forms an integral part of our logistics processes, for example, plays a decisive role in our operational efficiency.” For instance, Katoen Natie was one of the pioneers in the introduction of new technologies such as ‘Voice Picking’ and ‘Pick-to-Light’ in its warehouses. “We didn’t necessarily want to be the first to adopt a new trend and suffer all the teething problems that entails,” continues Frank Brugge, “but we certainly want to be up there with those following those trends: we’ve adopted the same attitude when it comes to server virtualization.”

Katoen Natie is keen to get new customers up and running rapidly. “So it’s essential that all our platforms – from desktops to servers and storage, not forgetting printers and network components – are as standardized as possible. So whether you’re looking to set up a Katoen Natie data center in Kallo or Singapore, you’ll always get the same equipment. Above all, it’s a matter of efficiency when it comes to managing all our resources.”

The criteria that led Katoen Natie to choose Bull include the Group’s EMC experience, as well as its very clear focus on service delivery. The fact that the very first project was carried out in Thailand demonstrated Bull’s extreme flexibility as a services provider. “The pilot projects in Thailand and Belgium allowed us to evaluate Bull’s services, both locally and at a distance, as well as to assess its technical expertise, of course. Bull passed the test with flying colors.” 

New installations are planned this year in France, Singapore and Italy. A back-up project using the Data Domain appliance has also been launched at the company’s Kallo site, in the port of Antwerp.

Frank Brugge is delighted by their collaboration with Bull. “The quality and commitment of the people who carry out the work is vitally important to the success of this kind of project. Everything has gone without any difficulties, and Bull has proved that it really cares about the quality of service it provides. We’ve benefited from the good cultural fit between Bull’s motivation and the high levels of quality that Katoen Natie demands.”

“It’s no coincidence that Katoen Natie chose the Bull /EMC alliance,” says Saskia Van Uffelen, CEO of Bull Belux. “Data availability is vital for businesses, which is why Bull sets such great store by our knowledge of data storage and provides unrivalled expertise in areas such as back-up and disaster recovery.”

For more information >>> http://boost.bull/solutions/excellence/

This is the challenge that faces Chorus, the French government’s financial information system, which not only has to process all the information flows relating to management operations – day in, day out – but also controls and oversees all financial activities.

To do this, Chorus requires an extremely powerful infrastructure to guarantee the service levels needed by its 54,000 current users, deal with peak workloads of over 12,000 connections a day and manage more than a million inputs and outputs a year.

Originally built by Bull and implemented between 2007 and 2009, the platform that today manages over 180 Terabytes of data is constantly being optimized, and has given rise to a huge program aimed at evolving its architecture: a new and important chapter in the story of Chorus.

Bull, who has established a consortium with Accenture, has once again been chosen by the French State financial information technology agency, AIFE, to be one of the organizations involved in implementations related to the new direction for the system: innovative hardware and software technologies; the introduction of virtualization technologies; fewer but more powerful and energy-efficient servers (with a reduction from 1,000 to less than 100 physical machines, each consuming less that 200 kWh compared with over 300); storage consolidation; ramping up of the back-up site; and a cut in the number of hosting sites from three down to two.

The aims of this project are to secure management activities, cut the cost of running and operating the system, boost the performance of transaction restitutions and cope better with peaks in workloading.

AIFE’s goal is to carry on responding in an optimum way to its service delivery commitments to its user base.

For more information >>> http://www.bull.com/fr/data-center-nouvelle-generation/

The OESC modernizes its IT infrastructure on time and on budget

The mission of the Oklahoma Employment Security Commission (OESC) is to provide employment security and promote economic well‑being. It governs the operation of local offices throughout the state.

To do so, OESC’s legacy programs are critical to maintaining a functional, statewide labor exchange to meet the needs of Oklahoma employers and residents. OESC needed to replace its hierarchical database with a relational database to allow more open access and flexibility. Bull introduced OESC to the PostgreSQL RDBMS, the world’s most advanced Open Source database, which has no recurring licensing fees.

Project requirements

• Convert OESC batch and TP programs from IDS-II databases to PostgreSQL databases that include 2165 source programs, 3 schemas and 433 record types
• Test and validate all 2165 programs with the new database (because of OESC’s full development workload).
• Keep the business logic of all programs exactly the same.
• Maintain consistent OESC personnel productivity during and after migration.
• Complete the project in 18 months or less because of State budget constraints.
• No increase in yearly licensing fees.

The project, a true team working

Bull defined a new relational database based on the old hierarchical database. Then OESC and Bull reviewed 2165 programs for direct data usage. Each old style database statement was replaced by a call to a “wrapper” subroutine, which emulated the old database statement with a new SQL statement to the PostgreSQL database. Program analysis and modification were done with an automated tool, which enabled Bull to allow OESC to update their source every 45 days. This allowed new and updated features to be included during the migration, instead of being held until the end of migration. This key feature allowed dynamically changing programs to be modified during the migration.

