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Taking business to the next level.NET live
Series 2
These case studies are for informational purposes only. Microsoft makes no
warranties, express or implied, in this summary.
Microsoft, Windows, .NET, Windows NT and Visual Studio are either registered
trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or
other countries. The names of actual companies and products mentioned
herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.
No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by
any means, electronic, digital or mechanical, including scanning, photocopying,
recording or any information storage and retrieval system, without first
obtaining permission in writing from the publisher.
© 2003 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
1
CONTENTS .NET live
Introduction .................................................................... 2
Financial ServicesEgg ........................................................................................ 9Equinox ................................................................................ 16Pershing ............................................................................... 23
Retail ServicesVirgin ................................................................................... 29
Entertainment and MediaWilliamsF1 ........................................................................... 35
IndustryInchcape .............................................................................. 41M35 ..................................................................................... 45Pinsent Curtis Biddle ............................................................. 50Trondent .............................................................................. 54
Public SectorThree Rivers District Council ................................................. 61
2
Q: How would you describe .NET? Is .NET
web services? Or is it something more?
A: There is a fair chance you will have heard
about Microsoft® .NET sometime during the past
three years and at the highest level you’ll already
appreciate that it represents the R&D strategy for
Microsoft for the coming decade. We, like the rest
of industry, recognise that the world of business is
changing and that means our software needs to
change too, and that is the reason for this invest-
ment in .NET.
The Internet has left a lasting legacy and the
final piece in the jigsaw to turn it into the key busi-
ness utility of the future has emerged – XML Web
Services. .NET is our implementation of XML Web
Services – our strategy to ensure that our products
connect better together, and better with others,
and enable business to connect to business.
At the same time the need to deliver greater
developer productivity across the board has never
been more important, no matter what computing
architecture you employ. To this end .NET delivers
the capability to build powerful, rich Windows
applications, high-performance web applications as
well as XML Web Services more cost effectively
than ever. Anecdotally, our customers and partners
are quoting a 30 to 40 per cent improvement in
developer productivity for
projects of all types.
Q: Many companies
claim a very good
return on investment
from their .NET proj-
ects. What is so differ-
ent about .NET,
compared to what was
available before?
A: The saving is coming from two primary
areas – efficiencies in the core development and
the ability to integrate the solution easily with exit-
ing systems. Both of which combine to deliver a
solution in less time and at less cost. Nationwide
needed to generate new revenue by finding new
customers and improving the efficiency of its IT
development process to meet urgent regulatory
changes. A Rapid Economic Justification analysis
was conducted by KPMG Consulting to assess the
business value that Nationwide could expect from
using Visual Studio® .NET and Web Services based
on Microsoft .NET technologies to develop propri-
etary applications for its mortgage lending opera-
tions. As a result of migrating to Visual Studio .NET,
Nationwide’s IT group was able to retire 96 per
cent of existing custom code, enabling greater effi-
Kenny MacIver, editor of Information Age magazine, recently put his questions aboutMicrosoft .NET to Mark Greatorex, Director .NET Developer Group, Microsoft Ltd.
■ Q&A
Mark GreatorexDirector .NET DeveloperGroup, Microsoft Ltd
3
ciency and productivity and 80 per cent fewer IT
support requests from users and channel partners.
Q: The press often says that there is a bat-
tle going on between .NET and J2EE. In your
opinion, is this battle a real one?
A: Is there competition is the market, yes
absolutely. But let’s be clear, the competition is
between multiple companies – IBM, Microsoft,
BEA, Oracle, etc. So rather than a religious battle
between .NET and J2EE it is normal market dynam-
ics at play, creating customer choice.
Q: There is a widespread view that com-
puting is gradually migrating towards a servic-
es-based model. Microsoft has endorsed at
least some of this. How do you see this? How
does it relate to the use of .NET?
A: In the long term we see software evolving
to much more of a service offering. The technology
we see as XML Web Services lays down much of
the infrastructure for that to happen, but don’t
expect it to happen over night – there are techno-
logical and cultural barriers to be overcome. As a
result, expect a gradual and subtle introduction of
services into the value proposition. For example,
Microsoft Windows® XP Update is proving hugely
popular in the consumer market – Windows XP
fundamentally remains a product lead proposition,
but the value is being augmented through service.
Q: Some organisations worry about
becoming too dependent on one vendor,
whether it is Microsoft, or Oracle, or IBM, or
someone else. What does Microsoft say to peo-
ple who are worried about this?
A: Web Services go a long way to addressing
this concern. At the end of the day if you become
dissatisfied with a supplier then the key issue is “How
will the stuff I already have work with the new stuff”.
Historically the solution has been complex integration
projects that drain resources and budget. By design-
ing to a common architecture that is vendor neutral
you achieve interoperability between vendor offerings
without sacrificing functionality. You don’t have to
choose the lowest common denominator or become
locked into a single vendor.
Q: Given the difficulties that many organi-
sations experienced with their Internet busi-
ness initiatives – and especially the
over-investment in some areas – do you find
that there is a high degree of resistance to
new ideas such as web services?
A: There is an overhang, and you’re right it
does create some resistance, however, it would be
negligent to be dismissive of emerging technology
that otherwise may offer genuine and lasting busi-
ness returns. Web Services are the missing link for
the Internet – they turn it into a truly useful busi-
ness utility. The Internet we were all promised five
or six years ago. Yet like all Internet related technol-
ogy its impact inside the organisation will be just as
great – in fact during 2002 the majority of Web
Services deployments were within the organisation
driving a better ROI from their IT spend.
Q: Microsoft has always had a good rela-
tionship with its resellers and with a rather
technical group of developers. Should business
managers leave .NET to them, or is this an area
that non-technical managers should get
involved with?
A: If XML is to have the type of business
impact envisioned for it then it must be made avail-
able in a form that is accessible beyond the devel-
oper. Office 11 will have a huge impact here; it has
4
a completely new XML-based document model. For
end users it turns the Office applications into edi-
tors for the underlying XML documents, the bene-
fits of which are, the user, without any retraining,
will use familiar tools, manipulate and share infor-
mation otherwise locked up in back-office systems
that now expose information via Web Services. But
key to making this vision a reality is that Office 11
also represents a WYSIWYG design tool for the IT
professional, allowing them to easily create the
XSLT templates that render the data within the
XML document for the applications. Previously this
part of the deployment was the domain of the
developer, creating a bottleneck. The developer can
now concentrate on defining the core XML
schema(s). This linkage between the developer, the
IT professional and the end user will allow organi-
sations to rapidly scale their use of XML to improve
information flow across the organisation.
Q: Where do you think .NET is going in the
medium to long term?
A: It’s been a year since we released our .NET
development tools and runtimes – the cornerstones
of .NET. During this time we’ve seen great traction
The Microsoft .NET Framework is a component
of the Windows operating system that provides the
programming model for building, deploying, and
running Web-based applications, smart client appli-
cations, and eXtensible Mark-up Language (XML)
Web Services. It provides a highly productive, stan-
dards-based, multi-language environment for inte-
grating existing investments with next-generation
applications and services, as well as the agility to
solve the challenges of deployment and operation
of Internet-scale applications. The .NET Framework
consists of two main parts: the Common Language
Runtime and a hierarchical set of unified class
libraries that includes a componentised version of
ASP .NET, a loosely coupled data access subsystem
(ADO .NET), and an environment for building rich
Windows-based applications (Windows Forms).
For more information, go to:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/netframework
Microsoft Visual Studio .NET is the rapid applica-
tion development (RAD) tool for building next-gen-
eration Web applications and XML Web services.
Visual Studio .NET empowers developers to rapidly
design broad-reach Web applications for any device
and any platform. In addition, Visual Studio .NET is
fully integrated with the .NET Framework, providing
support for multiple programming languages and
automatically handling many common program-
ming tasks, freeing developers to rapidly create
Web applications using their language of choice.
Visual Studio .NET includes a single IDE with RAD
features for building Web applications and middle-
tier business logic, and RAD XML designers for
working with data.
For information, go to: http://www.visualstudio.net
Microsoft technologies explained
5
with over 200 reference deployments now published
worldwide, many of these from the UK. So we think
we’ll reach critical mass during this coming year
where .NET is the default choice for many customers
and partners building solutions. At the same time,
2003 sees further impact of .NET within our own
product line. I’ve already talked about Microsoft
Office 11 and the changes there, but the forthcom-
ing betas of Microsoft SQL Server™, Microsoft
Exchange and other server products see re-engineer-
ing of those products around .NET. In the longer
term, there is a huge amount that needs to be done
in driving knowledge worker productivity. To this end
you’ll see further work within the underlying operat-
ing system, user interface and necessary advance-
ments in storage.
Q: Where is electronic business going?
A: It is going to be fascinating to see how cus-
tomers use this final shift to the information age to
competitive advantage. I don’t think we yet fully
understand the impact that this will have. Yes, we
can cite benefits, but the long-term changes to the
structure and nature of business are only just
emerging. ■
Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server provides rock-
solid messaging and collaboration 24 hours a day,
seven days a week-with low total cost of owner-
ship. Designed with mission-critical performance in
mind, Exchange enables access to the people and
information you want, anytime and from any-
where. Combining industry-leading reliability and
scalability with unmatched ease of management,
Exchange 2000 seamlessly integrates with the
Microsoft Windows 2000 operating system and
takes advantage of the full power of the Windows
2000 Microsoft Active Directory® service and secu-
rity features. With Exchange 2000, businesses can
further leverage their messaging infrastructure
with value-added collaborative solutions. Exchange
2000 is part of Microsoft’s .NET Enterprise Server
family for building, deploying, and managing next-
generation integrated web experiences.
For more information, go to:
http://microsoft.com/exchange
Microsoft BizTalk® Server 2000 is for orches-
trating business processes within and between
organisations. It enables an organisation to build
dynamic business processes, easily integrate appli-
cations and business partners, and ensure interop-
erability using public standards.
Microsoft Windows 2000 Server is the server
operating system for line-of-business applications
and e-commerce. It provides you with the oppor-
tunity to Internet-enable your business, gain
advanced manageability and take advantage of
the best new devices.
For more information, go to:
http://www.microsoft.com/uk/servers
6
Microsoft, in conjunction with Infoconomy, publisher of Information Age magazine,recently quizzed more than 300 senior-level IT managers about their attitudes andintentions with regard to web services. Here is what they said.
■ Web services – whatyou really think
7
Financial Services.NET live
Online Bank Increases DeveloperProductivity and Improves Performanceby Switching from Sun/UNIX to .NET
9
Overview
Customer ProfileEgg plc is one of Europe’sleading online financialservices providers, offeringbanking, insurance,investments, mortgages, anda shopping portal through itsInternet site and otherdistribution channels. Egg isdedicated to providing itscustomers with the bestonline banking experiencepossible.
Business ChallengeEgg was considering newdevelopment environmentswith the goal of moving to aplatform that would allow itto develop the best possiblesolutions as quickly aspossible.
SolutionEgg had been building itsweb applications primarily onthe Sun/UNIX platform. Forthe rebuilding of its Egg Cardwebsite, Egg chose Microsoft.NET. Using Microsoft VisualStudio .NET, the .NETFramework, and ContentManagement Server 2002,Egg has now successfullybuilt the card brochurewareand deployed the newversion of the Egg Cardwebsite.
As one of Europe’s leading online banking providers, Egg plc is
dedicated to providing its customers with the best available online
banking experience. To improve the banking experience it offers its
customers, it continually explores new technologies. Recently, Egg
decided to undertake a project to rebuild its Egg Card website
replacing the existing Sun/UNIX site with an entirely new site built
using Microsoft Visual Studio .NET, the .NET Framework, and
Content Management Server2002. In just three months and with
just three developers, Egg built the card brochureware. Egg is now
moving toward a larger migration to .NET across the entire Egg
website.
BACKGROUND
Egg plc is an e-commerce company created by Prudential (the UK-based
financial services company) and is one of Europe’s leading digital financial
services providers, offering a variety of banking services through its
Internet site and other distribution channels.
Egg, launched in 1998, was listed on the London Stock Exchange by
June of 2000 and has already gained over 2 million customers. In 2001
Egg generated revenues of $132 million, almost ten times as much as in
its first full year of operation. The company is planning on continued
growth at a similar or even greater rate in the years to come.
