Faced with growing demand for analysis and reports on global activities, the IT team at Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) used Microsoft products to create a mission-critical solution that provides powerful business intelligence capabilities. The solution offers reliability and availability of data, ease of integration, and flexibility to add new features. It also provides line-of-business employees rich tools for making fast decisions.
Business Needs
Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) is the world’s second-largest shipping line based on volume. The Switzerland-based company has more than 400 ships that move cargo as diverse as toys, food, machinery, electronics, and cars to 270 ports on six continents.
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This Microsoft mission-critical solution is cost-effective. In addition to the reliability, our enterprise agreement covers all of the components that we need for MSCLink at a small fraction of what it would cost if we were running on an Oracle platform.  |
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Fabio Catassi
Chief Technology Officer
Mediterranean Shipping Company |
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One reason for the company’s leadership position in a fiercely competitive business is management’s focus on finding technology that can help make operations more efficient. Whether it is determining faster routes between ports, reducing fuel consumption, or streamlining the flow of information between regional “agencies”—the company’s term for its global offices—the goal is to contain costs while providing the best service possible to customers with predictable shipping schedules.
MSC relies heavily on Microsoft technologies such as Microsoft SQL Server data management software, which the company has used since the mid-1990s. SQL Server provides the databases underlying MSCLink, an internally developed application used for tasks such as logistics, cargo documentation, data analysis, and reporting.
The company had long relied on Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Analysis Services and SQL Server 2008 Reporting Services as vital parts of MSCLink—so vital, in fact, that agencies had been continually asking for customized analysis and reports that required IT assistance. The resulting delays and increased workload on IT staff led to pressure to find alternate ways of delivering business intelligence (BI) faster and more easily to MSC users across the globe.
“Over the past few years, we’ve had an explosion in the use of SQL Server Analysis Services and SQL Server Reporting Services,” says Bob Erickson, Executive Vice President of Software Development for Interlink Technology, the MSC subsidiary that develops and manages the company’s software. “Managers at MSC headquarters and across the company wanted a solution that could support faster business decision making while being extremely reliable.”
Solution
In early 2010, Interlink deployed a new solution that enhanced much of the functionality of the MSCLink system by using several Microsoft products and technologies, including the Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise operating system and Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 Enterprise.
The company is also using the self-service business intelligence (BI) feature in SQL Server 2008 R2, which works with Microsoft SQL Server PowerPivot for Microsoft Excel. With PowerPivot for Excel, MSC users can import huge volumes of data located in the SQL Server databases—each SQL Server instance contains between 2 and 3 terabytes of data—and work with that information inside Microsoft Excel 2010 spreadsheet software. It also gives users freedom to create their reports inside Excel 2010 or other Microsoft Office applications, reducing the number of requests sent to the IT department to publish analyses.
The increased demand for information meant that the MSC IT team had to ensure that the solution would be highly responsive and reliable. “We run a 24x7 operation, and this system must be available at all times,” says Fabio Catassi, Chief Technology Officer for Mediterranean Shipping Company.
The solution runs on Dell PowerEdge R900 and R910 server computers equipped with quad-core Intel processors and 128 gigabytes of RAM. The servers operate in cluster configurations, with data mirrored asynchronously to remote sites for fail-safe recovery.
Benefits
Creating the enhanced MSCLink solution on Windows Server 2008 R2, SQL Server 2008 R2, and related Microsoft products has provided Mediterranean Shipping Company with a powerful, mission-critical BI system. The solution is extremely reliable and cost-effective. It is also adaptable, providing the IT department with options for future growth and new features. In addition, the Microsoft products have been easy to deploy and integrate throughout the company, with adoption of the solution taking place quickly with no training required.
Reliable and Cost-Effective
The enhanced MSCLink solution is extremely reliable and highly cost-effective for the rich functionality that it delivers. “Our users are performing complex business analysis on their desktops by constantly accessing large volumes of data every day, around the clock. Their work has never been interrupted by a single instance of unplanned downtime,” says Catassi. “Plus, this Microsoft mission-critical solution is cost-effective. Our enterprise agreement covers all of the components that we needed to create MSCLink at a small fraction of what it would cost if we were running on an Oracle platform.”
Highly Adaptable
The Microsoft products provide MSC with a platform that can be easily adapted and modified to accommodate shifting business needs and emerging technologies. For instance, in late 2010 MSC began using the Windows Azure platform, which provides cloud-based enterprise tools and services. “We are using Windows Azure to synchronize data between installations of core systems,” says Catassi. “In one example, we are using Windows Azure to facilitate a data exchange between Microsoft Dynamics AX software used by our agency in Japan with our MSCLink system in the United States. It provides a fast, flexible link that was easy to get up and running.”
Easy to Integrate
The enhanced MSCLink solution was easy to deploy, and employees required little or no training to use it. “Ninety percent of our employees who use Excel have never gone to a training class,” says Erickson. “With this solution, we didn’t have to worry about training time and costs. Users simply kept working with the same tools they were already familiar with. The Microsoft platform makes it easy to use, deploy, and build on a system that is critical to our operations.”
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