4-page Case Study - Posted 10/21/2008

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Infosys Technologies

Infosys Creates Cloud-Based Solution for Auto Dealers using SQL Data Services

Infosys Technologies Ltd. is an IT transformation leader for its clients around the world. With over 95,000 employees in more than 64 offices around the world, the company constantly searches for the best technology to help its customers meet their business goals. As Infosys began designing a solution to let automobile dealers share information on inventories and other resources, it wanted to offer a cloud-based solution that would be simple to deploy, easy to scale, and require zero maintenance from the customer. To create its hub-in-the-cloud solution it needed a cloud-based database, which it found with Microsoft® SQL Data Services, part of the Microsoft Services Platform. Infosys is using SQL Data Services to create a solution for auto dealers, which it can easily replicate to meet similar integration needs for healthcare, hospitality, insurance, and other industry verticals.

With SDS running on the Microsoft Services Platform we can give customers a zero-maintenance data hub. The cloud is becoming real. Jitendra Pal Thethi Principal Architect, Infosys Technologies Ltd.

Situation

Infosys Technologies Ltd., which defines, designs and delivers technology-enabled business solutions for Global 2000 companies, continuously tracks the innovations in core technology to leverage the benefit to clients.

The company, which has over 95,000 employees in more than 64 offices around the world, is eager to offer its global customers solutions that take advantage of cloud computing, an emerging technology based on offering computing resources, applications, and storage from the Internet, or cloud. The cloud concept, which encompasses popular delivery technologies such as Software + Services and Software as a Service, enables developers to create rich solutions that customers can access through the Web.

Customers benefit from cloud-based solutions because there doesn’t need to be any client-side application deployment or maintenance. Similarly, organizations can avoid the IT expenses traditionally involved in hosting server-based solutions.

Infosys was looking at revitalizing its auto dealer solution to address flexibility and scalability requirements. Infosys assessed the applicability and value of a cloud-based model and decided it provided enhanced benefits to customers in this scenario. The Infosys cloud-based solution for the automotive industry would simplify the process of sharing inventory and other data between dealerships in a network and with their original equipment manufacturers (OEMs).

Solution

The Infosys auto dealer solution is built using Web and STAR based standards and it leverages the technologies from the cloud-based Microsoft® Services Platform including Microsoft SQL Data Services (SDS). SDS offers highly scalable and Internet-facing distributed database services in the cloud for storing and processing relational queries. It helps developers create and provision new applications with REST and SOAP based Web protocols. The services are built on robust Microsoft SQL Server® database and Windows Server® technologies, providing high availability and security.

As Infosys considered the design for its auto dealer and OEM integration solution, it knew that it needed to go beyond conventional point-to-point connections between dealer locations. “We want to deliver a simple, appliance-like solution that can be placed in a dealership premises and would augment the existing DMS systems to provide the additional B2B integration capability from our cloud-based services” says Jitendra Pal Thethi, Principal Architect at Infosys.

Getting beyond point-to-point connections meant finding an efficient hub-based system, which again pointed toward the cloud, and SDS running on the Microsoft Services Platform.

“It would be costly to create and maintain physical integrations between dealerships in one dealership network, for example, and such point-to-point solutions aren’t scalable,” says Thethi. “You really need a hub that each dealer can simply plug into, and cloud-based services running on the Microsoft Services Platform provide an ideal low-cost, zero-maintenance hub solution.”

You really need a hub that each dealer can simply plug into, and cloud-based services running on the Microsoft Services Platform provides an ideal low-cost, zero-maintenance hub solution. Jitendra Pal Thethi Principal Architect, Infosys Technologies Ltd.

• Web-based Interface. Dealer employees, wanting to check inventory at another dealership, or seeking OEM information, use a desktop browser to connect to the cloud-based Infosys solution. 
• Application Tier. Infosys provides the middle-tier code and business logic enabling integration of data between participating parties. This Infosys application tier provides connectivity between SDS in the cloud and the dealer’s existing data systems. The Infosys Legacy Modernization solution, a part of the Catalytic IT solution suite is used with dealerships that have green-screen legacy systems. The Infosys application tier is hosted in the cloud. 
• Data Tier. Data from all parties—dealers, OEMs and other participants—is hosted on a dedicated instance of SDS in the cloud.

Benefits

Infosys has found the platform it needs to create complete cloud-based solutions for its global customers. The company can create solutions that have low-cost deployment and zero customer-side maintenance. The solutions can be easily replicated for other verticals, provide virtually unlimited scalability, and integrate easily with legacy systems.

Low cost Robust Infrastructure Ensures High Service Availability
Working with SDS and the rest of the Microsoft Services Platform has provided Infosys with the complete cloud infrastructure it needed to create its auto dealer solution. “We needed a robust cloud-based database solution to support hub-based integration,” Thethi notes. “That is exactly what SDS provides. The Services Platform also provides the infrastructure we need for deploying our application from the cloud, and for supporting authentication.”

