Tridel Corporation

TRIDEL - SUCCESS STORY
“You need the technology
there today, constantly, or it
costs you money. The business
cannot operate without a reliable
IT infrastructure.”
Ted Maulucci,
CIO, Tridel Corporation
Metafore’s ProCurve solution raises the bar
and lowers costs for Tridel Corporation’s high
availability network.
The Challenge
Toronto-based condominium developer, Tridel Corporation, was in the midst of a phase-byphase network infrastructure upgrade when, in March 2007, its single core switch failed. The
result was a day-long, organization-wide outage and a total loss of productivity for which
Tridel chief information officer (CIO) Ted Maulucci estimates losses in the order of $20,000 per
hour.
“Everybody went home,” Mr. Maulucci explains. “It was unbelievable. Everybody is so
dependent on the systems being up. You pull them away, and people don’t even know what
to do anymore. In the past, you had paper backup; today you’ve got nothing.”
The switch manufacturer found replacement parts, even though the model had been
discontinued, and was able to return the equipment to service. Tridel immediately began
to plan for a permanent, long-term solution, looking first and foremost for a high availability
solution, including two core switches for redundancy to ensure that such outages would
never be repeated. “The importance of that cannot be minimized,” says Mr. Maulucci. “You
need the technology there today, constantly, or it costs you money. The business cannot
operate without a reliable IT infrastructure.”
In October 2009, Metafore was
awarded the Gold Medal for “Best
Managed Services” at Computer Dealer
News magazine’s annual Channel
Elite award event. For details, please
visit http://www.metafore.ca/award
The Solution: A Metafore-inspired “Change of Plans”
By the fall of 2007, Tridel had essentially finalized its decision to remain with the incumbent
network manufacturer’s equipment but Metafore urged Mr. Maulucci and his IT team to
consider an alternative. Initially, Mr. Maulucci was reluctant to change course, but as a longtime Metafore client he was willing to hear them out: “Knowing what we were structured like,
TRIDEL - SUCCESS STORY
having been here enough times, Metafore was able to say, ‘You haven’t looked at this solution,
you should look at it. It’s going to fit what you need.’”
“I ended up upgrading the entire network, bringing the whole company to a different level, and I
think that happened because of the relationship with Metafore.”
Metafore’s proposal was to replace the existing equipment with two core switches from
HP’s ProCurve. On a spec-by-spec basis the ProCurve equipment delivered on all the key
performance and reliability factors Tridel required, at virtually half the cost. Was there a catch?
Mr. Maulucci made enquiries about ProCurve among other CIOs to get some objective
feedback. After hearing consistently favourable comments from his peers, he became
increasingly impressed, not only with ProCurve’s lower costs but also with the equipment’s
reputation for reliability and performance. Put simply, the solution was too good to ignore, and
the contract was awarded to Metafore.
Solution Highlights
“I ended up upgrading the entire
network, bringing the whole
company to a different level, and
I think that happened because of
the relationship with Metafore.”
Ted Maulucci
• Lower total cost of ownership (TCO): The initial capital cost of the ProCurve equipment
was very attractive, but the most compelling cost-savings demonstrated in the Metafore
solution was in ongoing maintenance and support, which translated into much lower
TCO. “You don’t just look at what you’re paying up front,” says Mr. Maulucci, “and that
was a big selling point of ProCurve. The maintenance on it was incredibly lower, so the
whole cost picture was much better.”
• More solution for the same budget: Since the ProCurve solution was affordable; Tridel
was also able to install not only the core switches but also new edge switches, all within
the original budget allotted for the core switches alone.
• Improved shared services support: The cost of the solution also had a positive
impact on Tridel’s numerous divisions and business units, all of which are supported by
Mr. Maulucci’s IT team under Tridel’s shared services model. “It was less than half the
amount of money I was going to spend,” he explains. “With the price cut in half, I was
able to just absorb it into a budget that they were all contributing to because it was that
low.”
• Time: Mr. Maulucci saved time simply because he didn’t have to “sell” the solution,
literally and figuratively, to each business unit. “Under the shared services model, I would
have had to go to every one of these entities to have them pay for the new networking
equipment, which none of them wanted to do—so just think of how much time it takes
me to go out and pitch this business case.”
All of these factors contributed to the decision to change course and move to HP ProCurve,
yet Mr. Maulucci insists that the real key was primarily his relationship with Metafore:
“Understanding how we were structured, how we were formed, and how we operate, they were
able to bring us something that saved us a lot of money. They did what was right for me, which
is really, again, integrity: do what’s right for the right reasons.”
The Result: A True “Peace of Mind” Solution
As part of its winning proposal, Metafore also coordinated the network’s implementation, and
once again scored full marks: “Metafore came in and ensured the solution was racked and
TRIDEL - SUCCESS STORY
implemented properly by my team,” says Mr. Maulucci, “and it was done in one week.” Since
its deployment, the network has performed consistently, meeting and exceeding customer
expectations at every turn. Performance highlights include:
• Improved availability: Tridel’s new network provides full redundancy across the
organization, including each of its remote offices. And with over a full year of operation,
the company has experienced virtually no downtime.
“You don’t ever want to jinx yourself by talking about your network uptime,” Mr. Maulucci
says, “but right now we’re solid. I get used to everything running nicely, but I was at a
seminar just a couple of weeks ago, and it wasn’t even an IT conference, and here are all
these people complaining about their networks going down, servers dropping everything.
We don’t have that, and I just thought, wow, I shouldn’t take it for granted.”
• Simplified, centralized management: The all-ProCurve network is managed centrally
using proprietary ProCurve management software, which was a significant improvement
over the previous system: “[There] was always a mix of products, and you had no
management. Now, it’s ProCurve straight through, from the core to the edge, out to every
single site. Through a single console you can see the entire thing. The guys really like it.
They love the administration ability of it.”
Ted Maulucci concurs wholeheartedly with Metafore’s philosophy of having organizations
work together not just as suppliers but as true business partners. This kind of relationship, he
explains, creates a foundation of trust and confidence, and it’s here that the real value begins:
Tridel’s all-HP ProCurve network
is powered by Dual ProCurve
5412zl series switches in the
“You now bring them in three, four times a year and say, ‘Here are the next four
things I’m trying to do.’ So they always know, it’s not that they’re an order taker. It’s
them understanding the different businesses, understanding the requirements. Then
it becomes powerful. In this instance, I needed something. Understanding how we
were structured, how we were formed and how we operate, they were able to bring
us something that saved us a lot of money. I ended up upgrading the entire network,
bringing the whole company to a different level, and I think that happened because of the
relationship with Metafore.”
core, with ProCurve 3500yl
series switches at the edge.
About Metafore
Metafore has been delivering information technology solutions to private- and public- sector organizations of every size for more than 25 years. As one of Canada’s leading IT solution providers, Metafore designs,
supplies, installs, and supports IT infrastructure solutions that contribute to improved productivity and overall business performance. Please visit our Web site at www.metafore.ca
For more information on Metafore solutions
and services, contact us at:
1 877 638-2367
www.metafore.ca