A key functional requirement of the PostgreSQL migration was the ability to recover individual database schemas to a predetermined time. Bull used a PostgreSQL extension (called E-Maj) to provide this “rollback” functionality and customized/simplified the user interface to perform additional functionality before calling the standard E-Maj routines.

The 2165 modified programs were then tested to make sure they acted the same as before, with the same results and same performance. Teamwork between OESC and Bull really paid off. Weekly meetings measured progress and addressed problems early. OESC trained the Bull validation team on the features of the interactive user screens and how they worked. Bull ran and tested all OESC batch jobs –- without interrupting/impacting the OESC team’s productivity or resources – by setting up 3 test environments at its Phoenix facility for both testing and making performance enhancements. This strategy helped OESC to protect the integrity of its production environment and data, and continue to run without interruption or interference. As necessary, wrappers were modified or pl/pgSQL Stored Procedures were used to improve performance. Programs were validated to perform as good as (or better) with the new PostgreSQL database.

 Results

• Clean cut-over in one weekend.
• No disruption to the customer base.
• No problems that couldn’t be recovered using the standard documented procedures.
• OESC confirmation that everything runs just like before.
• Project completion on schedule and budget – no overages!
• OESC can develop access to relational databases from their legacy programs and reduce their recurring fees, including maintenance.
• OESC cutover to production: January 2013.

According to Margaret Arney, OESC Database Manager/Information Technology: “The turnover completed with no major problems. Thanks to everyone at OESC for validation efforts, and thanks to the Bull team for triage. All of you helped us accomplish this goal, and we really appreciate your smarts and your support! We are thrilled with the performance of TP8.” 

Cloyd Averill, Bull Project Manager, adds: “Bull’s engineering-based team included individuals who were very creative, knowledgeable, and talented – with skills ranging from software tools to product testing. Plus the team had an excellent working relationship with the customer. The project was done on time, on budget, professionally, and with very high quality. It was a fun, educational, team-building effort. I was privileged to be a part of it.”

Michael Evans – OESC Chief Information Officer concludes “With our new PostgreSQL database, OESC is well positioned to meet labor and workforce management needs. Thanks to the OESC/Bull team for all of your hard work in getting us to this point.”

For more information  >>> /
http://www.bull/novascale/gcos

Bull is expanding its range of solutions for critical infrastructures with the launch of its bullion servers for Red Hat Enterprise Linux and Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization environments.

A comprehensive offering that frees up IT Departments with traditional infrastructures
Following in the footsteps of LiberTP – which provides a unique alternative for Oracle Tuxedo customers – and the powerful and reliable PostgreSQL Open Source database, with bullion for Red Hat Enterprise Linux environments, Bull now offers a platform that is unique in the marketplace, featuring all the essential RAS (Reliability Availability Serviceability)characteristics and processing power needed for critical infrastructures. 

Brazil’s leading telecoms operator equips itself with bullion servers for its critical applications

Brazilian telecoms operator Telefonica-Vivo, which recently celebrating signing up its 90 millionth customer, has successfully implemented bullion and Red Hat Enterprise Linux technology for its critical applications. 

 “We need to rely on partners who are committed and able to support us in this journey to the highest level of quality. We have been working with Bull for many years on our business applications, notably billing, fraud management and mediation. With the purchase of bullion servers, we have reached a whole new level.

bullion servers turned out to be a very appropriate solution when compared with other high-availability servers in the market,” commented Christiane Edington, CIO of Telefonica-Vivo.

New Open Source virtualization solutions for critical environments
Bull is extending its  collaboration with Red Hat by integrating Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization – one of the most mature open source virtualization solutions currently available – to offer a compelling TCO (total cost of ownership) proposition, by combining the performance of the KVM open source hypervisor with bullion’s extreme scalability. The new solution is designed to enable virtualized critical applications to be implemented on a server that features up to 16 CPUs and 160 processing cores.

“With bullion and Red Hat solutions, we are driving forward open source and X86 infrastructures to bring them within reach for large-scale critical applications,” added Michel Guillemet, Executive Vice President, Bull Innovative Products. “Our aim is to meet the needs of IT Departments who want to consolidate and modernize the aspects of their IT set-ups that, until now, have been almost exclusively the preserve of proprietary environments. This is a massive challenge for organizations: to cut their costs over the long term while also becoming more efficient, effective and flexible.”

More information >>> http://www.bull.com/fr/bullion/ 

An answer to new challenges facing virtualized infrastructures 

At a time when infrastructures are increasingly virtualized, and facing exponential growth in volumes of data, StoreWay Calypso 10 offers two major advantages: performance monitoring and cost control. The new platform has been enriched with more than 300 new functions, to enhance data protection, management and accessibility. The OnePass function, for example, is set to double performance levels when it comes to the protection and archiving of data files, messaging and email operations. Thanks to fourth-generation deduplication technology, back-up performance of StoreWay Calypso 10 is twice that of the previous version of Calypso. To deliver enhanced data accessibility, StoreWay Calypso 10 uses the Contentstore function to enable all protected data to be stored in a virtual space.

