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SAIB (Société Arabe Internationale de Banque), was established on the 21st of March 1976, as the first joint Arab Bank working in Egypt.
The bank executes all banking investment, financial and commercial matters related to banking business, and contributes to financing economic, industrial, real estate, agricultural, and commercial projects, as well as Egyptian foreign trade. The bank has 1200+ employee/user distributed across more than 22 branch offices that spread across all over Egypt.
Challenge
- SAIB was a decentralized, heterogeneous IT environment that was difficult and expensive to manage. The growing IT infrastructure of the bank was also putting pressure on email, applications and other communication and collaboration servers.
- Existing underlying servers had grown old and required replacement. However, as the size of the infrastructure had grown, the costs of hardware replacement had also flown.
- Replacing servers and procuring server supporting operating systems and applications licenses posed the likelihood of a huge investment and definitely increased time-to-market solutions in a fast, easy and reliable manner.
A Private Cloud based on Microsoft Datacenter Services Framework
Solution
SAIB wanted a solution that could leverage new technologies. The bank’s idea was to invest in technologies that would offer agility and support growth while maintaining a manageable infrastructure. Such bank’s requirements pointed to a private cloud solution, using virtual servers and management, to achieve better utilization of hardware, leading to fewer physical servers, greater agility, reduced deployment and maintenance costs, and greater scalability.
SAIB awarded NILE.COM the project to design and deploy a private cloud based on Microsoft datacenter services framework and then to roll out Windows Server 2008 R2 across the datacenter so it could support the Hyper-V platform. Hyper-V served as a server virtualization technology to optimize server hardware investments by consolidating multiple server roles as separate virtual machines running on a single physical machine. Today, the bank has eight physical servers, running 40 servers and scalable to host 20 additional servers. These are hosted using Hyper-V cluster, SQL cluster, Exchange Database Availability Group (DAG), and Windows Network Load Balancing (NLB.Gained benefits
Agile, scalable and automated infrastructure.
Centralized management and administration of all infrastructure components.
Simplified manageability and greater visibility.
Efficient use of the existing hardware servers and storage.
Simplified high availability practice.
Simplified administration and greater efficiency.
Secure and robust unified threat protection services.
Smooth backup and restore operation.
Products Used
- Microsoft Windows Server 2008/SP1/R2.
- Microsoft Hyper-v 2008/SP1/R2.
- Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008/R2.
- Microsoft System Center Data Protection Manager 2012.
- Microsoft System Center Operation Manager 2007/R2.
- Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2007/R3.
- Microsoft System Center Orchestrator 2012.
- Microsoft SQL Server 2008.
- Microsoft Exchange 2010.
- Microsoft Forefront Protection for Exchange 2010.
- Microsoft Forefront Threat Management Gateway 2010.
- IBM XIV Disk Storage Systems.
- IBM Tape Storage Systems.
- IBM System-x Rack mount Servers.
Elaraby Group, one of the largest industrial and commercial entities in Egypt, is the owner of a diversity of manufacturing facilities producing quality and highly reliable electronic, electrical and mechanical original equipment systems and subsystems with a reputation of excellence in the Egyptian market.
The Group’s commitment to good workmanship and accuracy produces outstanding quality products that incorporate high technologies that satisfy the needs and surpasses the expectations of the consumer market.
Challenge
Spread across Egypt, Elaraby Group required a unified, scalable, and cost-effective communications solution that would meet its business needs.
The company operates with long lead times to order materials that require reliable and efficient communications to minimize its inventory of complex components. Additionally, effective communications are essential in the manufacturing sector where mid-assembly change orders must be relayed immediately to the production line to minimize losses.
Engineers at different facilities need easy-to-use, reliable communications to troubleshoot production issues, minimize downtime, maintain production schedules, and collaborate on new specifications.
At Elaraby Group; the users are spread across many locations, and the IT infrastructure posed many challenging requirements in the design of a solution that must be highly available, resilient and scalable with the capability to integrate it with the existing and running telephony systems.
Integrated Unified Communication and VOIP
Solution
The solution should be able to accept further workload demands and future growth, as well as to take into consideration the projected systems integrity and harmony with existing legacy communication systems such as PBXs and PSTN infrastructure.
NILE.COM proposed to Elaraby Group the adoption of Microsoft Lync Server 2010, NET gateways and Polycom IP phones which offers the complete telephony capabilities of an IP private branch exchange (PBX) solution while consolidating the different ways people communicate-enterprise voice, IM, and audio and video web conferencing-into a single client interface.
Microsoft Lync Server 2010 is a perfect fit for modern manufacturers, like Elaraby Group, who require communication solutions to sustain their fast-paced business workflows and improve productivity; whether the communications are part of structured business process workflows or ad hoc informal collaborations that support daily operations.
NILE.COM recognized that the built-in interoperability within the Lync Server 2010 tool set, and the fact that it interoperates with the Microsoft Office desktop suite, would help staff work better together across the organization to seize business opportunities and improve production.
Full integration between Lync 2010 deployment and NET UX/VX/Tenor voice gateways and Polycom IP phones has also been realized.