The bank offers products and services from four main areas: banking,
investments, insurance, and online shopping. However, it is committed to
expanding into any area where it feels it can offer a great service and real
value for customers. With more than 2,000 employees, Egg is the world’s
leading online bank, currently attracting 1 million unique visitors per month.
Microsoft. NET Customer SolutionFinancial Services
Egg is committed to providing its users with the best online banking
experience available and constantly evaluates and considers new
technologies. Recognising the importance of offering state-of-the-art
technologies to an ever-increasing number of users, Egg wanted to make
sure that it was positioned to produce new, valuable features for its
customers as quickly as possible.
The company also wanted to establish a clear strategy for future
growth that would not only allow Egg to meet increasing demand, but
also contain costs as its customer base grew.
SOLUTION
One of the services that Egg offers its users is an online credit application
service. The Egg Card website allows customers to securely and quickly
apply for a credit account.
In the past, Egg primarily
built its website’s
applications on the
Sun/UNIX platform but
recently decided to undertake a proof of concept to rebuild the Egg Card
section of its website using the Microsoft Visual Studio .NET development
system and the Microsoft .NET Framework.
Egg’s intention was not only to improve the Egg Card section, but also to
evaluate the capabilities of, and begin a larger migration to, Microsoft .NET.
”The ASP.NETperformanceresults we areexperiencing aredramatic and holdreal benefits forEgg and ourcustomers.”
CAROL MOSELEYTECHNICAL CHANGEMANAGEREGG PLC
FAST FACTS
Number of developers to build application 3
Number of months to build application 3
Number of unique visitors per month 1 million
The new Egg Card website was built using Visual Studio .NET and
takes advantage of the .NET Framework’s class library, common language
runtime, and Windows-based application server technologies.
Another key component in the new version of Egg Card is Microsoft
Content Management Server 2002. One of the Microsoft .NET Enterprise
Servers, Content Management Server 2002, is used to deliver information
about Egg and the Egg Card as requested by the user.
BENEFITS
For Egg the ability to quickly produce new applications and services is
critical. Producing the new version of the Egg Card brochureware website
took three developers just three months to complete.
It is also important that Egg’s websites offer a high level of
performance in order to satisfy and retain customers. Microsoft .NET has
provided a platform upon which Egg is confident it can meet the evolving
demands of a leading online bank. “Egg is dynamic, and we really need
to work on a platform that is capable of delivering functionality to our
customers effectively, quickly, and with the best possible quality that we
can,” says David Fellows, Development Manager, Egg plc. “With
Microsoft .NET, we believe we can do that.”
DEVELOPER PRODUCTIVITY
In developing the new Egg Card website, Egg discovered that using .NET
has provided its developers with new tools and capabilities that promote
a high level of productivity. Egg attributes this productivity largely to the
Visual Studio .NET integrated development environment (IDE) for all
languages. Designed to help developers build their solutions faster, the
single, shared IDE presents windows and tools with less clutter and easy
accessibility from within any of the languages in the Microsoft Visual
Studio development system.
“We estimate that developing the new Egg Card website using Visual
Studio .NET took half as long as it would have taken on other, comparable
platforms,” says Styles.
A feature of the Visual Studio .NET IDE that has proved to be of
particular benefit to Egg is the online help available. “The Visual Studio
.NET online Help is absolutely exceptional,” says Styles. “It’s probably the
best that we have ever seen in any product. It talks not only about
specifics, but also about wider issues and architectures. So, ramp-up time 11
Benefits• Increased developerproductivity (producing morefeatures and applicationswithout increasing staff)• Easily adapted to newlanguage and developmentenvironment• Faster time to market• Developers write less codein producing features andapplications• Improved websiteperformance• Simplified design method
Products and ServicesMicrosoft Visual Studio .NETMicrosoft .NET FrameworkMicrosoft Visual C#T .NETMicrosoft ContentManagement Server 2002Microsoft Windows(r) 2000Advanced Server
Microsoft. NET Customer SolutionFinancial Services
based on the tools that we can use to help us has been very good.”
Another feature of .NET that is helping Egg realise a high level of
productivity is the use of Microsoft Visual C#T .NET, the object-oriented
programming language that exploits the power of XML Web Services on
the .NET platform. The language allows C and C++ developers to use
their existing skills to quickly and easily build XML-based .NET
applications.
Egg has found that the adoption of the new language has been very
easy, but it is also impressed with the new capabilities that its developers
have gained with Visual C#.
“Learning Visual C# has been very easy because everything’s very
similar to previous languages. It has come quite naturally to us,” says
Styles. “With Visual C#, automatic documentation is a great feature. We
can now click one button, if we put the comments in the right place, and
we instantly have a website that we can use, and it automatically gets
updated. That’s a killer feature for us, and it saves a huge amount of time.
In just minutes, we can now produce a site that would have previously
taken us hours, or even days.”
IMPROVED PERFORMANCE
With ASP.NET, Egg has not only improved its time to market but also
enhanced the performance of the website. ASP.NET is a Windows-based
application server technology inherent in the .NET Framework. It offers
developers a set of ready-to-use technologies for building web
applications and XML Web Services, allowing developers to build web
pages with far less code, and advanced compilation and caching features
that improve performance – a particularly important feature for Egg.
“ASP.NET gives us access to the whole of the .NET Framework,” says
Fellows. “There’s a lot of functionality already built-in for us that prevents
us from having to reinvent the wheel and saves us time. That’s not the
only advantage. Since ASP.NET is compiled, it gives us much better
performance than scripted languages do. The performance of ASP.NET is
fantastic. “
This high performance is evident in a successful proof of concept trial
held in December 2002 at the Intel Lab in Reading. Simulating 1,000
concurrent users the site delivered an average load time of just 1.6
seconds for the Egg Card application page, whilst serving over 300,000
pages in 24 minutes – equating to over 18.5 million pages in 24 hours. 12
“Because theplatform makes iteasier and quickerto develop, wehave more time toanalyse and tuneour work, andmore time topursue innovationsthat will set usapart from otheronline banks.Microsoft .NETbrings a lot ofthings to ourmarket and to ourenterprise that wecouldn’t dobefore.”
ROB STYLESPROGRAM ARCHITECT EGG PLC
Like ASP.NET, Microsoft Content Management Server 2002 is another
key component of the Egg Card website that is helping enhance
performance. Content Management Server 2001 provides a flexible and
scalable way to manage and deliver large quantities of content across
enterprise websites.
An important performance-enhancing feature of Content
Management Server 2002 for the Egg Card website is object caching,
ensuring that the assembly and serving of dynamic pages is fast.
Beyond the Egg Card website, Egg hopes to use ASP.NET and Content
Management Server 2002 across the entire Egg.com website. ASP.NET
allows Egg to quickly and easily produce high performance websites.
Content Management Server 2002 manages large quantities of content
and delivers it to those sites.
With these Microsoft .NET technologies, Egg is confident that it has
found a solution that will allow it to continue attracting new customers
and improving user satisfaction.
“One of the main benefits to us is the ability to cache content,” says
Styles. “We are producing a number of server-side controls that serve up
the content for the site, and using ASP.NET has certainly assisted in
creating a great development environment for these, plus a great end-
user experience.” 13
Microsoft. NET Customer SolutionFinancial Services
Egg Cardwebsite
UserInterface Egg
CustomerDatabase
CustomerAgreement
ContentManagement
Server
BrochurewareInformation about Egg,
about the Egg Card, terms,etc. (legacy app)
CreditScoringEngine(legacy
app)
CreditApplication
Address service and other featuresto simplify applications process
Data from creditreport agencies;regular updatesInformation sent to
legacy applications
SIMPLIFYING DESIGN
Egg is utilising Visual Studio .NET Enterprise Architect to design,
specify, and communicate application architecture and functionality. With
Visual Studio .NET Enterprise Architect, Egg is able to use a complete set
of modeling capabilities based on the Microsoft Visio modelling
capabilities drawing and diagramming software to create and
communicate application architecture, business requirements, database
design, and business processes.
“As an architect, I think the Visual Studio .NET integration with Visio
is fantastic,” says Styles. “The ability to draw diagrams in Visio, click a
button, and have Visual Studio .NET instantly generate all of the Visual
C#-based code that I need is fantastic.”
For Egg, the goal was to increase developer productivity, speed up the
delivery of new features and applications, enhance the performance of
the website, and ultimately improve the user experience.
“Because the platform makes it easier and quicker to develop, we
have more time to analyse and tune our work, and more time to pursue
innovations that will set us apart from other online banks. Microsoft .NET
brings a lot of things to our market and to our enterprise that we couldn’t
do before.” ■
For more information about Egg plc products and services, from the UK call (01268)
298 807, from overseas call (44) (1268) 298 807, or visit the Web site at:
http://www.egg.com/
“As an architect, Ithink the VisualStudio .NETintegration withVisio is fantastic.”
ROB STYLESPROGRAM ARCHITECT EGG PLC
16
“We needed a newsystem that wouldenable us to dealwith complianceand regulatoryrequirements aswell as recordingdetails of tradesand positions.”
PHILIP BROWNHEAD OF ITEQUINOX
Hedge Fund Implements New Compliance Solution and Receives ROIAfter Only Two Months
A leading UK hedge fund is using a solution from Misys Eagleye and
Microsoft for global compliance. The solution, which uses .NET technology,
is enabling fund managers to model investment decisions while the strategy
is checked for breaches of local and global regulatory requirements. It also
enables risk managers to ensure both pre and post-trade compliance as they
are alerted to breached trades in real time.
BACKGROUND
Equinox is a leading hedge fund based in London, UK. Its clients range
from high net-worth individuals to companies seeking to raise venture
capital. With the increased transparency achieved through the
implementation of the new compliance regime, Equinox expect to extend
its client base to large pension funds and institutional investors.
Equinox has three main divisions – hedge funds, private equity finance
and strategic marketing – and was founded in 1998. The firm structures
funds for companies prepared to take a higher than average risk on their
investments in stock markets in return for expected higher returns.
Hedge fund management companies are often lean organisations set
up by expert traders, supported by staff experienced in banking or fund
management administration. The companies are frequently cost-
conscious, tightly run ships where leveraging investment in hardware and
software is vital.
Philip Brown, Head of IT, Equinox, says: “Successful investing is all
about spotting opportunities in the marketplace, backed up by discipline
and compliance. We needed a new system that would enable us to deal
with compliance and regulatory requirements as well as recording details
of trades and positions.”
Equinox also needed to improve communication between traders and
with prime brokers, as well as enable back-office administration staff to
record the profit/loss on each trade and account and generate monthly
client reports.
Brown says: “Hedge funds have always been regarded as offering
higher risks but higher rewards than other exchange-traded investments
and in today’s economic climate, more corporate institutions and fund
holders are considering them. It is essential that we can demonstrate to
regulators and clients that we have acted in their best interests at every
stage in the investment trading and settlement process, particularly as we
are operating in a global economy and have to meet the regulatory
requirements of many countries.”
SOLUTION
Equinox invited Misys Eagleye, which supplies compliance software to the
asset management industry, to implement its eagleye system. Equinox
was already using Microsoft technology such as Microsoft XP and
Microsoft Excel across the organisation as well as an expensive-to-support
Oracle database system to record the history of trades.
Brown says: “The fund managers and traders were using Excel to
model and store details of their trades, which worked well when we had
a limited number of clients but expansion of business meant that use of
the spreadsheets was being pushed to the limit. We felt that our
Microsoft infrastructure could be leveraged to support a new system.”
Brown says that he was looking for a system that could offer
interoperability, flexibility, ease of integration, was web-enabled, and
could give access to diverse sites with remote support.
The eagleye enterprise-wide compliance system fitted the bill.
Margaret Wilson, Director of Business Development, Misys Eagleye, says:
“By using a flexible rules-based system designed to handle any rule and
to comply with any exchange and regulatory requirements, fund
managers have the opportunity to drastically reduce costs as non-
compliant trades can be spotted and refined, preventing trades that
would breach being sent to the traders or prime broker.”
