LONDON, September 11 /PRNewswire/ --

- Global Electronics Giant Announces Selection of Message Manager
and Message Communicator From UK Based Provider, Halcyon Software, to
Maximise Business Efficiency and Ensure Zero Downtime

Halcyon Software, the multi-platform systems management provider,
http://www.halcyonsoftware.com has enabled the Australian and New Zealand arm
of Tyco Electronics to achieve a 24-hour a day IBM System i-based ERP
software support model without requiring additional staff or maintaining a
constant on-site presence.

For Tyco, a global US$12.8 billion dollar provider of engineered
electronic components, the reliability of its IBM System i-based ERP software
is fundamental to business efficiency. The challenge, though, is for a
relatively lean System i support team to provide around-the-clock support to
ensure 24-hour up-time.

A change to proactive systems monitoring

A key member of that team is Abhay Kulkarni, Tyco Electronics' Senior
Systems Engineer. "Just as is the case with most businesses," he says, "a
fair amount of our System i's processing is done after hours, with end-of-day
and end-of-week batch processing and reporting. But the reality is that -
again - like most business, we don't have the personnel resources available
to have someone monitoring the system 24 hours a day."

A direct result of that inability to provide 24-hour systems monitoring,
if a problem occurred with any process, it was generally a case of the
support team not knowing about it until a user contacted them with a query as
to why their job was taking so long.

"Once we identified the problem, we generally found that a single problem
had a cascading effect, holding up all the other jobs that were waiting in
line," Abhay says. "If it happened overnight, then we wouldn't find out until
the next morning when personnel - including senior management - were waiting
to receive reports on the previous day's activities."

"Essentially, it was a classic example of reactive systems management;
and we realised fairly quickly that we needed a solution that would help us
change this to proactive."

A clear demonstration

Identifying the most appropriate solution for the company's System i
monitoring needs demanded of Abhay and his colleagues that they conduct a
thorough evaluation of all feasible alternatives. But it was a hands-on
session that demonstrated clearly the perfect fit that was to be afforded by
Halcyon's Message Manager and Message Communicator.

For the purposes of the demonstration, Abhay and a colleague were located
in a Sydney office along with a Halcyon engineer and a remote terminal
connected to an AS/400 in Melbourne. Abhay explains: "The Halcyon engineer
logged in to Message Manager running on the AS/400, entered our mobile phone
numbers and showed us how, with SMS messaging, we could receive system alerts
from the server, then issue commands directly to the server.

"The level of control was such that we even had the ability to shut the
server down with a simple SMS message. That," Abhay continues, "gave us all
the proof we needed that Message Manager and Message Communicator was the
ideal solution to meet our needs."

IT maintenance on the road

With the introduction of Message Manager and Message Communicator, the
Tyco Electronics System i support team has been given a level of freedom in
monitoring and management well beyond what they had expected initially. Now,
immediately an alert is generated on System i, whether relating to hardware,
operating system or software, an SMS is automatically sent to the support
team members' mobile phones.

"When we receive the message," Abhay explains, "we see a reference number
and customised message that explains precisely the cause of the alert. From
there, it's a straightforward process of responding via SMS and issuing
commands, such as retrying or cancelling a job."

Where the flexibility of the solution adds particular value for Abhay and
his colleagues is in the ability to customise virtually everything from the
wording of alert messages right through to escalation lists and mobile phones
to which messages are sent depending on the type of alert. "The fact is that
we're able to customise the behaviour of the system and ensure it contacts
the right people whenever an alert is generated," he says.

Business continuity guaranteed

"For the business itself, it's resulted in a definite service
improvement," Abhay continues. "Problems that previously might have resulted
in extensive delays to job processing are now being addressed within minutes;
and the number of calls we get from users about delays in their jobs being
processed or reports not being received has almost totally dropped away.

"What it boils down to is our ability to provide a 24-hour a day System i
support model without requiring additional staff or maintaining a constant
on-site presence. That's what we had set out to gain - and it's precisely
what we achieved."

Taking it to the next level

According to Abhay, the benefits being achieved by means of the Halcyon
solution can be attributed to more than the software itself. Importantly,
it's the people at Halcyon.

"When we looked into possible solutions, we were looking also for a fully
supported solution," Abhay states. "And from the start, when we were given
the demonstration, the commitment from Halcyon people on supporting their
product and their customers at every level was obvious."

In commenting on how that commitment has been shown - and the benefits it
has delivered to Tyco Electronics - Abhay says: "When the solution was
implemented, it was done without interruption to our business or people, and
any time we need to speak to someone at Halcyon - regardless of the time or
issue - we can!"

So when it comes to voicing a recommendation to other System i
administrators, Abhay is only too ready to put Halcyon Message Manager and
Message Communicator forward as a best-of-breed solution. "The best
recommendation I can give," he says, "is that it's a solution that works as
promised, is easy to use and manage, is backed by people who know the
products and always available, and helps us guarantee our users the
performance levels they expect from the System i."

On behalf of Halcyon Software:

Halcyon Software Limited is an established software company with over 17
years experience in systems management. Halcyon writes software for IBM
midrange servers as well as Windows, Linux, UNIX, AIX and Netware platforms.
Large multi-national companies, corporate data centres, as well as small to
medium-sized businesses use Halcyon Software products to proactively manage
and automate their IT operations.

The Head Office is based in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, and its
software is used throughout the world with distributors in Europe, Australia
and the USA. Customers include Cap Gemini, Avon Cosmetics, Raleigh, Pataks
Spices, Burberry, Early Learning Centre, Arcadia and Budget Insurance.

For further information, please contact:
    Lorraine Cousins/ Carole Chandler
    Halcyon Software
    Tel: +44-1733-234995
    Fax: +44-1733-234994
    Email: carole.chandler@halcyonsoftware.com

    Web: http://www.halcyonsoftware.com

    Sally Morgan
    The itpr Partnership
    Tel: +44-1932-578800
    Fax: +44-1932-578801
    Email: sallym@itpr.co.uk

    Web: http://www.itpr.co.uk