A major wireless telecom wanted to curb rising data storage costs. With the help of Estuate and IBM Optim solutions, the telecom implemented an enterprise data management strategy to archive old data and retire unused applications. This is expected to save tens of millions annually by minimizing hardware purchases and eliminating at least 1 petabyte of storage over the next few years. Estuate helped train the telecom's staff so it could independently manage its data going forward.

1. Estuate helps a major
wireless telecom curb data
growth with IBM Optim
CHALLENGE
A major wireless telecom wanted to curb data growth and reduce hardware and storage costs across
its enterprise. After years of accumulating transaction records, the telecom‟s databases had become
difficult and costly to maintain and operate.
SOLUTION
Estuate and IBM worked together to implement IBM Optim Solutions and enhance the telecom‟s data
governance function.
RESULTS
Using enterprise data management best practices, the telecom expects to:
 Save potentially tens of millions of dollars per year.
 Minimize the need to purchase new server and storage hardware.
 Eliminate at least one petabyte of storage over the next few years.
 Maintain a consistent set of processes for data management.
 Reduce the cost of database administration and IT operations.
 Speed time-to-market for new products by streamlining testing.

2. HIGH CALL VOLUMES CAUSE DATA EXPERIENCED CONSULTANTS DEMONSTRATE
GROWTH AND HARDWARE THE VALUE OF EDM
SPRAWL
The telecom embarked on a detailed process of evaluation.
A major wireless telecommunications provider After considering an enterprise data integration solution
recently assessed its transaction processing from Informatica, the telecom began to investigate IBM
volumes and realized it needed to change the Optim Integrated Data Management Solutions—an
way it manages data. Thanks to the telecom‟s integrated, modular environment to design, develop,
high daily call volumes, the databases for its deploy, operate, optimize, and govern enterprise data
customer management, billing, and service throughout its lifecycle.
systems had grown to staggering sizes. But
due to the ever-falling cost of new hardware, IBM Lab Services prepared a proof of concept to
the telecom had simply purchased new demonstrate the benefits of a data archiving factory. The
hardware and let transaction records and other telecom engaged Estuate to provide valuable
data accumulate. implementation assistance and apply its methodology for
implementing a data management factory.
Over time, the telecom‟s developers continued
to proliferate copies of production databases “Our telecom client decided to work with Estuate because
for non-production purposes such as testing, of Estuate‟s depth and breadth of experience with IBM
development, and training, resulting in Optim,” says Jodie DeMuth, Optim Sales Leader, IBM. “We
hundreds of copies of massive databases. recommend Estuate with confidence because we trust their
When the telecom‟s overall storage EDM methodology, the depth and breadth of their Optim
requirements reached multiple petabytes, the implementation resources and experience, and their
company decided to create and implement an „extreme service‟ culture.”
enterprise data management (EDM) strategy
that would drive cost savings around archiving During the proof of concept, IBM used InfoSphere
data and retiring out-of-use applications. Discovery to show that one of the telecom‟s key business
applications, which were to be retired, touched far more
“Although the costs of storage hardware and databases than anyone had previously realized. This
CPU have continued to fall with Moore‟s Law insight convinced the telecom that IBM and Estuate were
over the past decade, the cost of managing the right solution partners to power the new data factory.
that hardware can be crippling to an IT
department,” explains Marc Hebert, chief “With IBM InfoSphere Discovery, we proved that it‟s not
operating officer, Estuate. “Rather than simply always obvious how much data any given application
continuing to let its disk farms grow, as so accesses and generates over the course of its lifecycle,”
many companies have done, this telecom took Hebert remarks. “You have to perform very careful analysis.
a strategic look at managing its data and Having a tool that provides a view of those data
minimizing its storage requirements.” relationships can accelerate any EDM project.”
2 www.estuate.com - t: 408.400.0680

3. HANDS-ON TRAINING HELPS COMPANY BECOME SELF-SUFFICIENT IN EDM
Because the telecom faced tight budget constraints So far, Estuate has analyzed 10 of the telecom‟s
and lacked the core competence it needed in data applications, archiving and retiring four of them.
archiving, Estuate spearheaded the implementation The target for the second year is to address up to
of IBM Optim to support the company‟s EDM 12 more applications.
initiative. The project is progressing in phases.
Once the initial archiving is complete for each
application, Estuate hands over archiving
responsibilities to the telecom‟s IT operations
group. This will enable the telecom to be largely
self-sufficient in EDM after the project has been
completed.
“Since we‟re dealing with fairly complex tools,
there‟s no substitute for actually doing the work,”
says Hebert. “That‟s why we‟re delivering all the
training in the form of project execution, with a
mentor guiding staff members in hands-on work.
We‟ll also remain available to provide classroom
training and documentation to reinforce that
knowledge after the fact.”
DATA ARCHIVING AND APPLICATION RETIREMENT PAVE THE W AY FOR ONGOING SAVINGS
With IBM Optim and Estuate, the telecom projects “Within the first year of the project, we’ve
it will save hundreds of terabytes (TB) of storage
achieved some significant breakthroughs in
over the years to come. Not only has the company
retiring and archiving applications. That
established a consistent set of processes to
sets the stage for much more to come. Our
implement a data management factory, but it has
client is using the principles of EDM to
transitioned toward a governance model with a
competency center around data management. reverse the data proliferation that caused
this outgrowth of hardware.”
Marc Hebert
COO, Estuate
3 www.estuate.com - t: 408.400.0680

4. Working closely with the telecom‟s vice president of IT,
Estuate continues to transfer knowledge to the IT staff.
ABOUT ESTUATE
Already, a major organizational transformation is taking
place within the telecom. Headquartered in Silicon Valley,
“There has been a significant cultural change associated Estuate is a global information
with this project,” says Hebert. “We‟ve helped our client get technology services company that
away from the mindset of throwing more hardware at specializes in helping companies
problems—not just because IT budgets are getting too tight establish and improve enterprise
for that sort of thing, but because EDM can deliver real, data management strategies and
ongoing cost savings.” best practices.
Over the next three to five years, the telecom‟s savings will Estuate is IBM‟s go-to partner for the
come from freeing up about one petabyte of disk storage implementation of IBM® Optim
space. Associated with this reduction, the company will Solutions for custom applications,
achieve labor savings in database administration and IT Oracle E-Business Suite, PeopleSoft,
operations. The potential savings run into the tens of millions Siebel and JD Edwards. We have
of dollars annually. The telecom will also be able to enhance expertise on distributed platforms and
its time-to-market for new products by provisioning test IBM mainframes. Estuate was one of
systems more quickly and deploying systems sooner. the early partners involved in the
Oracle-to-DB2 migration program. We
work closely with IBM account teams
to meet our mutual clients' Enterprise
“When you cut down on the overall data burden
Data Management needs.
across a major organization like this, you help all
of IT to run more efficiently. That results in
bottom-line cost savings. Our corporate sponsor
within the telecom is excited and pleased by the
For more information, please contact:
progress so far—and so are we.”
Marc Hebert, Estuate’s COO
Marc Hebert
marc@estuate.com
COO, Estuate
T: 510-468-7132
4 www.estuate.com - t: 408.400.0680