The use of Microsoft .NET technology provides a future proof solution
with a familiar look and feel that is easier and faster to implement. Data
integrity and quality can be automatically controlled through XML rules-
based integration. 17
Overview
Customer ProfileEquinox is a leading hedgefund based in London. Itsclients range from largepension funds to companiesseeking to raise venturecapital.
Business ChallengeTraders relied on standalonespreadsheets to record detailsof trades, Equinox needed anintegrated, web-enabledsolution that would enable itto deal with compliance andregulatory requirements, aswell as record details oftrades and positions.
SolutionThe eagleye system offerstraders and risk managers ahost of features to ensurethat they can meet internaland external statutory,regulatory and clientrequirements.
Benefits• Improved reporting times• Reduced operating costs• Automate globalcompliance and regulatoryrequirements• Recognise breaches ofcompliance that are about tooccur• Refine trades in real time• Generate an audit trail ofall trades, all breaches andthe history of how they werehandled• Access the eagleye systemfrom remote locations• Reduced support costs
Microsoft. NET Customer SolutionFinancial Services
eagleye was written in Microsoft Visual C# .NET, a modern language
that is part of the Visual C#.NET and .NET Framework development
environment for creating standards-based XML Web Services and
Microsoft .NET-connected applications for Microsoft Windows and the
Internet.
C# is component-based and object-oriented, enabling the
development team to generate new source code rapidly and efficiently.
An advanced inheritance model enables developers to reuse their code
from any programming language that supports .NET. This is vital in the
world of finance, frequently supported by a spaghetti-like structure of
disparate applications and platforms.
Misys Eagleye discussed Equinox’s requirements in September 2002
and decided to implement the project in three phases. It implemented
Phase One in October, just five weeks after the start of the project. Brown
says: “ We were delighted with the ease and the high speed with which
the first phase of the project was implemented.”
PHASE ONE
October 2002: Middle office – Pre and Post-Trade Compliance
The eagleye system has been implemented in the middle office. All
compliance rules have been specified, including those relating to asset
“By implementingeagleye our wholeinvestment processhas been refinedand streamlined,allowing us toreduce operatingcosts by 10 percent.”
PHILIP BROWNHEAD OF ITEQUINOX
allocation, exposure, inclusion/exclusion, credit rating, and absolute
amounts. Staff with the right permissions can enter the rules into the
system themselves and, once entered, every rule is monitored
continuously to ensure trades meet statutory, corporate and client-specific
compliance criteria.
eagleye now provides Equinox with true real-time compliance
monitoring. All portfolios and securities are monitored for breaches.
Reports display current breaches categorised by portfolio, manager,
director, client or other relevant grouping. New breaches are highlighted
in the system and appear in the compliance breach report.
Brown says: “By implementing eagleye our whole investment process
has been refined and streamlined, allowing us to reduce operating costs
by 10 per cent.
Risk managers now receive automatic limit warnings. For each
compliance rule entered, the user is able to specify a warning level that
will alert the user when the rule is close to being breached.
Equinox is able to view complete details of all breaches and actions taken.
History of breaches and individual breach analysis is available as well as a
report that graphically illustrates the compliance performance of
individual funds and fund managers.
PHASE TWO
November 2002: Front Office – Real-Time Valuation
This module enables the Equinox traders to model their investment
strategies across all asset classes and deliver an aggregated net asset value
(NAV) for each client’s fund as requested.
Further integration with the accounting system will result in increased
efficiency in the administration of the funds and accelerate reporting
particularly in the area of Profit & Loss.
PHASE THREE
The Future: Global Account Aggregation of the Fund of Funds Business
In the future, Equinox plans to aggregate every single fund it invests in a
single Microsoft SQL Server 2000 database. This will offer transparency to
fund managers so that they can see exactly where a company’s funds are
invested and inform clients whenever they request information. If desired,
the fund manager can also give access to customers so that they can
check their fund manager’s performance. 19
Products and ServicesMicrosoft SQL Server 2000Microsoft Visual C# .NET Microsoft Windows 2000Advanced ServerMicrosoft Windows 2000DatacenterMicrosoft ExcelMicrosoft XP
Partners MISYS Eagleye
Microsoft. NET Customer SolutionFinancial Services
Microsoft SQL Server is a complete database and analysis offering for
rapidly delivering the next generation of scalable e-commerce, line-of-
business and data warehousing solutions. It dramatically reduces the time
required to bring these applications to market while offering the
scalability needed for the most demanding environments.
Brown says: “The eagleye system will enable us to capitalise on
opportunities. The volume of transactions we are dealing with is
increasing and we place hundreds of deals a day. It was essential that we
found an integrated system that could handle a high volume of trades
and enable us to pull off information from a centralised database for
generating reports and documentation. eagleye hit all those
requirements.”
He says the system is likely to get a good response from regulators.
“eagleye is an independent, third-party solution that has been developed
to meet compliance needs. By using it to support our own hedge funds,
we demonstrate that we are using a proven, documented solution. We
can go out to large investors and prove that we have an impartial
compliance solution, showcasing our credibility to the marketplace.”
Brown is also delighted that eagleye has been developed within the C#
.NET development environment. “By using a rules and standards-based
“It was essentialthat we found anintegrated systemthat could handle ahigh volume oftrades and enableus to pull offinformation from acentraliseddatabase.”
PHILIP BROWNHEAD OF ITEQUINOX
development environment, eagleye has the flexibility and interoperability
to enable rapid development of new code and solutions. This is vital in a
fast-moving marketplace.”
BENEFITS
Equinox achieved a return on investment for the license of the system
within the first two months of implementation. Recovery of the cost of
implementation is expected to be achieved within six months. “eagleye
has been a catalyst to change much of our processes and procedures,”
says Brown.
Today, the eagleye system enables traders and risk managers to follow
client instructions at all times – even if they are based at remote sites but
all working on the same global account. The web-enabled eagleye system
enables connectivity between clients, traders and risk managers wherever
they are based on a 24 hours-a-day, seven days-a-week basis.
Brown says: “Say, for example, that a client doesn’t want more than
10 per cent of their funds invested in tech stocks. There may be lots of
different fund managers working on the same account who need comply
with this rule. A single rule can be input into the web-based eagleye
system that can monitor any fund manager with the right permissions
working on the account wherever they are based in the world.”
REDUCED REPORTING TIMES
The FSA in the UK insists that reports detailing the net asset value of funds
invested are sent to clients each month. Equinox is now sending out
reports two days after month end. In the past, it took six weeks. This is
an improvement of 83 per cent. Equinox has also been able to reduce its
operating costs.
By using eagleye and Microsoft SQL Server to consolidate information,
Equinox has automated the compliance process so that it can issue real-
time warnings and alerts when breaches of regulations are about to
occur. A transparent but detailed audit trail allows risk managers, fund
managers/traders to pin-point the precise reasons for potential breaches.
Investments are then refined to comply with regulations and are re-
entered into the system, preventing breaches. Fund managers, traders
and risk managers can also see a complete and detailed history of all
actions taken on all trades. In the past, the information was held in a
spaghetti of disparate systems and applications. 21
Microsoft. NET Customer SolutionFinancial Services
For more information aboutMisys Eagleye products orservices, call +44 (0)20 72516666. To access information viathe World Wide Web, go to:www.misysams.com/products/eagleye
Today, the traders and risk managers at Equinox are all working from
the same pool of information in a central database where business rules
are kept in a central place.
REDUCED OPERATING COSTS AND OPERATIONAL RISK
By preventing trades that are not compliant entering the marketplace,
Equinox is not exposed to unwinding costly breaches that can damage
reputation. Transparency of the control process gives comfort to investors
and competitive advantage when marketing to new investors.
REDUCED ROLL-OUT COSTS
Equinox assessed other technology and compliance solutions on the
marketplace and discovered that the Misys Eagleye solution had cheaper
hardware and software costs. Its analysis revealed that the software and
hardware would be cheaper to roll out in comparison with other
technology and compliance solutions, and would result in lower
operating costs and support costs.
REDUCED SUPPORT AND MAINTENANCE COSTS
Prior to using the eagleye system, Equinox was using an Oracle database
system to record the history of trades but it was expensive to support. This
technology often demands specialist skills that are not always available.
By adopting technology that is commonly used, Equinox benefits from
consolidation of maintenance fees. The technology has a familiar look-
and-feel, which offers developers ease of use and is, therefore, cheaper
and easier to implement.
Brown says: “We expect to reduce the total cost of ownership (TCO)
support costs by 10 per cent. The eagleye system is cost-effective to
implement, manage and maintain. This should increase our profit
margins.”
ANYTIME, ANYWHERE, SCALABLE ACCESS
The ability to implement a scalable, global system with future-proof
technology is a big benefit for Equinox as there are unlikely to be any
replacement costs.
Furthermore, the company can roll out the system across many
different funds in a ‘fund of funds’ structure while still maintaining levels
of transparency, control and detailed audit trails. ■22
“We expect toreduce the totalcost of ownership(TCO) support costsby 10 per cent. Theeagleye system iscost-effective toimplement,manage andmaintain. Thisshould increase ourprofit margins.”
PHILIP BROWNHEAD OF ITEQUINOX
Mission Critical Trading and SettlementService Built with Microsoft .NET WebServices
23
Overview
Customer ProfilePershing in the UK (PershingUK) provides bespoketrading, clearing, settlement,and nominee services tomore than 90 financialinstitutions. In London itprocesses the majority of theUK outsourced market.
Business ChallengeThe architecture of itsNucleus solution meant thatPershing UK couldn’t react asquickly as desired tocustomer requirements.
SolutionUsing the Microsoft .NETFramework, Pershing UK wasable to deliver a WebServices-based solution thatintegrates with an optimiseddatabase and data centreenvironment.
Benefits• Growth potential for newmarkets and services• Ease of maintenance andupgrade deployment• Future-proof architecture• Basis for furtherdevelopment of innovativeWeb Services
Pershing in the UK (Pershing UK), a leading financial markets service
provider, has built a mission-critical trading environment using
Microsoft .NET development technologies, which exposes
mainframe functionality to its Nexus broker workstation via a range
of channels. The solution provides execution and portfolio
management to its correspondents and is tightly integrated with its
clearing and settlement engine. Pershing UK’s new future-proof
architecture enables it to reduce the cost of maintaining and
upgrading services to its correspondents, and to expand quickly into
new markets.
BACKGROUND
Pershing in the UK (Pershing UK), part of the Credit Suisse Group of
companies, is a leader in providing bespoke trading, clearing, settlement,
and custody services for more than 90 financial institutions.
Pershing UK, through its two FSA regulated companies, Pershing Ltd
and Pershing Securities Ltd, handles the majority of the UK outsourced
market, making it the clear leader in wholesale clearing and settlement
services.
Pershing UK’s correspondents are mainly small to medium-sized buy-
side firms. For execution and portfolio management, most
correspondents use Nucleus, a Microsoft Windows-based workstation
that provides straight-through processing and enables front-office access
to Pershing UK’s trading engine and settlement systems.
In 2000, Pershing UK realised that although its Nucleus product was a
high quality outsourcing solution, its architecture was constraining its
organisational agility. The main limitation was time to market – Pershing
Microsoft. NET Customer SolutionFinancial Services
UK realised it couldn’t introduce new functionality quickly enough for its
user base.
“We’re extraordinarily responsive to our customer needs,” says Alpesh
Patel, Director, IT Development, Pershing UK. “We were getting
significant demands and suggestions for new functionality. We knew we
had to lay some solid plans to build a platform for the future.”
This platform for the future would be built on the reliable and
scaleable Microsoft Windows 2000 Datacenter Server and Microsoft SQL
Server 2000, but first Pershing UK needed to examine its business
requirements and select a development environment that would
maximise the benefits of this robust back-end infrastructure.
Besides a more streamlined deployment process, Pershing UK also
wanted to maximise the value of its investment in its clearing and
settlement engine. It wanted any new front end to open up the
functionality of the engine and put in a single interface with a much
better presentation layer that supports multi-channel delivery.
Any replacement for Nucleus also needed to be open enough to talk
to other external systems as part of providing extra services to
correspondents, or for products Pershing UK itself wanted to use. In short,
the solution needed to be open, scaleable, and future proof.
