Dynamic Computing Power Saves Money

Telecommunications infrastructure provider Alcatel-Lucent consolidated and outsourced operations of two large mainframe systems to a single T-Systems hosted mainframe in Göppingen, Germany. This initiative delivered significant savings to Alcatel-Lucent by employing the dynamic mainframe concept that enables the company to pay for only data traffic and storage needed.

Shortly after Alcatel and Lucent Technologies merged in late 2006 to form Alcatel-Lucent, the combined IT team performed a thorough study of the new company’s mainframe processing requirements, comparing it to the capacity of its existing mainframes. The team determined there could be significant savings and improved operational efficiencies if it consolidated work done on the company-owned mainframes and outsourced a portion of the management of applications and data storage responsibilities.

Alcatel-Lucent selected T-Systems to partner with to migrate applications from two existing mainframes to T-Systems data center in Göppingen. In addition to the technical migration, T-Systems transitioned day-to-day operations from Alcatel-Lucent staff and an existing outsourcing provider. „We were able to complete the relocation of the hardware and the migration of the applications two months ahead of schedule. And best of all, we began to save money two months earlier than planned.“ says Alcatel-Lucent CIO Elizabeth Hackenson. The global company is saving money because it only pays for the computing capacity it actually uses from Göppingen – this is called Dynamic Mainframe Services. „The billing process is similar to that used for water and electricity,“ says Account Manager Jörg Schiszler about the tailor-made model, which also includes operation of the mainframes over the next five years.

With Dynamic Mainframe Services, Alcatel-Lucent benefits from an additional agreement: If our capacity increases the unit price is lowered – similar to a bulk order rebate. „This model has already helped us reduce our IT operating costs, and is an important aspect of our plan to capitalize on synergies made possible by the combination of the two telecommunications powerhouses that came together to form Alcatel-Lucent,“ Ms. Hackenson added.