The solution architecture – design and deployment – provided by NILE.COM – is already implemented across four distributed datacenters in different geo locations to provide presence, IM, AVC, enterprise voice and VOIP for 2000 user .
Products Used
- Microsoft Lync Server 2010.
- Tenor Voice Gateways.
- Polycom Sound Point Phones.
- Microsoft Office Communication Server 2007 R2.
- NET UX/VX Voice Gateways.
- Polycom CX Series.
- Dell Servers(x86 Servers).
Al-Mansour Automotive is one of the largest GN dealers in the world, selling over 75,000 vehicles a year. In a joint venture with GM it also manufactures cars, trucks and pickups for the Egyptian and Middle Eastern markets. It also owns franchises for Opel, MG, Chevrolet, Isuzu and Peugeot.
Al-Mansour Company continually undertakes initiatives to provide its employees with robust and up-to-date technologies so that they can provide customers with the best world class possible service.
Challenge
Al-Mansour infrastructure is distributed across multiple locations; primary offices, backup data center and remote offices in Egypt and other countries. To benefit from the new capabilities of Exchange 2010 and help drive growth, Al-Mansour decided to upgrade their messaging infrastructure (from Exchange 2003) and to develop robust, secure, and scalable messaging services to provide users in local and remote offices with greater mobility, flexible client access, simplified compliance and reduced risks of malware and spam.
The technical objectives were to; simplify the messaging service management, further reduce the utilized I/O footprint, and to migrate to a more robust, secure and scalable Exchange platform.
Enterprise Messaging Infrastructure
Solution
NILE.COM, being a Microsoft Partner with Unified Communications Gold Competency and experience in this field was engaged to design, prototype, build, and deploy a scalable, highly available and secure Exchange infrastructure; protected with TMG 2010,FPE 2010 and SCDPM 2010.
This Solution was implemented in both primary and the backup datacenters.
Gained benefits
Centralized management and administration of all exchange servers.
OWA clients to have the same functionality as the Outlook client.
Simplified high availability practice and consequently achieves operational enhancements.
Enhanced support and improved security for mobile devices.
Secure messaging system with minimum operational burden.
Better mailbox recovery tools and management tools.
Secure and robust unified threat protection services.
Smooth backup and restore operation.
Products Used
- Microsoft Windows Server 2008.
- Microsoft Forefront Protection for Exchange 2010.
- Microsoft System Center Data Protection Manager 2010.
- Microsoft Exchange 2010.
- Microsoft Forefront Threat Management Gateway 2010.
Amcham Egypt was officially founded as the 44th American Chamber of Commerce abroad and the first in the Middle East.
The American Chamber of Commerce in Egypt continually strives to empower its employees with up-to-date communications and collaboration technologies so that they can, in turn, provide partners and members with the best possible service.
Challenge
The American Chamber needed a robust unified communications solution to streamline all communication systems and channels; internal users, internet users, email, instant messaging, presence and PBX integration.
Streamlined Communications
Solution
AmCham engaged NILE.COM to upgrade the foundation of the chamber’s unified communications infrastructure to Microsoft Exchange Server 2010,implementing FortiMail for mail security and protection and deploying Microsoft Office Communication Server 2007 R2 with full enterprise voice implementation.
Gained Benfits
providing the facility for employees easily access the Exchange Server 2010 through their mobile devices and Microsoft Outlook Web App.
Products Used
- Microsoft Exchange Server 2010.
- Office Communications Server 2007 R2
- FortiMail Email Security Appliance.
One of the world’s top design consultants.
Dar Al Handasah is pioneer in the use of innovative IT technologies that greatly enhance its employees’ productivity.
Challenge
The company was suffering from a large Backup Window due to the implementation of a Direct Attached Storage system implemented on the network and servers and Tape Library Subsystem attached to the LAN Infrastructure.
The Direct Attached Storage was unmanageable. Simultaneous User and Tape Library communication with the servers over the LAN infrastructure caused network congestion and degraded throughput and performance.
Enterprise Messaging Infrastructure
Solution
The proposed solution was to replace the Direct Attached Storage system with a Storage Area Network (SAN) Fabric and IBM Disk System Storage keeping only the Operating System on the servers. The Tape Library Subsystem was moved from the LAN to the SAN Fabric relieving the servers and considerably reducing traffic on the LAN.
Gained Benefits
The Backup Window was reduced drastically as the backup operation became tenfold faster.
LAN operations were greatly enhanced by leveraging the network throughput.
The Storage Subsystem became manageable to configure and expand disk volumes.
Products Used
- IBM Midrange Storage – DS4800.
- IBM Shark Storage System DS8700.
- IBM Tape Storage.
One of the world’s top design consultants.
Dar Al Handasah is pioneer in the use of innovative IT technologies that greatly enhance its employees’ productivity.
Challenge
Dar Al Handasah is a heavy user of Top-Notch Engineering and Architectural Software Systems. The company’s decision to upgrade from CAD application systems to the more advanced Building Information Modeling (BIM) application imposed high performance demands on users’ computer workstations.
Dar Al Handasah IT department put workstations offered from different vendors to the test. Test labs were established to put the workstation through rigorous test simulation real time production environment.
