IT Infrastructure

IT Infrastructure

Chapter 1
Typical Modern
IT Infrastructure

Typical Modern IT Infrastructure

The selection of the components required for the
setup infrastructure is based on the Need of the
business
The typical business may have online Transaction
server or mail server
Many times the selection of the infrastructure
components are based on Performance
In the selection of the infrastructure components the
brand plays an important role
The production and the corporate centers have
Connectivity

Components of IT Infrastructure

The IT setup of any organization consists of
desktop computers and Server farms
The typical home network of any enterprise is
shown below

Large Manufacturing Corporate
Case Study TVS Motors

A comprehensive case study of the large
manufacturing corporate business and the
connectivity is discussed.
We have seen an overview of the components of the
infrastructure. In this we have seen that the
desktops/terminals are connected to server through
various topologies for accessing network resources
like files, databases and Internet services.


This case study was about the 2-wheeler
manufacturer, TVS motor company Ltd. unit. This
unit required a last mile solution to go live with it’s
my SAP R/3 ERP implementation at it’s primary
and secondary manufacturing units. We have also
had a look at the challenges faced in this project.
The need of the company was it wanted a dedicated
connection to rollout mySAP at its 2 manufacturing
units.


The solution was that the company chose a last
mile solution to connect its primary unit. We have
also looked at the rollout benefits in this case as the
latency is 25 milliseconds over the wireless link as
compared to 600 milliseconds for the VSAT link
that is used as a standby.
TVS Motors 450 dealers and 200 suppliers can
directly connect to its mySAP Server,The wireless
solution was reliable & provide 100% uptime

Case Study2 WEB and SMS-based
applications
Web and SMS are used for business. Companies use
the WAN which, is simple yet effective. In the case
of New Holland Tractors,the web-enabled
application enables CBU members to do forecast
and prepare plans on a monthly and annual basis.
They can also perform functions like enter
collections and orders data into the system, view the
outstanding details etc.

applications
The CBU application is protected with the help of
firewalls and user authentication. The SMS engine
is the backend infrastructure of the SMS system
includes an SMS engine. This is a Nokia modem
with a SIM card connected to an SMS server.
In the start the system was push based.
Pre-defined information was flashed to key
personnel nationwide. This included details about
the dealer outstanding etc.

applications
New Holland is planning to extend the scope of the
system. It is presently working on enabling booking
of orders through SMS.
The web based solution for the New Holland
company is tightly integrated with the BAAN ERP
system.
The New Holland Company spent Rs 6 Lakhs for
web-enabling itself.
The web based application has resulted in huge
costs savings for the New Holland Company

applications
The New Holland Company’s backend
infrastructure includes an SMS engine, which is a
Nokia modem.
The system for the New Holland company
initially used the Push based information
The New Holland Company’s push and pull
information occurs through an intermediate
database
The SMS system has cut down a lot of
communication cost with even the net connectivity
coming down.

applications
Adequate security for SMS has been
provided.The business logic does not allow any
body to push or pull information unless SMS
server authenticates the user .
SMS has cut down a lot of communication
Investment in this technology is low & other
benefits are erroneous
New Holland is planning to extend the scope of
the system.It is presently working on enabling
booking of orders through SMS.

Case Study Bank of Baroda

Bank’s enabled Business Transformation
Roll out of Core Banking Solution(CBS)
The bank technology initiatives are clearly focus
on the customer.
•All the banks and the financial institutions in
India are in the process of web-enabling their
service in order to offer internet banking to their
customers.


Towards on line banking
•This kind of an exercise has provided them with
some benefits –
• Greater reach to the customers
o Quicker time to market
o Ability to understand the customers needs.
o Ability to introduce new product
•Greater customer loyalty
•Customer are given access to various locations


RBI Steps in
RBI has created a comprehensive document
which lays down number of security related
guidelines and strategies for banks to follow in
order to offer internet banking.
The guidelines broadly talk about the types of
risk associated with internet banking,the
technology and security standards,legal issues
involved,regulatory and supervisory concern
Any bank that follows internet banking has to
adhere to them as a legal necessity

Internet Banking

•Internet banking – some of the distinct features of
this document are –
• It removes the traditional barriers as it could reach
customers across different countries.
oIt has added a new dimension to different kinds of
risks traditionally associated with banking.
oIt provides a security of banking transactions.
oIt poses a strategic risk of loss of business to those
banks who do not respond to this new
technology,being the efficient and cost effective
delivery

Security-The key concern
Authentication – the assurance of identity of the
person in a deal
Authorization – A party doing a transaction is
authorized to do so.
Privacy – The confidentiality of data and
information relating to any deal
Data Integrity – Assurance that the data and
information has not been altered.

