Vip operator Builds Virtualized Environment to Deliver Next-Generation Telecommunication Services, on Track for Return on Investment in Two Years
 
 

Vip operator Builds Virtualized Environment to Deliver Next-Generation Telecommunication Services, on Track for Return on Investment in Two Years

  • Oracle Customer:  Vip operator
    Location:  Skopje, Republic of Macedonia
    Industry:  Communications
    Annual Revenue:  Under $100 Million

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Vip operator is a private mobile service provider in the Republic of Macedonia. The company offers products online and at point-of-sale centers. A subsidiary of Telekom Austria Group, Vip operator’s network reaches 99% of Macedonia’s 2 million people. Vip operator was the first service provider in Macedonia to provide Facebook and Twitter access to customers via short message service (SMS). The company experienced rapid growth in the last two years, and now Vip operator is Macedonia’s second-largest mobile operator with a 24.6% market share.

Vip operator wanted to migrate critical business systems to an integrated virtualized environment from a single vendor to maximize performance and lower operating costs. The company used Oracle’s SPARC T3-1B servers, Oracle VM Server for SPARC, and Oracle Solaris Cluster to build a robust, flexible, efficient infrastructure to support the creation and delivery of media-rich services to its customers. Vip operator now has a single point of support for its hardware, operating system, and database. The mobile service provider also has eliminated unplanned downtime, minimized system unavailability during upgrades, and lowered the lifetime cost of ownership.

 
 

 
 

Challenges

A word from Vip operator

  • "Oracle enables us to run our business on an integrated virtualized environment that provides unbeatable performance and availability while driving down the cost of service delivery." – Kiril Enimitev, Applications and Integration Team Leader, Vip operator

  • Ensure 100% uptime for the third-party middleware platform that underpins provisioning and billing systems for more than 500,000 contract, prepaid, business, and residential telecommunications customers
  • Maximize performance of back-office financial and human resources management functions and self-service online solutions offered to customers, such as reviewing checking account balances and changing service options
  • Reallocate processing power to avoid service quality degradation for mobile customers during peak periods, as well as provide necessary month-end resources to billing and payroll
  • Minimize operational, support, and maintenance costs for the IT infrastructure
  • Scale systems seamlessly to support an expanding customer base and increasing transaction volume
  • Launch next-generation mobile services—such as solutions for mobile and parking payments, and prepaid money cards, while continuing to ensure unrivalled performance and availability in an increasingly competitive market

Solutions

Oracle Product and Services

  • Migrated from a legacy HP Itanium hardware platform that could not accommodate sustained growth to a Sun Blade 6000 chassis and four SPARC T3-1B blade servers to support growing mobile service provider
  • Deployed an integrated, highly scalable, hosted platform with the flexibility to run multiple disparate vendor solutions located in a secure data center
  • Deployed a third-party middleware platform―that runs on Oracle Database with Real Application Clusters 11g for seamless failover―on two SPARC T3-1B blade servers
  • Ran custom and open source financial, human resources, and other back-office systems on the remaining two SPARC T3-1B blade servers
  • Used Oracle VM Server for SPARC’s enterprise-class virtualization capabilities to build a highly efficient virtualized environment
  • Benefited from migrating multiple virtual servers to one system, eliminating the need for separate servers for each function, and enabling resource allocation in line with business demand
  • Leveraged industry-leading fault-tolerance, predictive healing, and rapid recovery capabilities of Oracle Solaris Cluster to ensure high levels of security, resilience, and performance for mission-critical provisioning systems
  • Benefited from immediate performance and stability improvements for all frontline customer-facing and back-office services
  • Increased IT performance, improved scalability, and enabled rapid deployment of new, media-rich services for mobile users to retain existing subscribers and attract new customers
  • Enabled rapid deployment without the need for a hardware upgrade
  • Eliminated unplanned downtime, minimized system unavailability during upgrades, and reduced cost of ownership compared with legacy hardware, which will help lead to a complete return on investment in two years
  • Optimized space in datacenter and decreased power consumption
  • Benefited from single vendor platform by having one company to contact for support of hardware, operating system, and database

Why Oracle

Vip operator chose to replace its existing hardware platform with a virtualized Oracle environment to ensure best-of-breed technology at every level of the communication service provider’s architecture and to optimize its hardware, operating system, and Oracle Database.

"SPARC T3 servers and Oracle Solaris 10 maximize performance and lower the cost of ownership by integrating virtualization and high availability into the entire technology stack," said Kiril Enimitev, applications and integration team leader, Vip operator.

Implementation Process

LANCom Computers, an Oracle Gold Partner and Oracle Solaris Specialized Partner, implemented the new system, which went live with minimal business disruption.

"LANCom Computers provided a turnkey solution from project design, to delivery of the hardware and operating system. to post go-live support," Enimitev said.

Partner

Vip operator evaluated five potential system implementers and chose LANCom Computers for its extensive experience, successful implementation track record, and endorsements from other communications operators in the region.

"LANCom Computers will help us maximize the return on our Oracle investment, leading to improved efficiency and flexibility as we capitalize on the opportunities for revenue growth in the mobile communications industry," Enimitev said.