Eastern Washington University Gives Computer Associates' Unicenter TNG Straight A's

Business Wire, August 11, 1998

ISLANDIA, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 11, 1998--

Integrated Network and Systems Management Capabilities Enable Smooth Migration from POLYCENTER and OpenView

Computer Associates International, Inc. (CA) announced today that Eastern Washington University (EWU) has selected and is now implementing CA's Unicenter TNG to manage its complex IT infrastructure. The university, based in Cheney and Spokane, Washington, is migrating to Unicenter TNG from a combination of POLYCENTER and Hewlett-Packard's OpenView. EWU is also using CA's industry-leading enterprise management solution to support the introduction of Microsoft Windows NT into its complex, mutli-platform infrastructure.

"Even if it didn't offer anything else, we would have needed Unicenter TNG to continue supporting our Digital VAX cluster," said Wayne Praeder, EWU's Chief Information Officer. "But once we began to look at what CA had to offer, we saw we could integrate our network management with our systems management toprovide a more cohesive view of our environment. We also saw that Unicenter TNG would be an ideal solution to manage the distributed Windows NT Servers we were planning to deploy."

Praeder described Unicenter TNG as a "strategic acquisition" that enables his staff of just four support technicians to deliver reliable networked information services to an end-user population of approximately 7,000 students, 450 faculty and 500 staff - a remarkably cost-efficient ratio. "Unicenter TNG is doing more than just helping us cut operational costs," Praeder stated. "It's enabling us to survive."

Downsizing at EWU has resulted in a 50 percent reduction in technical staff. At the same time, demand for networked computing services has escalated unabated. "Without streamlining our network and systems management functions, we would be unable to deliver the services EWU needs to meet its educational and business objectives," said Praeder. "The deployment of Unicenter TNG is an absolutely critical move for us."

Unicenter TNG has set the stage for new service offerings from Praeder's division. "From an organizational point of view, we don't centrally control the computing activities of the university's separate departments or business units," he said. "Unicenter TNG is therefore essential for us to provide the server monitoring, asset management, software delivery and backup/recovery services that we're responsible for regardless of what those autonomous units are doing."

EWU's implementation provides consolidated management of a TCP/IP-based network that spans two campuses, links nearly 2,000 network nodes, and includes a mix of Ethernet and fast Ethernet over a 622Mbs ATM backbone. In the current initial stage of the implementation, Unicenter TNG is configured to receive management data from both POLYCENTER and OpenView. This has enabled EWU to rapidly deploy Unicenter TNG, leverage its investment in the configuration of existing management resources, and set the stage for a seamless transition to direct management of all IT resources.

EWU has also implemented Unicenter TNG's Software Delivery and Asset Management Options to automate desktop systems management within its Information Resources Division, as well as the AntiVirus Option for its NT servers.

Immediate Advantages

According to Praeder, the advantages of Unicenter TNG were apparent from the moment it was first implemented - which included the discovery of EWU's entire network in less than two hours. The discovery process yielded a comprehensive inventory of 49 subnetworks, and 1,114 discrete objects, only 224 of which were manageable using Simplified Network Management Protocol (SNMP).

EWU has created four distinct Business process Views under Unicenter TNG in its initial implementation. These are:

- A Network Core view focusing on the operation of five Cisco

Systems routers

- A Remote Access view that monitors two remote access servers that

provide off-campus staff and faculty with PPP access to internal network resources

- An NT Services view that monitors the operation of nine NT

servers configured in a server "farm"

- An Internet Services view which monitors the University's

Internet access and Library services

"By establishing specific views for these services, we're able to 'trap' specific events and their associated resources," said Keith Adams, EWU's lead Unicenter TNG specialist. "Those events include everything from internal memory and disk usage on NT servers to the status of our Cisco routers and switches."

Adams noted that two- and three-dimensional maps were both developed to aid in critical resource monitoring and troubleshooting. "They're both useful, depending on what it is you're trying to manage and who you have managing it," he said.

Promoted To The Next Grade

EWU is committed to expanding its Unicenter TNG implementation over time. Next on the agenda is extended deployment of the Advanced Storage Option. "We've already deployed ASO agents on our internal NT servers and are working out an implementation schedule for the ARCserve Tape Option with CA so that we can test it with our Digital Tape Library," said Praeder. "That will allow us to offer our internal customers the ability to back up the servers located in their business units using our enterprise tape library system, which is far more cost-effective and reliable than a fragmented approach."