Comprehensiveness and Indian bank

The RBI guidelines are very exhaustive& extremely
comprehensive .But are the Indian banks follow the
guidelines accordingly?
Experts at global E Secure limited ,a security
solution company say that none of Indian banks
which offer internet solutions have a IT security
policy as stipulated by the RBI.
While banks have been asked to file monthly
reports to show compliance to the guidelines ,most
of them sought time to satisfy the security policy
criteria

A Practical Approach

IDBI bank has successfully implemented a robust
Internet banking infrastructure for its customers
RBI guidelines are stringent ,but not vary difficult
To implement if one goes about in systematic
fashion The rule which stipulates that the bank must
have a client level certificate.,is somewhat difficult
and expensive to implement in a retail banking
scenario.
The guidelines also prescribes certain functions be
authorized at the board level.this provision has
potential to introduce delays in deployment.

IDBI Bank’s e-banking Infrastructure

•Some of the equipment used is –

o Hardware – Web servers, App. servers and
Database servers
o Software – System and application.
o Services – Application integration with core
banking, Scalability tests
o Security – Firewalls, Certification, Server level.
o Networking – Isolation from the main network.

Bs7799 Standard

ISO17799 and BS7799 are security policies and
standards procedures. The standard was initially
known as a British standard called BS 7799,
developed by the British Standards Institution.
Later, it became the ISO IEC 17799 standard when
it was adopted by the ISO IEC technical committee
for international use.
Such a committee is called ISO IEC JTC 1 and is
currently responsible for all information regarding
technology standards, and the BS7799 refers
specifically to Information Security

Bs7799 Standard

Management Standard formally approved during the
year 2000. This standard defines a set of
recommended information security management
practices, although it is probably better to say the
standard is a set of recommendations, as the ISO
IEC recommends that you consider each suggestion
as you try to improve your information security
program, and not view each suggestion as an
inflexible obligation to follow

Bs7799 Standard

Depending on your information security needs you
may accept or not accept the BS7799 standards. So,
if a particular recommendation helps you to address
any important security matter then accept it,
otherwise, ignore it. ISO17799 and BS7799 include
an open approach to most of the common
information issues related to electronic files, data
files and software files, and paper documents.
Information related to hand written notes, printed
materials and photographs, recordings, video
recordings and audio recordings,

Bs7799 Standard

general communications including conversations,
telephone conversations, cell phone conversations
and face to face conversations, as well as messages
such as email messages, fax messages, instant
messages, video messages, physical messages,
among many other items are considered as
definition of the term "information".
Since the information has value and is therefore an
asset, it needs to be protected just like any other
corporate asset.

Bs7799 Standard

Information should be protected just as the
infrastructure that supports this information,
including all the networks, systems, and functions
that allow an organization to manage and control its
information assets. BS7799 explains what you can
do to protect your organization's information assets.
Today, organizations are faced with a wide range of
security threats, from equipment failure to
human errors, fraud, vandalism, theft, sabotage,
flood, fire, and even terrorism in many countries,
that is way the information needs to be protected.

Bs7799 Standard

BS7799 suggests focusing your attention on three
main points to guarantee your information security,
which are integrity, confidentiality and availability.
Integrity refers to the need to protect the
completeness and accuracy of the information as
well as the methods used to process it.
Confidentially refers to the assurance that the
information can only be accessed by the people who
have the authorization to do so. And availability
refers to the guarantee that those who have been
authorized to use the information have access to it
and all associated assets when needed.