In September 2000, Pershing UK began investigating options for an
architecture that would enable it to deliver its services to correspondents
“.NET offered us anew way ofthinking abouthow to deliver ourinfrastructure.Planning for thefuture, we areexpecting greatervolume throughour systems andwe wanted asolution capable ofbeing extended interms of volumeand also newtechnologies.”
LLOYD WILLIAMSONCIOPERSHING UK
over a wide range of client devices and give it the flexibility to easily
upgrade and add new services.
Nucleus was built entirely on Microsoft technology and when it
launched, it was among the first products to be built around Microsoft
Transaction Server (MTS) middleware. Having achieved success with new
Microsoft technology before, Pershing UK looked to Microsoft Consulting
Services for advice on architecture and new technology that would
support its vision for the future.
SOLUTION
Pershing UK designed a new architecture based around the first beta
release of the Microsoft .Net Framework. Once the proof of concept
framework was developed, Microsoft confirmed that the architecture
Pershing UK had planned was viable, Pershing UK committed to the full-
scale development in February 2001, still utilising beta 1 of the .NET
Framework. The .NET Framework and Microsoft Visual Studio .NET
development environment, with their support for XML and Web Services,
would form the basis for Pershing UK’s replacement for Nucleus – a
product called Nexus.
But before the coding began, the back-end infrastructure needed to
be optimised to deliver Nexus as an application based on Web Services.
“We had to rethink our database architecture. We wanted it to be able
to scale up or out, so we designed a fully distributed database solution,”
says Patel.
Pershing UK implemented the Datacenter Server clusters at its two
secure computer centres. This approach will enable hot failover between
Unisys ES 7000 servers installed at both sites.
At the same time, the IT Development Department used SQL Server
2000 to develop a new distributed database that it could scale up and out
incrementally to any level required. In order to share data between this
relational database and the flat file database of Global Clear, Pershing’s
clearing and settlement engine, the department created a staging area for
data cleaning and conversion. From here, data is replicated across SQL
Server 2000 installations.
“We decided on Windows 2000 Datacenter Server because it offers
reliability, rapid scalability, and centralised management,” explains Patel.
“But it can also scale incrementally to meet expanding needs through
building upon, rather than replacing, the initial foundation.” 25
Products and ServicesMicrosoft Windows 2000ProfessionalMicrosoft SQL Server 2000Microsoft Visual Studio .NET Microsoft .NET FrameworkMicrosoft Windows 2000Datacenter ServerMicrosoft OperationsManager 2000 Microsoft Application Centre2000Microsoft Consulting ServicesUnisys ES7000 ServersEMC Data Storage Solution
Microsoft. NET Customer SolutionFinancial Services
As soon as Microsoft released the first beta for the .NET Framework,
Pershing UK began training its in-house Microsoft Visual Basic experts on
the new code and building a development framework that would be used
for the Nexus project.
Microsoft worked very closely with Pershing UK from the early beta
versions of the .NET Framework right through to the final public release
in early 2002. As a result, Pershing UK was able to build upon its previous
experience with XML and Microsoft development environments to make
the most of the Web Services capabilities in the .NET Framework.
“We wanted all the functionality of Global Clear, to be available
through Nexus in the browser, or any other channel, but we didn’t have
the time or resources to translate each of the existing 1500 screens into
individual browser pages,” says Patel. “So we needed something generic
to dynamically build the pages with data coming from the Global Clear
system. This was a major challenge, and we achieved success using the
.NET Framework.”
“We decided onWindows 2000Datacenter Serverbecause it offersreliability, rapidscalability, andcentralisedmanagement.”
ALPESH PATELDEVELOPMENTDIRECTORPERSHING UK
BENEFITS
Nexus was launched in June 2002 and Pershing UK is in the process of
migrating its correspondents over to the new platform. According to
Patel, the early decision to start building its next-generation trading
environment with the .NET Framework will pay off.
“We need to be innovative in our use of technology. If we see a valid
business case to exploit new technology, we will use it,” he says. “This
has been the case with Microsoft products and services. This solution can
support new business opportunities much more rapidly than before. We
can reach the client base far more easily and there are fewer operational
constraints on us. It is a much more effective model moving forward.”
Using Web Services and the .NET Framework, Pershing UK has made
its underlying technology transparent to its correspondents. Its Web
Services technology means it is able to easily access the functionality of its
legacy investments in clearing and settlement, whilst providing value
added services to any client device.
As soon as any changes are made in Pershing UK’s core systems,
whether it’s business changes or functional enhancements, the
correspondent will benefit immediately.
Pershing UK’s programming employees have previously demonstrated
their speed and appetite for mastering new technologies and have now
added the .NET Framework to their portfolio. The company continues to
be well placed to deliver innovative services built on the latest technology.
“.NET Framework offered us a new way of thinking about how to
deliver our infrastructure. Planning for the future, we are expecting
greater volume through our systems and we wanted a solution capable
of being extended in terms of volume and also new technologies,” says
Lloyd Williamson, Chief Information Officer at Pershing UK. “We wanted
the solution to grow with us rather than having to examine it every two
years, and .NET [the .NET Framework] delivers this.”
Building Nexus with the .NET Framework has also opened up new
business opportunities for Pershing UK, enabling it to be more agile in
meeting customer needs and reacting to industry trends. “In the past,
under the old architecture, we just weren’t open enough,” adds
Williamson. “But now we can pursue complementary business lines and
offer extra services that leverage off this investment.” ■
For more information about Pershing UK products and services, e-mail
info@pershing.co.uk or visit the website at: http:// www.pershing.co.uk/ 27
Microsoft. NET Customer SolutionFinancial Services
Retail Services.NET live
Virgin.com Website Traffic Increases ByAlmost 50 Per Cent with Help FromMicrosoft .NET
29
Overview
Customer ProfileThe Virgin Group is a globalbrand with businesses such asVirgin Megastores, VirginAtlantic and Virgin Money. Itsinformation portal,Virgin.com, gives consumersaccess to any of thecompanies in the group.
Business ChallengeVirgin.com wanted to boostawareness of the Virginbrand and drive traffic to itswebsite. With a tightdeadline of just three monthsthey needed to implementthe Winathon marketingcampaign..
SolutionCassium designed, built andimplemented a campaignmanagement system usingMicrosoft Visual C#,Microsoft Visual Studio .NETdevelopment environmentand the Microsoft .NETFramework.
Virgin is celebrating after a Winathon campaign to increase the use
of its Virgin.com website clocked up more than a million entries. The
Virgin marketing team ran a series of competitions offering airline
tickets and other goodies on the website every hour, every day in
September 2002. Competition entrants registered by filling in a
questionnaire asking them for details such as hobbies and interests.
With such a high-profile campaign, Virgin needed a stable, scalable
website offering high availability and the scalability to meet peaks in
demand. In just three months, long-term IT partner Cassium built an
interface to the existing Virgin.com website using the Microsoft .NET
Framework. Today, the Virgin marketing team is improving
productivity by delivering targeted marketing campaigns that
connect businesses, customers, systems, and services.
BACKGROUND
The Virgin Group was founded by entrepreneur Richard Branson in the
1970s. Since then it has grown into a global brand with businesses such
as Virgin Megastores, Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Money as well as less
familiar operations such as Virgin Blue, an Australian low-cost travel
service, and Virgin Limobike, a motorbike version of a mini-cab service.
Virgin.com is an information portal that gives consumers online access to
any of the companies in the group.
Knowing who your customers are and offering targeted products and
services is vital in a world where users are bombarded with spam every
day. Virgin.com recognises that a one-size-fits-all policy does not meet the
needs of its customers. It is keen not to waste their time by offering them
products and services they will not be interested in.
Microsoft. NET Customer SolutionRetail
The company wanted to boost brand awareness, drive traffic to its
Virgin.com website, and collect key customer data, including details of
hobbies and interests, which could be used for targeted marketing.
Ashley Stockwell, the company’s Group Marketing Director, says: “We
already had a website but we needed it upgraded so that we could drive
more traffic to it.”
SOLUTION
The Virgin team launched a promotional campaign called the Winathon
with different competitions run on Virgin.com on an hourly basis, 24
hours-a-day, seven days-a-week, throughout September 2002. It was
essential that the website had the flexibility to support a high volume of
entrants as Virgin.com offered customers and prospects 740
opportunities to enter a competition during that month.
Competitors registered to take part in a competition by providing
personal details and filling-in a questionnaire that included questions
about hobbies and interests. The winners received Virgin-related prizes
such as Virgin Atlantic airline tickets. It enabled Virgin.com to offer
connected experiences and deeper customer connections.
The customer relationship management (CRM) information is now
being used by marketing staff at Virgin.com to deliver targeted offers to
“This was a bigproject that had tobe delivered to atight timescale. Butwith the Microsoft.NET Framework, itwas a painlessprocess.”ß
ASHLEY STOCKWELLGROUP MARKETINGDIRECTORVIRGIN.COM
customers. It is helping them to increase their productivity as they are now
sending out offers to customers who have already indicated an interest in
particular areas.
Stockwell says: “By capturing customer data from our website, we
expanded our database and found out more about what consumers want
and need.”
Virgin.com set the immovable launch date for Winathon of September
1 2002, and invited IT provider Cassium, which has been working with
Virgin for several years, to implement a solution. Cassium had already
implemented Microsoft Windows 2000 and Microsoft SQL Server to
support the Virgin.com website a year earlier, so it was the ideal partner
to extend the functionality of the site.
Ul-Ghani, a Partner at IT provider Cassium, says: “The three-month
deadline from the beginning of the project to launch was tight but with
our experience of the Microsoft .NET Framework, we were confident we
could do this.”
Cassium designed, built and implemented a campaign management
system using Microsoft Visual C# .NET, the Microsoft Visual Studio.NET
development environment and the .NET Framework.
It also built a tool that enabled the data collected to be reused in other
campaigns. The .NET Framework allows applications to share data over
the Internet as XML Web Services and enables developers to assemble
applications from new and existing code, regardless of platform,
programming language, or object model.
The Cassium solution used XML, Simple Object Access Protocol
(SOAP), Active Server Pages.NET (ASP.NET) and HTTP. Ul-Ghani says:
“SOAP is rapidly becoming used as the industry standard for building
connections to different applications.”
Stockwell says: “The .NET Framework and .NET technologies were a
very, very quick and efficient way of making changes to the Virgin.com
website as well as moving forwards. “
Ul-Ghani was enthusiastic about the ease of development of the
solution. He says: “We knew that we had to meet the deadline of
September 1 2002. Our programmers have said that .NET is very intuitive
and has enabled them to build applications 20 to 30 per cent faster than
with Microsoft Visual Basic.” Stockwell agrees: “This was a big project
that had to be delivered to a tight timescale. But with the .NET
Framework, it was a painless process.” 31
For more information aboutCassium products and services,visit the Web site at: http://http://www.cassium.com
Benefits• A high availability websitesupporting one to twomillion hits at peak times• Ability to generatetargeted strategy andmarketing campaigns basedon up-to-date, personaliseddata• Volume of traffic towebsite increased by 50 percent • Rapid design, test andbuild of code through pre-built libraries• The scalability to supportmultiple platforms andmobile devices if desired
Products and ServicesMicrosoft Windows 2000ServerMicrosoft SQL Server 2000Microsoft C# .NETMicrosoft .NET FrameworkMicrosoft Visual Studio .NETXML Web Services
Partners Cassium
Microsoft. NET Customer SolutionRetail
Developers can use any programming language and integrate
applications written in different programming languages. This is because
C# is modular, component-based and object-oriented, enabling staff to
develop new source code rapidly and efficiently. An advanced inheritance
model enables developers to reuse code from any programming language
that supports .NET. This is vital for consumer-based businesses such as
Virgin that need to frequently launch new products and services to avoid
customers losing interest.
Ul-Ghani says: “We have used other languages in the past such as Java
to build web-based systems but we were able to design, build, test, and
implement a solution much faster than before by using C# and the .NET
Framework.”
BENEFITS
Since installing the new system, Virgin.com has increased the volume of
traffic to the website by about 50 per cent. Ul-Ghani says there are now
65,000 regular users to the site.
“We needed the confidence of knowing that we could rapidly
upgrade the website and provide the stability and scalability required.
During the Winathon, traffic from the site reached between half a million
to over one million hits at peak times.”