Workstations Case Study
Solution
With more than 400 certifications for various configurations of graphics cards and operating systems by industry leading software suppliers, including Autodesk, the workstation presented Lenovo and supplied by NILE.COM became Dar’s first Choice and set the standards for Dar Al Handasah production workstation.
Gained Benefits
Lenovo’s powerful ThinkStations have helped Dar engineers increase their productivity, resulting in timely project management and higher customer satisfaction.
The robust design and solid reliability of Lenovo PCs has reduced overall downtime considerably in the Cairo office.
LAN operations were greatly enhanced by leveraging the network throughput.
Products Used
- Lenovo ThinkStation S10.
One of the world’s top design consultants.
Dar Al Handasah is pioneer in the use of innovative IT technologies that greatly enhance its employees’ productivity.
Challenge
The productivity of Dar employees relies on the support of a team experienced Information technology specialist in the IT department and a well-managed data center. Dar’s dependability on information technology and the continual need for expansion required a re-evaluation of data center resources.
The requirement of expansion in hardware resources posed a challenge to costly space requirements and power consuming air conditioning and ventilation that is required to be able to cope with the heat dissipation within the data center.
Virtualization Case Study
Solution
NILE.COM teamed up with Dar IT department to design and implement a virtualized Infrastructure environment by consolidating servers using a VMware virtual server cluster to ensure high availability and Dynamic Resource Scheduling (DRS).
Gained Benefits
Optimized utilization of available Hardware.
Cost saving by eliminating the need to expand physically by relocating the data center.
Eliminated the need for extra air conditioning and ventilation, thus, reducing electric power consumption resulting in further cost saving.
Products Used
- IBM BladeCenter Servers.
- VMware.
One of the world’s top design consultants.
Dar Al Handasah is pioneer in the use of innovative IT technologies that greatly enhance its employees’ productivity.
Challenge
Dar Al Handasah has 44 offices throughout 30 counties worldwide and employees constantly traveling between offices and filed projects require a versatile and constantly available means of communication among each other and with their office whenever and wherever their location.
It was time to integrate the various communication technologies in separate islands into a unified messaging and communications system.
Unified Communications Case Study
Solution
NILE.COM helped Dar Cairo to integrate their conventional PBX with Cisco Call manager and Microsoft Office Communications Server (OCS) 2007 and to implement a unified messaging and communication environment.
Gained Benefits
Ease of communication.
Increased reach ability.
Enhanced system manageability.
Elimination of caller ID problem.
Products Used
- Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007.
- Net VX Gateway Devices.
Egyptian International Pharmaceutical Industries Co. (EIPICO), the largest local producer of pharmaceuticals in Egypt, has shifted to SAP applications to manage its core business, alongside Microsoft Office, Exchange and other Microsoft Windows-based applications.
Challenge
They are now using a range of SAP ERP functionalities including financials, controlling and distribution, materials management and warehouse management and they determined that multiple business systems were not serving the corporation efficiently.
Diversified backup, archive and restore processes and an uncertain disaster recovery plan needed to be improved to secure business data.
IBM BladeCenter & Storage Case Study
Solution
The technical objectives were to simplify the IT infrastructure, reduce costs and implement a robust and scalable solution that offers a unified data backup, restore and archive environment. Additionally, NILE.COM offered a storage area network to help reduce total storage costs, by maximizing disk utilization, and to cut backup system administration costs through process automation.
NILE.COM, as an IBM Premier Business Partner with specializations in System x and Storage was engaged to design and implement IBM Blade Center, Fiber storage switching modules and IBM Systems Storage DS4700; as well as automated data backup, restore and archive processes with IBM Tivoli Storage Manager.
Products Used
- IBM Blade Center.
- IBM System Storage DS4700.
- IBM Tivoli Storage Manager.
To help trim operating costs and pursue opportunities for continued expansion, SAIB needed to streamline its approach to configuration and operation management and to increase its operational visibility. The bank wanted to simplify PC and server management to make it easier for IT staff to administer, support, update and proactively manage the bank infrastructure.
Challenge
SAIB wanted to expand its areas of expertise and develop a new practice area that would help its IT team deliver business value by optimizing the bank’s infrastructure.
A solution was needed to address the following challenges:
Monitoring the hardware and software in a distributed environment to detect issues, then providing tools to fix those issues.
Automating the time-consuming processes of installing, updating, and patching software.
Implementing standard processes for systems management, rather than taking a purely technical view.
Addressing the monitoring and configuration requirements of the Bank without full-time management staff. Plan installations properly by providing robust tools for estimating the required resources.
Configuration and Operation Management
Solution
NILE.COM, implemented Windows Server 2008 R2 operating system and Microsoft System Center solutions to enhance management of SAIB’s infrastructure configuration and operation. There was a reduction in maintenance costs and more efficient control over the infrastructure, relieving the IT staff and giving them more time to focus on delivering business services.
Now, the Bank enjoys the benefits that come with the centralized management of its server environment, as well as an enhanced disaster recovery solution and no additional licensing costs.
Products Used
- Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2.
- Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager.
- Microsoft System Center Operation Manager