Stock Exchange

Online exchange facilities faster transactions by
providing online trading portals and brokerage
houses ease & flexibility
Experienced stock traders and investors recognize
that trading stocks with momentum is among the
fastest & most effective ways to harvest BIG piles
of cash in the stock market.
Why? Because certain stocks with momentum bring
the possibility of gaining as much as 100% on the
same trading day. Some may only rise 20% on a few
minutes, which means that you could make a cool
$200 on a $1000 investment on the same day.

Stock Exchange

The problem is that if you don't know what stocks to
look for and how to approach them while limiting
your risk, you won't even get close to making some
profits.
You don't necessarily have to trade momentum hot
stocks all the time. But you can learn how to take
advantage of them when you encounter the best
opportunities while at the same time limiting your
risk.

Stock Exchange

Online exchanges facilitate faster transactions by
providing online trading portals and brokerage
houses ease and flexibility. Here's a look at the core
infrastructure of NSE, BSE, and some trading
portals. by Soutiman Das Gupta
As promised by technology visionaries and forecast
groups over the last decade, the Internet has indeed
opened up new avenues for conducting business.
Stock exchanges worldwide now conduct a bulk of
its business online through its brokers and partners,
a major shift from the traditional method.

Stock Exchange

In developed countries, almost all exchange
transactions are conducted online. The trend has
slowly picked up in India and two of the largest
exchanges, the National Stock Exchange (NSE) and
the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) have been
conducting online trade successfully for sometime
now.

Stock Exchange Why late?

Indian exchanges and brokering houses have been slow to
move their transactions online. This has been mainly due to
Government regulations. There was initial delay in laying
down specifications for creating Closed User Groups
(CUGs). The issue was resolved between the DoT and the
Finance Ministry around 1998 and soon trade portals like
ICICIDirect.com, motilaloswal.com, and smartjones.com
came into being.
Connectivity was perhaps the most important technological
factor. The cost of leased lines and VSAT links has been
traditionally very high and the reliability of the links has
been low.

Stock Exchange Why late?

It also took a long time to commission the links as one had to
make an application and wait for a few weeks for the link to
be up and running. Other issues like security, and backup and
recovery procedural costs were also deterrents.
Thankfully, along with the resolution of regulatory issues,
India no longer has any pressing connectivity and bandwidth
issues. With, the entry of private players into the broadband
scenario and the government opening up the telecom sector,
these issues are almost non-existent. Security solutions and
services available in the market have matured and it doesn't
cost a pretty packet anymore to put a simple backup solution
in place.

Indian Stock Exchange

•Bangalore Stock Exchange
•Bombay Stock Exchange
•Calcutta Stock Exchange
•Delhi Stock Exchange
•Madras Stock Exchange
•National Stock Exchange of India


India's oldest and first stock exchange:
Mumbai (Bombay) Stock Exchange.
Established in 1875. More than 6,000
stocks listed.
•Total number of stock exchanges in
India: 22
•They are in: Ahmedabad, Bangalore,
Calcutta, Chennai, Delhi etc.
•There is also a National Stock Exchange
(NSE) which is located in Mumbai.


•There is also an Over The Counter
Exchange of India (OTCEI) which allows
listing of small and medium sized
companies.
•The regulatory agency which oversees
the functioning of stock markets is the
Securities and Exchange Board of India
(SEBI), which is also located in Bombay.
SEBI's website location is at
http://www.sebi.com but you need a
password to access it.


The NSE and BSE are among the largest exchanges in the
country. They handle very large daily trading volumes,
support large amounts of data traffic, and have a very large
nationwide network.
The trading volume figures in both the exchanges are huge.
The average daily turnover in the capital markets segment at
NSE is around Rs 2300 crore and in the derivatives
segment, around Rs 1300 crore. The average daily traffic
volume is around one million trades per day in the capital
markets segment and around 50,000 trades per day in the
derivatives segment.


There are around 13,000 registered users in both
segments and an average of around 9500 users are
logged in at a time.
At BSE the average daily turnover in 2001-2002
(April-March) was Rs 1244.10 crore and the
number of average daily trades was Rs 5.17 Lakh.

Network Design

Needless to say, any online exchange needs to be
always-on, secure, redundant, and have adequate
backup and recovery processes. G.M Shenoy, VP,
NSE-IT, talks about the design philosophy of his
online exchange. "The basic design objective was
to provide fair, equal, and transparent access across
all our nationwide locations. An important aspect
was to provide connectivity to our trading members
as soon as possible."

