Duncan Lawrie
Private banker reduces support challenge by choosing Logicalis for both its Windows and Unix environments
Company Profile
Duncan Lawrie is a private bank that focuses on delivering a truly personal, friendly and discreet service to its customers. Core services include current and deposit accounts, investment management and offshore wealth management at the Isle of Man site.
Customer's Business Issues
Support for a mission-critical banking application in addition to installation of and support for its Windows-based office productivity systems.
Having examined the requirements of Duncan Lawrie, Logicalis made a number of recommendations about how best to deploy the latest Windows technology. It proposed taking advantage of the capabilities of the new Active Directory tool in Windows 2000, and harnessing dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP) rather than static internet protocol (IP) to increase the flexibility and manageability of the network.
The Logicalis Solution
Logicalis installed a standard file and print system, configured to work with Windows 2000 and SQL Server. This included designing user accounts and log-on scripts, as well as comprehensive data migration. Having completed the first few installations, Logicalis then provided training to enable Duncan Lawrie's IT staff to complete the rollout. In addition to the Windows installation, Logicalis was also required to implement Microsoft Exchange 2000. This project began in rather more trying circumstances, as a coding error emerged in the application, threatening to put the entire deployment behind schedule. Logicalis remained in close contact with the developer and as soon as a software patch was created, Logicalis obtained all the information and the implementation could continue.
Why Logicalis?
Duncan Lawrie is now benefiting from a fully-supported mission-critical banking application. Equally importantly, it is enjoying the benefits of its newly installed Windows environment, fully supported by Logicalis and thus delivering the functionality and interoperability of the Microsoft toolset with the reliability and high availability that first-class support brings.
Having developed a strong working relationship with Logicalis, Duncan Lawrie can now depend on the IT solutions provider to not only support its systems but also enhance its business.
The benefits of this relationship include:
- Reduced management burden and financial overhead thanks to working with one IT support partner for all its major systems;
- Excellent performance from its Windows system, with minimal downtime thanks to the speed of the support services;
- Constant availability for its mission-critical banking application;
- Accelerated rollout of its new Windows-based office computing system. Having installed the hardware, Logicalis then trained Duncan Lawrie's in-house IT staff to create user accounts and set up individuals on the system;
- Consultancy and expert advice about how best to deploy the Windows system;
- Specialist IBM knowledge from a leading IBM partner in the UK . Duncan Lawrie runs its banking application on IBM hardware, an area in which Logicalis has outstanding experience and knowledge, thus ensuring first-class maintenance.
