Infosys Technologies www.infosys.com
IT Infrastructure Consolidation
Project Lead: Pritam Kumar Sinha, Senior Project Manager - IT
Project Description: Infosys undertook a comprehensive consolidation effort across its IT infrastructure to transform a cost center into a center of excellence. Leveraging best practices and the latest technologies, Infosys replaced numerous smaller servers with fewer high-capacity machines and direct-attached storage hardware with centralized storage, leveraging DNS round robin for load balancing and redundancy. The project also improved performance by optimizing existing infrastructure and by introducing new processes to cut backup windows significantly. The initiative resulted in $2 million in direct cost savings.
Industry: Services

Internal Revenue Service www.irs.gov
Online Payment Agreement
Project Lead: William P. Farrell, Supervisory IT Specialist
Project Description: To help taxpayers voluntarily resolve tax liabilities, the IRS created the Online Payment Agreement system. The Java-based application consists of several components, including presentation, business, and data layers. Web page content resides in an Oracle database but is brought into JVM memory at startup to increase performance. Application-specific business rules reside in middle-tier Web app servers, and audit logging is sent to the IRS' Secure Audit and Analysis System. More than 90 percent of all monthly payment agreements -- which would otherwise have been handled manually -- qualify for electronic submission via OPA.
Industry: Government

Johnson Controls www.johnsoncontrols.com
Network Consolidation Due to Acquisition
Project Lead: Steven Levanthal, Senior Network Monitoring Tools Engineer
Project Description: Johnson Controls IT migrated dozens of applications to its already large, complex MPLS WAN in the wake of the company's acquisition of York International. Tapping NetScout deep-packet analysis capabilities, the team identified and resolved poor performance due to TCP Window Sizing issues and overwhelmed switches, as well as file transfer issues and authentication problems, to ensure a smooth transition for the now 146,000-person company.
Industry: Manufacturing

Kennametal www.kennametal.com
Kennametal IT Services Migration for "Yankee" Acquisition
Project Lead: Larry Clawson, Global Business Integration Manager
Project Description: Establishing a best-practices approach to future acquisition migration management, the Kennametal IT group completed a three-site migration -- including the installation of new hardware and software for security, asset management, and office productivity -- in less than 100 days.
Industry: Manufacturing

Kennametal www.kennametal.com
Kennametal Industrial Products Group - Enterprise Integration
Project Lead: Thomas F. McKee, Jr., Director IT, Business Systems & Information
Project Description: This 12-month project to standardize and migrate the four legacy ERP systems of Kennametal's Industrial Products Group to the company's SAP global business and information management system included more than 320 users spread across 13 sites. The conversion is expected to save more than $1 million annually, as well as $7 million in inventory reduction in the first year.
Industry: Manufacturing

Las Vegas Review-Journal www.reviewjournal.com
WAN Upgrade for VoIP and NAC
Project Lead: Steven Olson, Infrastructure Manager
Project Description: In preparation for companywide VoIP, LVRJ's IT department upgraded the company's WAN with a new MPLS network from AT&T, trialed Mitel VoIP handsets at five sites in Hawaii, replaced its network core with two redundantly configured 10Gbps-capable Foundry devices, and installed several ConSentry LANShield Switches to provide VoIP application protection and user-based access control. The project's ultimate goal is to deliver Gigabit Ethernet and Power over Ethernet to every desktop with a switch infrastructure that provides IT with tighter access controls over users.
Industry: Media