Network Design

"The telecom sector is fairly liberal today. Back in
1993, the technology was maturing and was costly.
Leased lines cost almost ten times as much as it
does today. Satellite technology was a boon since it
allowed quicker deployment than leased lines. NSE
now has the country's largest VSAT network with
over 3000 VSATs and expects to grow to more
than 4000 VSATs soon."

Network Elements

A look at the massive trading volumes and traffic bulk is
enough proof of the critical nature of systems. It makes one
shudder to think of the expected losses in case of a ten
minute downtime when daily trade crosses Rs 3000 crore.
Network elements like storage, security, backup and
recovery processes, availability, and the different
applications must be carefully planned and commissioned.
Then one has to follow stringent RBI regulations to store at
least 7 years of transactional and financial data.
Storage For such high amounts of critical data it's natural to
deploy network-based storage like NAS or SAN. NSE is
implementing a SAN as it feels that its data volumes have
grown 'phenomenally'.

Network Elements

Security This should be a vital and integral part of
the design architecture. The hardware and software
elements should be built around a layered security
architecture. And it should be held in place with a
well-documented security policy.
All applications have been built with a conscious
approach towards security. The security policies are
tightly integrated and regularly scrutinized to leave
no room for compromise. All the applications and
OSs are hardened periodically for safety."

Network Elements

Backup and recovery
This has emerged as one of the vital aspects of
business continuity. When online exchanges were
designed a few years ago, perhaps a lot of emphasis
was not placed on this aspect, as it is today.
However it's not difficult to add business continuity
processes to an existing network.
As a backup to our VSAT network, a terrestrial-
based trading network was deployed in the middle
of 2000. We have more than 850 leased lines
connecting our nationwide locations.

Network Elements

We are the only stock exchange in the country to
have a fully-redundant business continuity site in
Chennai."
Availability Ideally online exchanges should have
'five-nines' availability. Exchanges usually prefer to
host its infrastructure in-house and not use the
services of an external data center.
NSE claims to achieve uptime greater than 99.9%.
"This is mostly due to internally formulated
procedures and continuous review of SLAs with
hardware vendors,"

Network Elements

Applications
It's difficult to deploy out-of-the-box applications at
exchanges as each has a unique architecture based
on factors like operations flow, trading volumes,
number of members, number of users, and number
of locations. The applications like trading, clearing,
risk-management, surveillance, index computation,
listing, membership, and accounts may be
developed in-house or by external software
developers.

Network Elements

The 'big two' architectures
NSE and BSE, the 'big two' exchanges believe in
updating and upgrading its technology systems to
keep delivering according to commitments and
promises made to its members, partners, and
customers.
NSE architecture - NEAT
NSE has deployed NIBIS (NSE's Internet Based
Information System) for real-time dissemination of
trading information over the Internet and NEAT a
client-server-based application to help its
operations.

Network Elements

NEAT stores all trading information in an in-
memory database at the server end to achieve
minimum response time and maximum system
availability for users. The trading server software
runs on a fault-tolerant STRATUS mainframe and
the client software runs on Windows PCs.
The telecommunications network uses the X.25
protocol and is the backbone of the automated
trading system. Each trading member trades on the
NSE with other members through a PC located in
the trading member's office.

Network Elements

The trading members on the Wholesale Debt
Market segment are linked to the central computer
at the NSE through dedicated 64 Kbps leased lines
and VSAT terminals. These leased lines are
multiplexed using dedicated 2 MB optical-fiber
links. The WDM participants connect to the trading
system through dial-up links.
The exchange uses RISC-based Unix servers from
Digital and HP for back office processing.
Applications like Oracle 7 and SQL/Oracle Forms
4.5 front ends are used for the exchange functions.

BSE Architecture - BOLT

BSE has deployed an On Line Trading system (BOLT) on
March 14, 1995. It works on a Tandem S74016 platform
running on 16 CPUs. The Tandem Himalaya S74016
machines act as the backend to more than 8000 Trader
Workstations networked on Ethernet, VSAT and Managed
Leased Data Network (MLDN). The systems claim to handle
up to two million trades a day.
BOLT has a two-tier architecture. The trader workstations
are connected directly to the backend server which acts as a
communication server and a Central Trading Engine (CTE).
Other services like information dissemination, index
computation, and position monitoring are also provided by
the system.

