The Customer
PD Ports is a major UK shipping ports operator, headquartered in Middlesbrough. Employing 1,200 people and providing contract logistics, freight forwarding and shipping services, PD Ports forms a key part of the UK logistics sector.
“The ISO:27001 accreditations and SC-cleared DBA team have been vital to ensuring critical database issues are expedited when required.”
The Challenge
Due to the nature of the PD Ports business, there are many business-critical applications that must be operational on a true 24*7 basis and as such, the database environments are designed with optimal high availability in mind.
Whilst employing a highly skilled internal technical team, PD Ports recognised that it needed DBA experts on a continuous basis to ensure ongoing environment optimisation and to allow the internal technical team to focus on the business-specific application work.
The Solution
PD Ports issued an invitation to tender to a number of specialist DBA services providers in 2015. The key emphasis was on a service model which provides the highest level of DBA expertise, coupled with a proactive focus on systems optimisation. Node4 was the obvious choice.
Getting the on-boarding work completed successfully and allowing a smooth transition from the previous support partner was of paramount importance. Node4 spent a considerable amount of time reviewing the database environments, along with implementing a remediation plan for each system. This resulted in PD Ports having a group of fully optimised databases from the outset of the Managed Service, which enabled detailed monitoring alert tuning for quick and accurate fault detection.
The final solution for PD Ports is a standardised 24*7 SLA that delivers proactive database management across a complex set of highly available architectures.
The Result
Node4 have formed a close and longstanding DBA services partnership with PD Ports since 2015. This has encompassed fully Managed Services within a 24*7 SLA, coupled with the delivery of strategic consulting services to support project delivery, along with advice on database licence optimisation.
Working in close partnership with the PD Ports internal technical team, Node4 have helped to ensure that key database environments have benefited from the highest level of availability possible.
Finally, Node4 has fostered an excellent working relationship with PD Ports, which has enabled it to deliver the necessary database and environment support in a cohesive and effective manner.
Why Node4?
PD Ports selected Node4 to be the long-term DBA support partner, as it has demonstrable expertise across both Oracle and SQL Server database technologies, coupled with the ability to deliver a responsive and tightly managed SLA.
Node4 also demonstrated the ability to deliver strategic consulting services to help design and build critical database environments within an optimal high availability architecture including Oracle RAC. This was a deciding factor for PD Ports, due to the importance of systems availability.
Security was also a crucial factor for PD Ports due to the size of their operations and sensitivity of large volumes of data. The ISO:27001 accreditations and SC-cleared DBA team have been vital to ensuring critical database issues are expedited when required.
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