This has also enabled Virgin.com to significantly increase the number
of customer profiles on its database. The number of new people entering
the competitions grew by 55,000.
Ul-Ghani continues: “The solution had the scalability and resilience to
meet a surge in demand. If we hadn’t been able to do that, it would have
been a disaster, given the high-profile nature of the campaign and the
huge increase in traffic.”
Stockwell agrees: “It would have reflected very badly on us if there
had been any downtime in the middle of such a high-profile campaign.”
Ul-Ghani says: “We found that the pre-built functionality meant that
there were far fewer bugs and the developers were more productive. They
particularly liked being able to reuse objects to create code. The .NET
Framework is a true development environment.”
XML delivers interoperability so that applications created using Web
Services can be used across multiple platforms and multiple devices. In the
future, consumers may be able to enter Virgin.com competitions using
personal digital assistants (PDAs) or mobile phones. ■32
We found that thepre-builtfunctionality meantthat there were farfewer bugs and thedevelopers weremore productive.They particularlyliked being able toreuse objects tocreate code. The.NET Framework isa truedevelopmentenvironment.
UL-GHANIPARTNERCASSIUM
Entertainment and Media.NET live
Williams, the Formula One Racing Giant,Speeds Up Web Downloads UsingMicrosoft .NET
35
Overview
Customer ProfileWilliamsF1 is a companydedicated to motor racing. Itsdrivers regularly compete inBMW cars at high-profileevents in Monte Carlo,Hockenheim, and Silverstone.
Business ChallengeWilliamsF1 wanted toupgrade its website so thatfans and sponsorsthroughout the world coulddownload news stories,features, driver details, andmore in their own language.They also wanted sponsors tobenefit from a private areaof the website so that themarketing department coulddeliver details about strategy,branding, and licensinginformation securely.
SolutionMicrosoft Gold Partner CIBERSolution Partners (CIBER)developed a solution basedon the Microsoft .NETFramework, Microsoft VisualStudio .NET and XML WebServices. This enablesdevelopers to createapplications from new andexisting code, regardless ofplatform, programminglanguage, or object model.
In the fast-moving world of motor racing, accuracy and speed of
reaction are everything. Fans of The BMW WilliamsF1 Team can now
download multilingual news stories, features, driver details, and
more in less than a second. This is 50 per cent faster than an earlier
version of the website. Microsoft Gold Partner CIBER Solution
Partners (CIBER) developed the solution based on the Microsoft .NET
Framework, Microsoft Visual Studio .NET and XML Web Services. It
also created a private area of the website for sponsors, enabling the
WilliamsF1 marketing department to deliver strategy, branding, and
licensing details securely. The upgrade connects businesses,
customers, systems, and services.
BACKGROUND
WilliamsF1 is a company dedicated to motor racing. Its drivers regularly
compete in Formula One cars at high-profile events in Monte Carlo,
Hockenheim, and Silverstone.
The company is based in Grove, Oxfordshire and its 460 employees
range from designers, model makers and tunnel technicians to mechanics
and marketing staff.
Formula One is a sport and industry that relies heavily on rapid
development and constant innovation, so the teams need to operate at
optimum efficiency to succeed. Branding, marketing and licensing are
key to the success of the company. And, as well as generating revenue
from race wins, the company raises funds by encouraging sponsorship
from firms.
Account managers ensure that sponsors receive a host of benefits
such as details of strategy, images not available on the public website,
Microsoft. NET Customer SolutionEntertainment and Media
test/race reports and interview requests. They also look after the sponsors’
guests at a Grand Prix or the WilliamsF1 Conference Centre in Grove,
Oxfordshire.
It is vital that all systems are maintained to the highest standard and
good IT support is key. Race weekends are clearly the worst time for
technical problems to hit a team, so support staff attend each race and
test run to provide backup. WilliamsF1 wanted to improve its existing
website by setting up a private area of the website for sponsors and
creating multilingual access for supporters.
SOLUTION
WilliamsF1 invited CIBER Solution Partners (CIBER), a Microsoft Gold
Partner based in Oxford, to fulfil the brief. CIBER created a private area of
the website for sponsors where they could input a username and
password to access customised content and value-added services, such as
access to images and logos not available to the public.
“ Visual Studio.NET provides asingle developmentenvironment inwhich we cantranslate andmanipulate datafrom severalsources.”
BARRY ALLISONMANAGINGCONSULTANTCIBER
CIBER upgraded the operating system to Microsoft Windows 2000
Server, Microsoft SQL Server 2000, and used XML Web Services to
integrate Windows 2000-based applications and programs using other
operating systems.
After discussing requirements in February 2002, CIBER set the site live
in August 2002. Its developers adhered to the Microsoft .NET Framework
and programming model to enable fans and sponsors to access the
website via personal digital assistant (PDA), laptop, or mobile phone as
well as through a desktop PC.
The Framework helps developers to build web-based applications,
smart client applications, and XML Web Services applications over a
network using standard protocols such as SOAP and HTTP. It offers them
standards-based interoperability, modular and reusable code, and multi-
language connections.
Applications share data over the Internet and developers assemble
applications from new and existing code, regardless of platform,
programming language, or object model. The developers also used
Microsoft Visual Studio .NET, which includes ADO.NET, to generate code
in a graphical environment.
Barry Allison, Managing Consultant at CIBER, was impressed with the
.NET Framework and Visual Studio .NET. He says: “The .NET Framework is
absolutely vast and offers object-oriented code from a huge variety of
objects and classes, which can be reused to develop new applications.
Developers can visually manage the code in Visual Studio.NET and can
generate code automatically simply by dragging and dropping objects
using the designers. This makes rapid development possible, particularly
as it also enables staff to create XML schemas that can be integrated with
a SQL Server database.”
XML schemas provide a means for defining the structure, content, and
semantics of XML documents. The schemas express a shared vocabulary
and allow machines to carry out rules made by people. Allison says: “In
the past, we had to use third-party tools written in different languages to
translate data. Visual Studio .NET provides a single development
environment in which we can translate and manipulate data from several
sources.”
BENEFITS
Since installing the new system, WilliamsF1 sponsors and fans are 37
Benefits• Web pages aredownloading up to 50-60 percent faster• Mobile device accessthrough a single code base• Rapidly add features to thewebsite such as Flash, videoclips, and images• Web pages are updated inreal time• Content editors review, subedit, and upload copy to thewebsite themselves• Rapid design, test andbuild of code throughreusable objects
Products and ServicesMicrosoft Windows 2000ServerMicrosoft SQL Server 2000Microsoft .NET FrameworkMicrosoft Visual Studio .NET XML Web Services
PartnerCIBER Solution Partners
Microsoft. NET Customer SolutionEntertainment and Media
accessing web pages such as race reports, performance tests, driver
details and images much more quickly than before.
Allison says: “The pages are downloading up to 50-60 per cent faster
than with the old system and we are confident that we have the
scalability and resilience to meet a huge surge in demand and deliver an
increased number of pages.”
RAPID DEVELOPMENT
Allison is impressed by the development environment offered within
Visual Studio .NET. He says: “Developers translate data from disparate
sources into XML code and view it in a graphical user interface (GUI). In
the past, we didn’t have a single environment that would enable us to do
this or manipulate the code visually. By working with a single
environment, we have rapidly speeded up development time.”
MOBILE DEVICE ACCESS THROUGH A SINGLE CODE BASE
In the past, WilliamsF1 developers would have had to write separate code
for each type of device to enable fans and sponsors to access the website.
Allison says: “But by using a single code base, our developers can give
access to fans and sponsors using PDAs, laptops, mobile phones, and PCs
“We are confidentthat we have thescalability andresilience to meet ahuge surge indemand anddeliver anincreased numberof pages.”
BARRY ALLISONMANAGINGCONSULTANTCIBER
without having to write any more code. This also means that the website
is easier to develop, support, and maintain.”
Sponsors, fans, and WilliamsF1 staff can access the website from any
web-based browser. And by using XML and the .NET Framework, CIBER
has also fulfilled its brief to provide multilingual services as the code can
be read by a standard translation program.
MORE FUNCTIONALITY
The flexibility of the code offers ease of integration with other programs.
Developers can rapidly add additional features to the website. Content
editors can provide additional content such as Flash, video clips, and
images. Web pages are updated in real time, for example, offering users
a dynamic site map.
Before a news story or article goes up on the website, content editors
at WilliamsF1 view the copy that has not yet appeared on the site, sub-
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39
For more information aboutCiber products and services, visitthe website at:http://www.uk.ciber.com
Microsoft. NET Customer SolutionEntertainment and Media
Industry.NET live
Large Scale Microsoft .NET DeploymentDrives Efficiency for Major FleetManagement Organisation
41
Overview
Customer ProfileInchcape, as an internationalautomotive services group,provides qualityrepresentation for itsmanufacturer partners, achoice of channels to marketand products for its retailcustomers and a range ofbusiness services for itscorporate customers.
Business ChallengeInchcape saw a marketopportunity to streamline thevaluation, refurbishment,sale and transportationprocesses for ex-fleetvehicles. Its goals were tostreamline the supply chain,reduce depreciation and freecapital tied up.
SolutionA Microsoft .NET deploymentdeveloped using theMicrosoft .NET Framework,with additional functionalityfrom successive Web Servicesdeployments.
When Inchcape plc won a contract to manage the transportation
and resale of 25,000 fleet vehicles, it was faced with the pressing
need to share information effectively between disparate IT systems.
In order to achieve this, Inchcape implemented a solution based on
Microsoft .NET. The results are closer collaboration between
subsidiaries, partners and customers, the automation of routine
business processes, improved operational efficiency, faster re-sale of
ex-rental vehicles, and rapid return on investment.
BACKGROUND
Inchcape, as an international automotive services group, provides quality
representation for its manufacturer partners, a choice of channels to
market and products for its retail customers, and a range of business
services for its corporate customers.
Operating primarily in the UK, Greece, Belgium, Australia, Hong Kong,
and Singapore, the company’s key partners are Toyota, Subaru, Ferrari,
Jaguar, and Land Rover. Inchcape’s activities include exclusive Import,
Distribution and Retail, Business Services, automotive E-commerce, and
Financial Services
In order to extend its automotive services, Inchcape acquired Eurofleet,
a company that provides refurbishment, transportation, storage, and
other logistics services for fleet management.
It also established Inchcape Fleet Management (IFM) to manage, re-
market and resell ex-fleet vehicles through established and online sales
channels.
With this business infrastructure in place, Inchcape would be in a
position to offer end-to-end processes for refurbishing, transporting and
Microsoft. NET Customer SolutionIndustry
re-selling ex-fleet cars to key manufacturers and buyers across the motor
trade sector.
For IFM’s first customer, a major motor manufacturer, thousands of
cars pass through this system at any one time, generating high levels of
capital tied up in stock and loss of revenue through relatively young
vehicles depreciating in value while standing idle unnecessarily
throughout the sales cycle.
To succeed in the face of this challenge, Inchcape needed to reduce
the turnaround time for vehicle sales in order to reduce depreciation and
hence maximise the resale prices to customers.
As a first step towards achieving these goals, IFM created a central
database to manage and monitor each car from its initial sale to a rental
company through to the final delivery of the used vehicle to a dealer. The
system also manages a used-car inventory and provides daily statistics and
status reports across the whole supply chain.
In order to drive this improved efficiency across the entire resale
process, Inchcape needed to manage vehicle information effectively
between its wholly owned subsidiaries. Success would also depend on the
timely provision of order and sales information to third parties such as
manufacturers, dealers, and financing organisations.
SOLUTION
In order to achieve this kind of connectivity and information sharing,
Inchcape planned the implementation of an integrated and fully
synchronised fleet management and re-marketing system. Edenbrook,
Inchcape’s implementation partner, selected Microsoft .NET technology as
a basis for the solution.
.NET was chosen for its ability to integrate new and legacy systems
quickly and easily. In addition, Edenbrook believed that the complex
workflow functionality Inchcape required could simply not be delivered in
time on any other platform.