BSE Architecture - BOLT

A transaction monitoring facility in the Tandem architecture
helps keep data integrity through non-stop SQL.
With the help of MTNL, BSE has setup a MLDN Network
comprising 300 2 Mbps lines and 1500 64 Kbps lines which
connect all regional stock exchanges and offices in Mumbai.
Access to market related information through the trader
workstations is essential for the market participants to act on
real-time basis and take instantaneous decisions. BOLT has
been interfaced with various information vendors like
Bloomberg, Bridge, and Reuters. Market information is fed
to news agencies in real time. The exchange plans to enhance
the capabilities further to have an integrated two-way
information flow.

Online Trading Portals

Online trading is the investment activity that takes
place over the Internet without the physical
inclusion of the broker. An end user (investor) has to
register with an online trading portal like
ICICdirect.com, motilaloswal.com, smartjones.com,
and sharekhan.com. The investor thus gets into an
agreement with the firm to trade in different
securities according to the terms and conditions
listed down on the agreement.


Since the servers of the online trading portal are
connected all the time to the stock exchanges and
designated banks, order processing is done in real
time. Investors can also get updates on the trading
and check the status of their orders either through e-
mail or through the interface.
Portal design
Harish Malhotra, Chief Technology Officer, Motilal
Oswal Securities Limited, says "the portal should be
simple to navigate, full of useful and relevant
information which is available with the lowest
number of clicks, and should be personalized."


However a very important aspect is that the systems
should be able to interface directly with that of the
online exchanges without incompatibility issues.
ICICIdirect.com uses 128-bit encryption enabled
Secure Socket Layer (SSL) to ensure that the
information transmitted across the Internet is safe
and cannot be accessed by a third party.
Users are usually given options to link their bank
accounts, Demat accounts, and brokerage accounts
into a single interface. There is also a single window
for all exchanges and a single screen for the
complete order routing mechanism.


The hardware used comprises Web and application
servers, switches, routers, firewalls and security
devices, and specialized appliances.
Motilaloswal.com uses Compaq servers for
applications and database, Cisco routers, and
Checkpoint firewalls. The systems have been
customized by its in-house team. The trading
applications are outsourced. "We also have offline
storage which is backed up periodically at separate
locations," says Harish.


Portal success
The success of a trade portal will definitely depend
on its bouquet of services for an end-user. Most
portals charge a small registration fee and brokerage
based on various conditions. However it's important
for the organization to keep focused on customer-
centric services and delivery models to actually
enjoy the most attention.

Contact Centers Building a Call
Center (Case Study)
National Stock Exchange System Architecture Insat3b

MLDN Modem
MTNL
NSE NET
VSAT
Trader Workstation

VSAT Network
Router Trader Workstation
Disaster back up NMS
Internet
X.25 Network
Help Desk

Firewall

LAN

Data center operator Clearing system Trading System Surveillance System

Building a call center
(Case study)

Manjushree Infotech wanted to enter the IT Enabled Services
space and decided to set up a call center in Kolkata. Although
inexperienced in the call center business, the company
decided upon the appropriate technology and solution
platform after evaluation. by Soutiman Das Gupta
Manjushree Infotech decided to enter the IT Enabled Services
(ITES) space because it felt that this area had a lot of business
potential. It received a mandate from the Health Management
Organization (HMO) in USA to support its call center in
Tampa, Florida. And in order to support the operations of this
facility, Manjushree Infotech decided to set up a call center in
Kolkata with the required infrastructure.