Leading edge expertise and services for data lifecycle optimization

For organizations that want to realign their infrastructure choices and virtualization strategies, Bull’s provides new expertise in data protection and information management. At Bull’s Storage Center of Expertise in Grenoble, customers can view new made-to-measure operating environments, take part in demonstrations and carry out PoC (Proof of Concept) trials to bench test possible configurations in real time.

Dave West, Senior Vice-President and EMEA Managing Director of CommVault, added “Our fruitful partnership established with Bull for many years has delivered clear economic benefits for customers requiring a modern way to manage their data. Bull delivers a real added value, thanks to its strong storage expertise. Together, we are providing customers around the world with an exponential leap forward in protecting and managing their data at scale, creating value from information and improving access with the Bull Calypso 10 release, based on our new CommVault Simpana 10 offering. These major enhancements will enable customers to be more efficient and better leverage managed services, virtualization and data clouds.”

More information >>> http://www.bull.com/storage/index.html

62% of data centers need to be rebuilt or relocated, while over 60% of companies are planning to adopt a holistic approach to managing their IT infrastructures between now and 2014. At a time when the digital revolution is fundamentally transforming business processes – and everything is forcing IT Departments to adopt new forms of implementation such as Cloud computing – pressure on data centers is intensifying. Availability, ease of operation, flexibility, costs, energy efficiency… so many different parameters have to be managed to maintain a constant equilibrium between business imperatives and infrastructures.

The advent of dedicated software suites and the implementation of more efficient and effective processes open up whole new opportunities for the data center. Faced with unprecedented energy challenges, a new approach is being mapped out that takes account of the issues of the data center in its entirety:

- The management of floor space, power supplies and cooling

- Cutting electricity consumption

- Capacity management

- The need to take sustainable development imperatives into account

- Improving energy efficiency

- Compliance with government regulations.

When all these parameters are brought together under a single umbrella, the IT Department can not only cut its energy bills but also equip itself with powerful tools to improve the efficiency and performance of the data center.

Bull and CA Technologies: a strategic alliance to speed up data center transformation

Since 2011, Bull and CA Technologies have worked together in a strategic alliance to deliver value-added services and solutions that help organizations modernize and revolutionize their data centers. At the heart of this alliance is CA DCIM, a new-generation solution designed to supervise, manage and optimize the data center, which has been qualified and chosen by Bull for its comprehensive functional scope. With CA DCIM, essential information is collected for more effective analysis, reporting, alerts and control, but also to enable the planning of upgrades that will guarantee the levels of efficiency, availability and capacity that users within the business expect. Information about energy consumption and CO2 emissions can automatically be integrated into the ecoGovernance solution, which complements CA DCIM and manages the definition and monitoring of the organization’s sustainable development strategy, including the production of carbon footprint information.

Bull Advisory Services works alongside businesses throughout their transformation projects

Bull has built up a unique body of experience in CA Technologies solutions and offers support services from the initial analysis and consultancy phases right through to the implementation of the final management system and its integration within the information system. In particular, Bull helps IT Departments demonstrate the value this creates for the business and to comply with all the current regulations in force, using powerful reporting tools. In addition, the Group can offer its ‘Vision’ services in ‘as a Service’ mode, for integrated and remote surveillance from Bull’s own High-Availability Center.

Test your data center’s maturity! : http://www1.bull.com/advisory-services/quiz-maturite-services-IT-en/

Bull has achieved EAL3+ Common Criteria certification and ANSSI standard qualification for its Public Key management software solution, MetaPKI. EAL3+ Common Criteria certification was obtained as the result of an evaluation process carried out by an independent laboratory, and attests to the fact that Bull’s software meets the full set of security requirements required for this type of product.

The standard qualification awarded by the French National Information Systems Security Agency, ANSSI (Agence Nationale de la Sécurité des Systèmes d’Information), is the result of additional controls carried out by ANSSI which successfully proved that the MetaPKI software complies with French government requirements and the criteria set out in its General Security Repository or RGS (Référentiel Général de Sécurité).

MetaPKI is a comprehensive solution for creating digital certificates and managing them throughout their lifecycle. It enables the provision of security services including user authentication, non-repudiation of transactions and confidential data exchange. Thanks to its highly modular nature, it can be used by all kinds of organizations from businesses and public sector bodies to secure service providers.

“When combined with its Hardware Security Module (HSM) solutions and its security consulting and secure hosting services, the MetaPKI software makes Bull one of the few European players capable of offering its customers a global approach to secure IT platforms; from design through implementation to operation,” explained Franck Greverie, Executive Vice-President Security Solutions at Bull. “By achieving this certification for MetaPKI ­– alongside the Common Criteria certifications gained for its HSM range of solutions and the ISO 27001 certification which covers its hosting services – Bull has further enhanced the security levels for its solutions, to the benefit of its major customers.”

More information >>> http://www.bull.com/cybersecurity/

Bullworld : http://www.bull-world.com/v_ZFV5v_en