Infosys sees the platform as a great value proposition. “SQL Data Services and the rest of the Services Platform combine to form a cloud infrastructure that is very exciting,” says Thethi. “This opens the door for creating a new generation of cloud-based solutions.”

Low-Cost Deployment and Zero-Maintenance
As Infosys searched for the best platform on which to build its cloud-based auto dealer integration solution, it sought a solution that would be inexpensive for its customers to deploy and maintain.

“We needed a database at our hub, but didn’t want dealers to have to deploy and support that level of infrastructure,” says Thethi. “With SQL Data Services we are able to provide our customers with a cloud-based solution which requires no capital expenditures or operational expenditures. This removes a lot of would-be barriers to solution acceptance.”

With SQL Data Services we are able to provide our customers with a cloud-based solution which requires no capital expenditures or operational expenditures. This removes a lot of would-be barriers to solution acceptance. Jitendra Pal Thethi Principal Architect, Infosys Technologies Ltd.

Easy Replication for Other Verticals
Auto dealerships are just one of a number of industries that Infosys sees benefiting from appliance-like cloud-based solutions using SDS as the data repository. Whether providing an integration point for hotels, clinics, or insurance agents, all of these verticals typically include geographically distributed operations that could benefit from easy to deploy, low-cost, and zero-maintenance solutions.

“We need a general cloud platform that will make it easy to replicate our solution for other verticals,” says Thethi. “The hospitality industry, healthcare industry, insurance industry, and several other verticals could all benefit from cloud-based solutions. But all of these solutions require a hub-based data store, which is why SDS is so important.”

Thethi adds: “The need for a solution like this has always been there. With a cloud-based platform and leveraging Microsoft Services Platform we can give customers a scalable, zero-maintenance services and data hub. The cloud infrastructure is becoming real and the this appliance based approach for connecting the cloud with the enterprise makes it more relevant”

Scalability
Infosys likes the ease with which it can add new participants to a cloud-based solution. “With SDS, we can scale to any number of automobile dealers, or insurance agents, or to any number of participants of any other vertical we work with,” says Thethi. “As the number of participating dealerships goes up, the cost of the cloud service is incremented, but this is offset by the increase in revenue. The customer never has to worry about scalability. That is handled by the huge data centers of the Microsoft Foundation Services.”

Integration with Legacy Systems
Integration of legacy systems is an area of Infosys expertise. “Our Infosys Legacy Modernization solution has enabled companies around the globe to maximize the value of their legacy systems,” Thethi says. “We can create our solution to sit between the legacy system and the cloud, and we can deploy that solution on the cloud. This brings great value to our customers—to be able to make full use of their legacy systems, while handling everything from the cloud.”

Summary
In summary, Infosys is using the Microsoft Services Platform as it designs a new generation of cloud-based applications to help its global customers enjoy low-cost, zero-maintenance solutions accessed through the Web.

Azure Services Platform
The Azure™ Services Platform provides an excellent foundation for expanding product and service offerings. The Azure components include:

• Windows Azure. Windows Azure is a development, run-time and control environment that is scalable, flexible, secure and Interoperable. 
• Microsoft SQL Services. SQL Services is a suite of cloud-based SQL Server data platform capabilities. The first of these capabilities is SQL Data Services, which offers Internet-facing database service for relational queries.
• Microsoft.NET Services. Microsoft .NET Services is a suite of Web services for customers with integration and business-to-business collaboration requirements. These services include workflow, access control, and service bus connectivity.
• Live Services. Live Services is a comprehensive set of Web services that represent the core functionality of Windows Live (includes Windows Live Messenger, Live Search, and many more).

For more information about the Azure Services Platform, go to: http://www.azure.com/

Microsoft SQL Services
Microsoft SQL Services extends the SQL Server capabilities in cloud as web-based services. It enables you to store data from structured, semi-structured, and unstructured documents. SQL Services will deliver a rich set of integrated services for relational database, search, reporting, analytics and data synchronization with mobile users, remote offices and business partners. The first of these SQL Services available today is database services called SQL Data Services.

For more information about SQL Data Services, go to: www.microsoft.com/sql/dataservices/defaut.mspw

For More Information
For more information about Microsoft products and services, call the Microsoft Sales Information Center at (800) 426-9400. In Canada, call the Microsoft Canada Information Centre at (877) 568-2495. Customers who are deaf or hard-of-hearing can reach Microsoft text telephone (TTY/TDD) services at (800) 892-5234 in the United States or (905) 568-9641 in Canada. Outside the 50 United States and Canada, please contact your local Microsoft subsidiary. To access information using the World Wide Web, go to: http://www.microsoft.com/

For more information about Infosys Technologies Ltd products and services, call (510) 742-3000 or visit the Web site at: www.infosys.com/microsoft

This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY.

Document published October 2008