(Case study)

THE SOLUTION PLAN
The plan was to build a small setup comprising 25
seats which could scale up when business picked up
and new clients were acquired. The company had to
keep a number of aspects in mind in order to plan the
setup.
"We had to look for a technology platform and a call
center solution that would be quick to deploy
keeping in mind our customer's need, address our
expansion plans, and support a future need for
convergence," said Sam Swaminathan, CEO,

(Case study)

The solution had to be scalable enough to support the
company's expansion plans. It had to be built on an
integrated single infrastructure in order to exploit the
convergence in data, voice, and video. It was
compulsory for the WAN to have QoS features since
voice would be the primary medium of
communication. And the solution had to support
multimedia applications and use the benefits of
convergence to deliver multiple modes of interaction
with customers

(Case study)

It was also important to build the converged, multi-
service infrastructure based on IP. The availability of
a wide variety of applications on IP for voice, data
and video were highlighted as key drivers for the
adoption of technology. And this infrastructure had
to interoperate seamlessly with legacy PBX, based
on TDM voice in the US.
"Since we had no prior experience with call centers
and there were various solutions available in the
market to address our needs, we decided to adopt an
extensive evaluation process.

(Case study)

All vendors presented their suggested technology direction
for voice and video to our decision-makers and teams of
technical consultants belonging to our customer in the US,"
said Amit Choudhury, Principal Consultant, Manjushree
Infotech.
The company conducted discussions with various vendors
like Lucent, Nortel, and Cisco for architectural designs and
directions for the call center technology.
"We chose Cisco because it had the requisite experience and
expertise in setting up call centers. Cisco also promised to
stay focused on customer satisfaction and offered an end-to-
end solution," said Swaminathan.

(Case study)

IMPLEMENTATION
The implementation process began with the setup of a WAN,
which connected Kolkata to the Tampa Florida-based call
center. A 512K leased line link was set up via satellite. The
link connected to the LAN at the Manjushree call center in
Kolkata. This allowed the call center agents to communicate
with HMO's US customers.
The company deployed Cisco's IP Voice Gateway and LAN
gear, like the Cisco 3600 series routers and the Cisco 4000
series switch. The IP Voice Gateway was linked with the
legacy PBX in the US and supported TDM voice call
termination in the US. It also allowed the conversion of calls
to IP for transporting to India.

(Case study)

The company then deployed Cisco IPCC (IP Contact
Center) and Cisco IP Telephony solutions at the call
center LAN at Kolkata.
Cisco's IPCC & IP Telephony solution comprised:
•Cisco Intelligent Contact Management (ICM)
•Cisco IP IVR (Interactive Voice Response)
•Cisco Computer Telephony Integration (CTI)
Desktop
•Cisco Collaboration Server
•Cisco Call Manager
•Cisco IP Phones

(Case study)

There were a few delivery issues with the equipment which
were solved quickly. The Call Manager software needed to be
tuned a bit and router software versions had to be upgraded",
said Choudhury.
The functions
The solutions helped to combine software Automated Call
Distribution (ACD) functionality with IP telephony in a
unified environment. The call center can also extend its
current infrastructure to connect other geographically distant
contact centers it may open in future.

(Case study)

The ICM software provides ACD functionality including
monitoring and control of agent state, routing and queuing of
contacts, CTI capabilities, real-time data for agents and
supervisors, and historical reporting. The IVR unit performs
self-service functions and call treatment messages to queued
callers.
The CTI Desktop delivers a set of customer-specific
information collected from the Internet, carrier networks,
IVRs, databases, and other applications to the desktop of the
call center agents. The agent can view the data and get pop-up
screens which provide more information.

(Case study)

The Cisco Collaboration Server provides customers multiple
communication choices like e-mail and Web-based chat. And
the Cisco Call Manager software provides traditional PBX
telephony features and functions like basic call processing,
signaling, and connection services to a packet telephony
device like an IP phone.
A VoIP gateway was deployed at the Tampa Florida call
center.
FRUITS OF LABOR
The call center began operations on January 04, 2000 and
now handles around 1,600 incoming calls a day. Each call
consumes around 11.2 Kbps bandwidth.

(Case study)

The company is able to integrate PSTN and Web-based
communication channels through Web collaboration and e-
mail response management capabilities. Since the solution is
on IP, the architecture is open, and able to support
interoperability with other vendor devices and applications.
The solution also provides multiple reporting capabilities with
various views of resource utilization. It enables the company
to track expenses and agent productivity and provides
dynamic reporting to end-customers.
IN FUTURE
The company plans to increase the number of seats to 100 and
perhaps more when new customers are acquired. It also plans
to upgrade its WAN link to 2 Mbps.

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