“The .NET Framework toolset allowed us to deliver complex
functionality by writing code at a much more abstract base level than
would be possible with any competitor platform,” says Ben Nicholson,
Architect at Edenbrook. “Microsoft Visual C#, one of the programming
languages at the heart of .NET, gave us the power and control we needed
to deploy the solution within Inchcape’s three-month timeframe, without
compromising on functionality.” 42
“The .NETFramework toolsetallowed us todeliver complexfunctionality bywriting code at amuch moreabstract base levelthan would bepossible with anycompetitorplatform.”
BEN NICHOLSONARCHITECTEDENBROOK
Although a J2EE-based integration approach was considered, it was
the selection of the highly connective XML-based Microsoft BizTalk Server
that proved critical to the success of the solution.
Edenbrook director Steve Anderson says, “Microsoft BizTalk Server is
one of the fastest growing integration servers on the market. It offers
unparalleled ease of use and integration capabilities. Not too long ago,
we would have had to develop complex interfaces for each different
system.
“Instead, the inherent flexibility of BizTalk enables organisations to
extend across any communications infrastructure and add applications at
any time.” As a result, Inchcape is able to take on additional customers
quickly and easily at any point in the future.
IFM’s central database now manages and monitors each car from its
initial sale to a rental company through to the final delivery of the used
vehicle to a dealer. It ensures that Eurofleet, Inchcape’s refurbishment and
logistics business, only accepts cars returned in time and in accordance
with original buy-back agreements.
The system coordinates the buy-back and refurbishment processes to
offer each car for sale at the earliest possible moment. It integrates with
financial organisations to ensure dealer credit limits are approved before
cars are released.
What’s more, it also ensures that Eurofleet delivers each car to its final
owner on time, and delivers status reports and other timely management
information.
BENEFITS
The .NET platform has enabled Edenbrook to deploy several highly
beneficial Web Services within the Inchcape solution.
Initially, a single sign-on service was created to give users from
different subsidiaries access to information across Inchcape’s extended
systems. This ensures that employees always have access to the
information they need to work effectively.
An additional Web Service was then created to give Inchcape better
visibility of its sales information across multiple channels. This generates a
unique sales ID for each vehicle and logs it in a central location, enabling
Inchcape to monitor the sale of all its vehicles effectively. It also automates
a number of steps in the resale process, such as requesting credit
clearance for buyers. 43
For more information aboutEdenbrook products andservices, visit the website at:http://www.edenbrook.co.uk
Benefits• Streamlined supply chainmanagement• Higher margins for onlinesales• Rapid return oninvestment• Automation of routinebusiness processes• Option to deployadditional Web Servicefunctionality rapidly asrequirements change
Products and ServicesMicrosoft Visual Basic .NETMicrosoft Visual Studio .NETMicrosoft BizTalk ServerMicrosoft SQL Server
Partners Edenbrook
Microsoft. NET Customer SolutionIndustry
Finally, a third Web Service was implemented to streamline the
transportation of vehicles to their point of sale. By making transportation
requests to Eurofleet’s legacy systems automatically, the service sets up
vehicle transportation schedules and enables IFM to track vehicles’
progress through the system.
By using this same Web Service, Eurofleet is now able to expose
vehicle information to its external customers, increasing the integration
and efficiency of its business processes still further.
Edenbrook was able to deliver all this functionality quickly and simply
thanks to the flexibility and openness of the .NET architecture. “We were
hugely impressed with the Edenbrook team, all of whom were senior
consultants with impressive track records,” says Peter Wilson, Group
Director of information systems.
IMPROVED OPERATIONAL EFFICIENCY
The administration and tracking of vehicles can now take place with next
to no human intervention. Information is delivered automatically between
manufacturer, Eurofleet and IFM systems, driving operational efficiency
and reducing human error.
What’s more, this provides an opportunity for the fleet customer to
achieve higher prices for vehicles that are sold online, compared to
traditional marketing channels.
Wilson sums up the operational benefits of working with the new
system, saying: “Cars sold online tend to attract higher prices than those
sold at auction. They also spend less time in the supply chain, bringing
significant benefits to the fleet owner.”
A PLATFORM FOR TOMORROW
The flexibility of Inchcape’s .NET solution is already delivering significant
return on investment through improved efficiency and vastly reduced
administration costs. But the platform will also enable the company to
integrate additional Web Service functionality as its needs evolve,
ensuring that business processes continue to be as effective as possible.
In addition, the solution’s XML-based connectivity also positions
Inchcape to integrate with additional partners and customers in the
future, irrespective of their legacy systems.
Through these opportunities for collaborative working, Inchcape will
continue to improve operational efficiency and return on investment. ■44
“Cars sold onlinetend to attracthigher prices thanthose sold atauction. They alsospend less time inthe supply chain,bringing significantbenefits to thefleet owner."
PETER WILSONGROUP IS DIRECTORINCHCAPE
m35 creates the first .NET-based XMLWeb Service Application Server In LessThan Six Months
45
Overview
Customer ProfileLondon based m35 is a newcompany that providessoftware and deliverssolutions that integratesystems and applicationsacross multiple geographiclocations and platforms.
Business Challengem35 needed to choose astrategic development andrun-time platform in order tofulfil its core business goals.
Solutionm35 chose the Microsoft .NETFramework and MicrosoftVisual Studio .NET to createits entire product line;including its core productDataTrans – a rule drivenbusiness transactionapplication server.
The founding members of m35 needed to make a critical decision –
how were the technical designs they created to be implemented? In
order to fulfil their vision, m35 chose the Microsoft .NET Framework
to develop their XML Web Service-based systems integration
software products. In just six months m35 developed and launched
its product set, all written in C#, as well as implemented its first blue
chip client. As a result of this speed and low cost to market, m35 is
on track for profitability in its first year of operation.
BACKGROUND
m35 knows systems integration. The four co-founders have over 40 years
experience in working in complex, high availability, mission-critical
computing environments.
That, combined with nearly 50 years experience in the financial
services market, and they feel they have the right skills and experience to
create world class systems integration products.
m35 knows that the current, most popular choice to integrate
multiple different systems – middleware – is too cumbersome and
expensive for the majority of projects for which its used. Further to that,
middleware is becoming
the next legacy system;
tightly coupled to its
underlying host systems.
m35 believes that
application servers made
from flexible, agile, and distributable components that provide a
combination of data access ability and business logic, are the future of
Microsoft. NET Customer SolutionIndustry
FAST FACTS
Number of architects to design product set 3
Number of developers to build product set 1
Number of months to build product set 6
Implementation time for first project 2 weeks
List price difference from a leading competitor 91%
systems integration. Application servers can open new markets for
systems integration where middleware cannot compete.
The founders created m35 to combine their real-life experience to
create world-class systems integration products to deliver the promise of
distributed systems integration computing.
The main problem they faced was which platform they should choose
to build these products.
SOLUTION
The Microsoft .NET Framework combined with Microsoft Visual Studio
.NET integrated development environment (IDE) provides the ideal
development and run-time environment for m35.
The main design focus for m35 has always been on operational
prowess – how does the software run day in and day out. This includes
all its dependencies such as hardware costs, operating system, cost and
availability of support staff, etc.
As a result of its intensive pre-development examination of the various
development platforms and tools, the Microsoft .NET Framework was a
clear winner.
Not only does the .NET Framework provide rock solid operational
performance and stability, it also has the premier integrated development
environment in the world.
Writing in the C# language, m35 was able to design, develop,
‘productise’, and implement its software in six months. All at significantly
“The .NETFramework reducesthe total amountand complexity ofcode a developerwrites as well asincreases theconsistency of it –letting us focus onthe business issuesof writing productsthat integratesystems andapplications.”
RUSS THORNTONCO-FOUNDERM35
lower total cost to market that would have been possible with other
frameworks from competitors.
“Our philosophy all along has been on solving business problems,”
says Russ Thornton, co-founder of m35. “The .NET Framework reduces
the total amount and complexity of code a developer writes as well as
increases the consistency of it – letting us focus on the business issues of
writing products that integrate systems and applications. “
m35 has proved that smaller more highly qualified teams will out
perform larger groups, provided they have the tools to do so.
With the breath of the .NET Framework and the advent of XML Web
Services, those tools are now available, giving m35 the base it needed to
create its software business.
BENEFITS
Visual Studio .NET provided m35 with an integrated workbench for
developing applications against databases, existing code classes and
objects, MSMQ, and Web Services – all within the same IDE.
The Visual Studio .NET IDE allowed m35 to realise and debug an end-
to-end view of its applications; from the web server to the database. The
versatility of the cross-language debugger and multi-purpose integration
points dramatically reduced debugging and testing time.
Visual Studio .NET gave m35 a development framework that has
provided:
• Unprecedented performance and stability in an n-tier environment.
• Enhanced productivity and speed to market with fewer developers.
• The ability to integrate with diverse platforms and architectures.
• Comprehensive support of XML payload and related technologies
including Web Services.
These features have enabled m35 to create innovative, enterprise
applications all at a fraction of the cost of using any other framework
currently available.
THE END RESULT
In choosing the .NET Framework, m35 has been able to develop and
launch its enterprise systems integration product set in six months. The
core products consist of the following:
• DataTrans Application Server – A real-time, rule driven, business
transaction application server that is applicable across all industry sectors. 47
Benefits• DataTrans provides dataaccess ability combined withrules based business logic.• DataTrans highly leveragesWeb Services and is XMLmetadata based. • It has built in support forconnectivity to a multipleback-end host systems anddatabases• Offers multi-steptransactions with serial andparallel execution, robustlogging, and centralised anddistributed deploymentoptions
Products and ServicesMicrosoft Windows 2000Server / Advanced Server and.NET ServerMicrosoft .NET FrameworkMicrosoft InternetInformation ServerMicrosoft Visual Studio .NETMicrosoft SQL ServerMicrosoft Message QueueMicrosoft OfficeMicrosoft Host IntegrationServerMicrosoft Application CenterServer
Microsoft. NET Customer SolutionIndustry
It integrates existing legacy hosts and databases providing complex
business logic functionality. It leverages Web Services as its main interface
and distributed deployment mechanism.
• DataTrans Scheduler – An enterprise batch scheduling system that
provides off-line integration functionality. It uses DataTrans to execute
scheduled events, based on a robust calendaring system.
• WebTrans – An ASP.NET website development framework and run
time environment for the deployment of consistent content across
multiple delivery channels.
Jason du Preez, m35’s software architect, says, “We created the
products to provide Web Services enablement and systems integration
with unprecedented ease and reliability. Our design provides a simple
method using XML to abstract technical implementation issues from
business process and transaction choreography.”
They are now poised for growth into several different market verticals
and are already looking toward the future to expand their product set.
“We see the widespread adoption of technology standards driving a
new era in distributed computing,” says du Preez.
“This push is blurring the traditional distinctions between the Internet,
platforms, applications, and delivery channels. Applications servers such
as DataTrans will be critical to delivering the types of services business is
demanding,” he says.
MSMS DEPLOYS DATATRANS
Marlborough Stirling Mortgage Services (MSMS) is m35’s first production
This push isblurring thetraditionaldistinctionsbetween theInternet, platforms,applications, anddelivery channels.Applicationsservers such asDataTrans will becritical todelivering thetypes of servicesbusiness isdemanding.
JASON DU PREEZSOFTWARE ARCHITECT M35
software client. They have seen the value in Web Services for systems
integration and chose m35 to play a role in the provision of their services
to some of the largest mortgage lenders in the UK.
MSMS chose m35 to automate several functions of its data centre’s
daily operations by integrating several different systems, on various
platforms, using DataTrans and the DataTrans Scheduler. This installation
will now become the springboard for several other projects; both for
internal and external use.
Phil Robinson, Business Systems Manager at MSMS says, that “m35
has a unique blend of .NET technology and skills, which is placing MSMS
at the forefront of high value services to its clients”.
As financial institutions strive to lower costs and cope with upcoming
regulatory changes, MSMS recognises the enormous potential for growth
in outsourcing across all financial markets. They understand the
challenges of being able to accommodate different processes and
products for multiple institutions.
A key factor in providing a successful outsourcing service is a
combination of a flexible business process model with a generic product
engine. This allows the outsourcer to service financial products at a much
lower cost than an individual financial institution as well as to service
multiple clients.
