FNB IMPLEX Case Study
IMPLEX brings Network Efficiencies to First National Bank
The decision to implement Implex at FNB followed a thorough evaluation of a number of competitive products.
Colin van der Ross, Technical Specialist at FNB, said:
“We ranked Implex the highest in terms of its compatibility with our existing systems and its ease of implementation and use. The latter meant that we saw results ‘out-of-the-box’”.
Implemented by Motswedi JMR, the WDS representatives in South Africa, the installation ranks as one of the largest implementations of Implex in the world, with an estimated 4000 packets passing through the network host each second.
Commented Leon Theron, Director of Motswedi JMR: “The ability to manage and control IP network performance is absolutely key to corporate well-being”
Henri Visagie, FNB’s Network Manager, agrees.
“What sets Implex apart from other IP monitors is that it continually reads IP packets as they pass through the IP stack, whereas other monitors sample data from repositories, such as SMF. Implex gives us a window into the network. We can see, at any point in time, how busy any interface is, what size files are being transferred, bandwidth utilization and network loads at every single point in the network, whether it be host, router or socket. Using the information provided, we can calculate far more accurately the impact of network outages and upgrades and make provision accordingly. As a result, problems that used to take us hours to diagnose, now take a matter of minutes.”
The FNB team has integrated Implex with its management system to play an important role in how the business is managed. The solution plays a strong part in FNB’s integrated approach to management, whereby people and systems are measured and managed as a whole.
“Implex allows us to be proactive with regard to our problem-solving because of the unprecedented detail afforded by the system,” says Visagie. “Also, based on the resultant in-depth knowledge of our network, we have been able to bring about procedural changes that have improved overall efficiency.”
As a result of the information provided by Implex, the network team at FNB has been able to set up specific performance thresholds and calculate network loads. Should these be exceeded, notification is sent via SMS or e-mail to FNB network diagnosticians.
Commenting on the Implex displays, van der Ross added:
“We can see, at a glance, exactly who is logged on to the system and their bandwidth utilization. This has enabled us to meet the stringent requirements of our Auditors, who need to know the detail of all users logged onto the system at a particular time. In the past, this detail had to be obtained manually; now we can provide the information almost instantaneously.”