System & Project Helps Air Berlin's Growing Network Fly
Dartware Partner: System & Project GmbH
Partner Description: System & Project is a network consultancy with particular expertise in Cisco hardware and CiscoWorks network management software. System & Project clients are often referred by Cisco distributors.
Partner Location: Berlin, Germany
Client: Air Berlin
Client Location: Berlin, Germany
Client Business: Air Berlin flies to popular vacation destinations including Majorca, the Canary Islands, Portugal, and North Africa as well as major European destinations including Amsterdam, Barcelona, Budapest, Copenhagen, Helsinki, London, Madrid, Milan-Bergamo, Paris, Rome, Vienna and Zurich.
InterMapper's Role: Using InterMapper's maps and reports, the help desk technicians at Air Berlin proactively support the airline's growing Cisco network.
Quote: “InterMappper is for the relaxation of the whole team. If anything happens to the network, they will know about it at least as fast as their clients.”
Air Berlin's motto is “Closer to the Customer. We take off where you live.” True to its motto, Air Berlin originates flights from major airports throughout Germany and flies to the most popular European vacation sites as well as major cities. Through organic growth and acquisition of the DBA airline, Air Berlin continues to expand its services to customers across Germany, and Europe.
Keeping planes on schedule and customers happy requires about 3,900 employees (including DBA) and a solid corporate infrastructure. Air Berlin relies on its centralized Cisco network which operates out of Berlin. All servers and main systems are located there with leased lines serving main airports including Palma de Mallorca, London, Vienna, Zurich, and Dusseldorf.
With its infrastructure growing so quickly, it was getting harder and harder to react to network problems. Complaints about slow network performance took time to diagnose and locate. Lacking current data, Help Desk staff had to work through PC, server, or database departments to determine the status of internal or leased lines. Since each group was constantly changing and reconfiguring their technology to accommodate growth, the IT group as a whole lacked a big picture view of the corporate-wide network. Air Berlin called System & Project for help with the problem.
At their first meeting, Air Berlin IT staff walked System & Project through their Help Desk's simple, yet time-consuming, workflow. Users called to report problems (slow connections, inability to access data, etc.), then a network administrator asked diagnostic questions, the network administrator contacted departments to gather information about device location, status, and other data that would enable the problem to be fixed, the appropriate department would implement the fix. The Help Desk team was completely reactive and hindered by an inefficient support process.
Current, accessible, network status data was key to streamlining Help Desk operations and effectively improving network operations. System & Project knew that if Air Berlin could see its network, problems could be localized, assigned, and fixed much faster. System & Project also had to accommodate projected growth; Air Berlin needed to continue corporate technology integrations.
System & Project often begins consulting assignments by mapping their clients' Cisco networks using InterMapper and that's where they started with Air Berlin. Air Berlin staff prepared a list of main system switch addresses, leased lines and routers, servers, databases, and remote site equipment. System & Project asked for SNMP read access and permission to scan those devices.
An InterMapper demonstration showed the IT department how their network and mission critical devices and connections could be mapped, monitored, and made easily visible to support staff. Air Berlin IT groups readily agreed that a single map of the entire network would enable all staff to quickly assess overall network health and attend to problems proactively.
InterMapper was fully installed, implemented, and a complete map of all lines, connections, and devices made operational in four days. The map is available to staff from a central server and two other installations serve staff in remote offices. Wall mounted monitors project maps constantly to provide instant data for end-user support. Now, when a user calls to complain that “everything is slow,” staff glance at the map and see, for example, that there is traffic between a server and backup server. Without making any calls or initiating any research, they assure the caller that things will speed up when the backup is complete. Since all parts of IT have access to maps and reports, everyone is better informed about normal operations and able to differentiate problem and expected performance issues.
Air Berlin IT departments are already enjoying the efficiencies afforded by InterMapper but System & Project sees room for even more improvement. Maps will be enhanced with devices like uninterruptible power supplies and alerting options will be used to direct status information to the correct people and teams.
“InterMapper is for the relaxation of the whole team,” says Birgit Schönborn of System & Project. "If anything happens to the network, they will know about it at least as fast as their clients.”