Thornton says, “In the past, we’ve found that both business processes
and financial product definitions are not defined uniformly. This makes for
a natural migration to describing them both in XML. What we are aiming
to do with MSMS is to use our software to automate these business
processes based on their respective product descriptions.”
m35 and MSMS believe that Web Services and the .NET Framework
will play a key part in the complex systems integration and applications
exposure required by the business. Web Services will provide elegant,
future-proof and standards-based interfaces to internal and external
MSMS applications and business services. ■
For more information about m35 products and services, call +44 (0) 207-808-7344
or visit the website at: http://www.m35.net/ 49
Microsoft. NET Customer SolutionIndustry
50
“We chose a .NETsolution because itoffered high levelperformance,availability andscalability for thefuture.”
ALUN ROGERSCONSULTANTLYNX TECHNOLOGY
Microsoft and Lynx deliver highlyavailable solution leveraging MicrosoftExchange 2000
As a top-10 law firm, Pinsent Curtis Biddle constantly uses IT to deliver
business value and improve efficiencies. Following the migration to the
leading edge Microsoft .NET Framework, incorporating a Microsoft
Windows and Microsoft Exchange 2000 platform, Pinsent Curtis Biddle has
seen significant improvements in internal processes and systems. The
solution provides a dynamic and more reliable infrastructure to leverage
long-term business and IT strategy for further growth.
BACKGROUND
Pinsent Curtis Biddle is a fast growing law firm constantly striving to
deepen its service to clients while maintaining standards of the highest
quality. In the past 18 months the firm has responded to client demand,
doubling the size of its London office through the merger of Pinsent
Curtis and Biddle, and opening an office in Manchester. The firm has also
extended its international capabilities, including France, Germany, and
Sweden.
The firm is ranked in the top 10 and has also been ranked in the top
five nationally for client service by in-house lawyers in the UK. It was voted
the UK’s ‘Most Enterprising Law Firm’ in the Legal Business 2002 Awards.
With more than 160 partners, a full legal team of 550 people and a
total UK staff of 1,200, the firm acts extensively for UK and foreign-
controlled companies.
Pinsent Curtis Biddle is committed to strategic growth and aims to
achieve a leading position in the next three years in carefully selected
markets including technology and media, public companies, property and
financial institutions. It also wanted to build on its overseas experience
and nurture new longstanding relationships.
But in order to achieve this vision it became apparent to Pinsent Curtis
Biddle that its legacy system – a Lotus Notes environment – was
incapable of driving its business strategy.
The organisation formed a three to five-year plan that focused on
developing a Microsoft Outlook and Microsoft Exchange 2000
environment, to deliver a higher level of service to clients and provide
employees with enhanced operational efficiencies.
SOLUTION
While Pinsent Curtis Biddle could provide a full legal service, it didn’t have
the expertise to build and deploy the solution itself. The law firm invited
several IT solution providers to design a reliable infrastructure that would
deliver longevity for future strategies and growth.
After a rigorous selection programme, it awarded the business to Lynx
Technology, a Microsoft Gold Partner well known for building enterprise
server platforms.
“The Lynx team were awarded the contract based on a successful
exercise that defined how the solution would meet our requirements to
migrate from Lotus Notes to a more dynamic and innovative platform,
with minimal disruption to the business. The highly available solution
needed to run in parallel with our existing systems. Business continuance
was a key decision factor for us,” says Colin Smith, Director of
Information Technology, Pinsent Curtis Biddle.
“We had an existing relationship with Lynx, which spanned eight
years, so we felt confident that it would develop a Microsoft solution to
enhance business value and efficiencies,” he adds.
The solution was based on the core objective to migrate to a more
receptive Microsoft Windows and Exchange 2000 platform messaging
system. The Active Directory design and schema incorporated design
preparation for .NET Server features and functionality.
Lynx was responsible for the definition, design and implementation of
the solution to a 1,200-user environment. The skilled team designed a 51
Overview
Customer ProfilePinsent Curtis Biddle is one ofthe UK’s top 10 law firms
Business Challenge• To use IT to deliverbusiness value and improveefficiencies• To provide quality ITinfrastructure to leveragefuture strategies and growth• To enhance business valueand efficiencies• Business continuity
Solution• To migrate from LotusNotes to Microsoft .NETFramework incorporatingMicrosoft Windows andMicrosoft Exchange 2000platform• Implement a highlyresilient and availablemessaging infrastructure
Benefits• Minimise businessdisruption• Highly available solution• Co-existence with existingsystems• High-level performance,availability and scalability• Dynamic and reliableinfrastructure• Improved internalprocesses and systems.
Microsoft. NET Customer SolutionIndustry
parallel solution to co-exist with the current Windows NT environment
and act as a migration platform. Microsoft Exchange 2000 and Outlook
2000 were deployed to all users within the network in a phased migration
ensuring interoperability between the systems.
Lynx supports all Pinsent Curtis Biddle server and network
infrastructure across all five sites in the UK – Birmingham, Leeds,
Manchester and two sites in London.
The sites were mapped on to Microsoft Exchange 2000 and Active
Directory and took into consideration the company Wide Area Network
(WAN). Each site had a clustered Exchange environment and a dedicated
Microsoft Windows 2000 server running Active Directory and replication.
Lynx set up resilient Internet connections for e-mail outbound and
inbound, so Pinsent Curtis Biddle could afford for its WAN to fail and still
ensure that the e-mail service would continue to be delivered to users.
Alun Rogers, Consultant at Lynx Technology, adds: “We chose a .NET
solution because it offered high-level performance, availability and
scalability for the future. We engaged with Microsoft Consulting Services
(MCS) to define and ratify the custom migration strategy and design from
Lotus Notes to Exchange 2000.”
The Lynx consultant worked with a MCS consultant to produce a
migration document, which identified areas where we needed to rethink
the design of the infrastructure.
“We are delightedwith the endresults. Thesolution hasdramaticallyimproved ourinternal processes,procedures andsystems.”
COLIN SMITHDIRECTOR OF ITPINSENT CURTIS BIDDLE
53
For more information aboutLynx Technolgy’s products andservices, visit the Web site at: http://www.lynxtec.com
Products and Services• Microsoft .NET Framework• Microsoft Windows 2000Advanced Server• Microsoft Windows 2000• Microsoft InternetInformation Server • Microsoft Exchange 2000• Microsoft Active DirectoryServices
PartnerLynx Technology
Microsoft. NET Customer SolutionIndustry
“Following the recommendations, we made the changes and asked
MCS to verify and quality-assure the new Microsoft environment. It was
important to us that Pinsent Curtis Biddle felt comfortable that the
solution met its criteria for the organisation’s short and long-term vision.”
Lynx Technology utilised both the Microsoft Solution Framework (MSF)
and Microsoft Operations Framework (MOF) to ensure the quality and
standard throughout implementation and ongoing management of the
environment. The new infrastructure was then formally handed over to
Pinsent Curtis Biddle including the delivery of business user workshops.
BENEFITS
The entire project took just six months to build. The Microsoft .NET
solution has been live for over four months. Once Lynx had developed the
solution, Pinsent Curtis Biddle rolled out Microsoft Exchange 2000, Active
Directory, and Outlook on to users desktops.
Pinsent Curtis Biddle has seen an increase in productivity and quality of
service delivered by the Microsoft .NET solution. “We are delighted with
the end results,” says Smith. “The solution has dramatically improved our
internal processes, procedures and systems. The solution delivered
significant application and service availability features to all business users.
We have a resilient platform that will act as the foundation to enable the
long-term business and IT strategy for the growth of our organisation.” ■
54
“Passport,providing singlesign-in, and otherservices make itmuch simpler forInfuzer to integrateand share datawith our partnerweb sites”
DAVID WOODPRESIDENT AND CEOTRONDENT
Move from Java to .NET helps Trondentbroaden appeal of calendar commerce
Infuzer is a software application, which is pioneering calendar
commerce and communication. It transfers time-sensitive
information – such as events and travel itineraries – directly into a
user's electronic calendar at the touch of an icon. Infuzer is easy for
websites to implement, requiring no new software to be installed on
their servers. All Infuzer-related processing takes place remotely, on
Infuzer servers.
BACKGROUND
Founded in 1994, Trondent Development Corp. is a leading provider of
software applications to the travel industry, specialising in product
development, programming, customer sales and marketing.
In 2002 Trondent announced that it had acquired the assets of on board
info’s product, Infuzer.
With the advent of the Internet came business use of calendaring
information and on board info wanted to develop its eCalendar
Companion, which works with email software and handheld devices,
enabling users to personalise sporting fixture lists, results and statistics.
Ray Eitel-Porter, former President of on board info, discovered that
business, that staged legal, sporting, or other types of events were more
interested in a tool that could raise their revenues by increasing the
numbers of people attending these events.
Ensuring such information found its way into the electronic calendars
of potential attendees – and finding a way to encourage people to
actually attend the event – was an open business opportunity.
By the mid-1990s many email users were becoming disenchanted with
the amount of junk they were receiving in their email inboxes, meaning
that much of the event information sent by email was disregarded. But
as handheld devices grew in popularity, it became clear that information
stored in electronic calendars – on both handheld devices and PCs – held
a much higher status. This is because the user makes a conscious choice
to save such information to their electronic calendar. It then becomes
what is known as ‘opt in’ data.
A survey conducted by Omnibus in April 2001 found that 93 per cent
of PDA users and 86 per cent of PC calendar users are “almost certain”
to read information that’s in their calendars – figures that far exceed
Internet-only data.
SOLUTION
The eCalendar Companion was marketed to readers of the Economist in
1996. Towards the end of the 1990s, however, Trondent discovered that
businesses operating in its target market had a need for even more
valuable applications for calendar commerce and communication using
the technology. They wanted to use the calendar to get more people to
attend their events and to build a one-to-one marketing dialogue based
on time-sensitive information.
With this new intelligence, Trondent took over the development of
Infuzer, a software application originally written in Java.
Infuzer is designed to sit on websites or in emails that contain event-
related information. At a single click, visitors to websites and recipients
of emails, which are Infuzer-enabled, can now transfer all the details of
an event into their own electronic calendar.
“The Infuzer server infrastructure has been designed to give access to
a user base in the millions,” says David Wood, President and CEO,
Trondent. “It processes millions of transactions a month.”
Users can also be notified automatically over the Internet of any
important changes connected with the event. Infuzer’s functionality is
offered at no cost to the end user. Instead, the website owner pays
Trondent a licence fee. 55
Overview
Customer ProfileTrondent Development Corp.is a leading provider ofsoftware applications to thetravel industry. In 2002 itacquired the assets of onboard info’s product Infuzer.
Challenge• To raise the status ofcalendar-specific data bymaking it easily available toelectronic calendar users • To enable updates tocalendar entries and a one-to-one dialogue betweenrecipient and originatoraround the event • To give businesses a tool toensure that details of theirevents and other time-sensitive information find aplace in the electroniccalendars of interestedparties
SolutionInfuzer, a calendaringsoftware infrastructureoriginally written in Java, isnow being ported into theMicrosoft® .NET environmentso that it can benefit from.NET My Services
Microsoft. NET Customer SolutionIndustry
The company has decided on a two-pronged strategy to embrace
Microsoft® .NET technology.
The existing Java application was modified to take advantage of
Microsoft .NET My Services. Thanks to the extensive use of open
standards within .NET, these modifications were relatively
straightforward. Also, Trondent migrated Infuzer over to native Microsoft
.NET C#™. This enables Infuzer to exploit the power of the .NET
Framework.
The Java J2EE programming language was used for the Infuzer server,
and Microsoft Visual C++® and Microsoft Foundation Class (MFC) for the
client side. The migration to the .NET architecture took the project team
only three months to complete
BENEFITS
Now, visitors to websites that are Infuzer-enabled can quickly insert details
of forthcoming events into their own electronic calendar with a single
“The Infuzer serverinfrastructure hasbeen designed togive access to auser base in themillions… itprocesses millionsof transactions amonth.”
DAVID WOODPRESIDENT AND CEOTRONDENT
57
Benefits• Updates users withchanges to event data • Enables users to pencilevent data into theirelectronic calendars with asingle click• Helps businesses increasethe numbers of peopleattending their events • Creates a one-to-onemarketing dialogue withrecipients of time-sensitiveinformation in their calendar • Includes URLs for relatedwebsites, products andservices within the calendarentry, generating cross-selling revenues • Provides substantiallybetter click through ratescompared with banneradvertising on the Internet • Easy for website toimplement• Downloads travel itineraryand similar data directly intoa user’s e-calendar
Products and ServicesMicrosoft .NET Passport Microsoft .NET Calendar Microsoft .NET Profile Microsoft .NET Alerts Microsoft Visual Studio® Microsoft SQL Server® 2000 Microsoft Windows® XP Microsoft Outlook Microsoft Visual C++®Microsoft C#™Microsoft Foundation Class(MFC)Microsoft Java J2EE
Microsoft. NET Customer SolutionIndustry
click. They will then be notified of any changes to the event.
But it’s not just the date of a particular event that a user can
download. Many event organisers, such as Carlson Wagonlit, the travel
agency, and the trainline.com, offer travellers complete details of their
itinerary, together with relevant reference numbers and contact phone
numbers, copied into their electronic calendar using Infuzer.
In addition to the end-user benefits, those available to businesses
using Infuzer are enormous. Trondent calculates that between 5 and 10
per cent of people who view Infuzer-enabled pages on an average
website will put details of one or more events into their calendar. This is
substantially more effective than the click-through rates achieved by
banner advertising on the Internet. In an article about the effectiveness of
such advertising, the Financial Times reported (March 2, 2001), that click
through rates for Internet advertising have fallen to as low as 0.5 per cent.
David Wood of Trondent says the key to the success of Infuzer is that
data contained in an electronic calendar commands a big “share of
eyeball”, compared with other forms of electronically communicated
information.
The company’s own research indicates that 58 per cent of electronic
calendar users check their calendars more than five times a day. “This is
due to the fact that people have control over what goes into their
electronic calendar and use it to guide their busy lives,” says Wood.
The other main benefit to businesses is the ease with which they can
implement Infuzer on their websites, a process that has become even
easier with Infuzer’s move to the Microsoft .NET environment. Wood is
quick to point out that it is not a prerequisite to be on the .NET
Framework to access Infuzer thanks to the use of .NET interoperable
protocols.
Infuzer is now so easy to install that the training requirements for
third-party websites are minimal. Trondent assigns an implementation
engineer who helps the client via telephone or email. Trondent is focused
on helping its clients to get the most out of Infuzer once it’s been
implemented.
FUTURE
The major change that is already taking place with Infuzer involves its
move to the .NET architecture where it works alongside Microsoft .NET
My Services.
Trondent is happy with the move. “.NET and .NET My Services provide
an ideal platform for third-parties to develop web-based services such as
Infuzer,” says Wood.
.NET My Services is well-suited to Infuzer as they both share the same
vision – a future in which web-based services work across multiple
platforms and third-party software plays a significant role.
There are two main benefits that come from Infuzer’s move to .NET.
The first is that it enables companies to Infuzer-enable their websites
more easily.
Second, the breadth of services offered by Infuzer is dramatically
increased through its partnership with .NET My Services. Trondent expects
to see itinerary services that dovetail all the individual elements of an
itinerary together for a totally user-centric, integrated experience.
The move to .NET was completely painless for Trondent. “.NET
technology has been easy for us to adopt and has increased our developer
productivity,” says Wood. “Passport, providing single sign-in, and other58
”.NET technologyhas been easy forus to adopt andhas increased ourdeveloperproductivity.”
DAVID WOODPRESIDENT AND CEOTRONDENT
shared core My Services make it much simpler for Infuzer to integrate and
share data with our partner websites.”
The company expects another huge development when mobile
phones carry electronic calendars as standard – a potential market that
Infuzer has also been designed to serve. ■
For more information about Trondent Development Corp or its products and
services, please visit the website at www.trondent.com
59
Microsoft. NET Customer SolutionIndustry
Public Sector.NET live
Microsoft .NET Powers Online ServiceDelivery Around the Clock for Three Rivers District Council
61
Overview
Customer ProfileThree Rivers District Council(TRDC) is located in SouthWest Hertfordshire, has apopulation of 83,000 andprovides a range of servicesto the local community.
Business ChallengeTRDC needed to provide alllocal authority services onlineby 2005, ease the pressure onthe TRDC call centre, andreduce admin and IT costs.
SolutionBuild a citizen self-servicefacility on the Internet toallow citizens to gain accessto council services withoutgoing through the callcentre.
Benefits• Robust and flexibleinfrastructure• Integration between legacysystems and front-end websolution• Fast and easy access toinformation online• Eased pressure on callcentre.
Widespread use of technology by local authorities gives citizens
easier access to municipal services. Parity Solutions has developed an
online solution enabling Three Rivers District Council to meet official
deadlines for e-government. The system, which is based on
Microsoft .NET, also enables the local community to access council
services around the clock, easing pressure on the call centre.
BACKGROUND
Three Rivers District Council (TRDC) is located in South West Hertfordshire
and has a population of 83,000. It offers the ideal mix of beautiful
countryside, excellent leisure facilities, good communications, historic
buildings, offices and parks.
TRDC was created in 1974 when the former urban districts of
Ricksmansworth and Chorleywood joined up with part of the rural district
of Watford. The council provides a wide range of services to the people
and businesses in the surrounding communities, including strategic
services, corporate resources, housing, environmental services, planning,
and leisure.
The government target is for all local authority services to be available
online by 2005. As a result, TRDC embarked on a campaign to make itself
accessible to the public through electronic service delivery. TRDC’s aim
was to create an environment that allowed citizens to access all council
services online – from planning applications to housing maintenance and
council tax payments.
One of the biggest difficulties facing the council was its legacy
systems, which were not year 2000 compliant so upgrading them was the
first priority. Then the council set up an integrated call centre to handle
Microsoft. NET Customer SolutionPublic Sector
enquiries from the public. It achieves resolution of at least 60 per cent of
citizens’ enquiries at the first point of contact.
Finally, the council decided to develop a website that would offer a
self-service approach to extend access further and in the longer term to
minimise the pressure on the call centre. TRDC required a solution that
would integrate existing back-office applications rapidly with its new
web-enabled front end, in order to make critical service-related
information available.
Phil King, Support Services Manager at TRDC, says: “The call centre
receives between 4,500 and 5,000 calls per week. We had always
planned to put our services on the web, but government guidelines made
it a priority. We were awarded £850,000 from the Department of
Transport, Local Government & The Regions (DTLR) to develop replicable
online solutions but we realised that we would be unable to achieve this
goal alone and put the project out to tender.”
SOLUTION
Parity Solutions was selected to help TRDC develop the web-enabled
system. “We wanted to build an effective, interactive site that the local
community could easily access 24 hours-a-day, seven days-a-week,”
explains Phil King.
“We chose Parity Solutions partly because of the company’s reputation
and successful track record of implementing similar solutions. We also felt
that Parity Solutions fully understood our specific needs and could tailor
the functionality of the website accordingly,” he says.
Parity Solutions went on to develop a pilot based Microsoft BizTalk
Server 2000 within the Microsoft .NET Framework. The Framework was
chosen for the full-scale implementation as a result of its proven flexibility
and ease of integration. It enables organisations to connect their new and
existing applications with software and services across platforms,
applications and programming languages.
As such, it was the ideal solution to help TRDC access important
information from its legacy infrastructure and export it to citizens via the
web-enabled front end.
Phil King of TRDC, says: “Our role was to design a platform which
would provide a ‘plug and play’ approach to building the functionality of
the website. The .NET Framework was the ideal solution because it
integrates TRDC’s disparate computer systems quickly and effectively.”62
“Parity Solutions,together withleading edgetechnology fromMicrosoft, hasgiven us a robustand flexibleframework wherewe can implementnew systemswithout having togo through a majorupgrade of thetechnicalinfrastructure.”
PHIL KINGSUPPORT SERVICESMANAGERTHREE RIVERS DISTRICTCOUNCIL
“In addition, the Framework development tools, including Microsoft
Visual Studio .NET and the programming language Microsoft Visual Basic
.NET, enabled us to develop the solution extremely rapidly, giving us
greater de-bugging capabilities, faster performance, and powerful
functionality with much less code to write.”
Andrew Rose, Partner Strategy Consultant for Microsoft Consulting
Services, says: “Microsoft .NET, in combination with Microsoft BizTalk
Server, enabled us to build a flexible architecture founded on XML. This is
future-proof because the Electronic Government Interoperability
Framework (eGIF) has endorsed XML, and more specifically the Govtalk
standard, to describe and represent its data. BizTalk, our .NET-enabled
integration engine, creates XML interfaces that enable connectivity
between TRDC’s disparate IT systems and the citizens they serve.”
This technology positions TRDC to integrate with other key
government departments and suppliers as its needs evolve.
Phil King says: “Microsoft .NET gives us the flexibility to connect to
other councils’ systems and the Government Gateway. All this can be
achieved without extensive technical development as the need arises.”
BENEFITS
When the full-scale implementation takes place, the interactive online
services will gradually reduce the number of calls to TRDC’s call centre and
will provide greater convenience for residents and others.
“The self-service environment which we are creating with the online
service will provide the public with a new means of accessing council
information,” says Phil King.
TRDC’s website will also interact with all council systems. As a result,
information from the call centre and back-office systems will be fully
integrated, reducing the administrative burden of handling enquiries by
telephone.
Phil King adds: “The website will enable us to make more efficient use
of our staff and, in time, reduce the workload on our call centre. We will
be in a position to deliver electronic access, which is much more
convenient for businesses and residents in the community.”
A FUTURE-PROOF SOLUTION
“Leading edge technology from Microsoft and excellent support from
Parity has delivered a robust and flexible IT infrastructure. Now, we can 63
Products and Services• Microsoft Windows 2000Server • Microsoft BizTalk Server2000• Microsoft .NET Framework• Microsoft Visual Studio.NET• Microsoft Visual Basic .NET• Microsoft EnterpriseServices
Partners Parity Solutions
Microsoft. NET Customer SolutionPublic Sector
For more information on ParitySolutions’ products or servicesvisit the website at:http://www.parity.net
implement new systems and services without having to go through major
upgrades or technology re-thinks,” says Phil King. “As the project
continues, additional services can be made available quickly and easily as
a result of the inherent flexibility of Microsoft .NET,” says Parity’s Jon King.
“Using existing software libraries, we can reduce the need for bespoke
programming and integrate future applications without re-writing code.
We also have the option to extend the system’s capabilities with Web
Services as TRDC’s needs change,” he adds.
By adopting a Microsoft .NET infrastructure, TRDC has positioned itself
to meet the government’s electronic service delivery targets in 2005. This
challenging project initially will make four services available through the
TRDC website. These are refuse and recycling operations, which will be
installed first, followed by council tax, environmental health, and electoral
registration in the first phase, which is due for completion at the end of
2002. Another five services will be added in phase two. ■
For more information about TRDC products and services, visit the website at:
http://www.3rivers.gov.uk
“The self-serviceenvironment whichwe are creatingwill provide thepublic with a newmeans of accessingcouncil informationand services.”
PHIL KINGSUPPORT SERVICESMANAGERTHREE RIVERS DISTRICTCOUNCIL
About .NET live
This is the second in a series of books highlighting successful .NETimplementations. The first book featured the following organisations:
■ Ascent Technology■ Bank of New York■ Bradford Hospitals NHS Trust■ BT Group■ Hogg Robinson■ IRN■ lastminute.com■ Nationwide Building Society■ Tesco.com■ The Commonwealth Games■ The Royal Mail Group■ World Rally Championship
If you would like to receive a copy of the first book,or would like to contribute to a future book, pleaseemail infoage@microsoft.com
More information
For more information about Microsoft products orservices, or about any of the case studies in thisbook, please email:infoage@microsoft.com
To access information about Microsoft products andservices via the World Wide Web go to:www.microsoft.com/uk
To access information about Web Services go to:www.microsoft.com/webservices
To access information about companies that haveused Microsoft technology go to:www.microsoft.com/uk/casestudies
To access information about the Microsoft .NETFramework go to: www.microsoft.com/.net
This is a Microsoft publication,designed and produced by
Infoconomy Ltd27 Maddox StreetLondon W1S 2QUEmail: info@infoconomy.comWeb: www.infoconomy.comTelephone: +44 (0) 20 7961 0500
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