Purpose of the Project

The project was done for NETWEB TECHNOLOGIES. It is a research

project, which involved the study of the IT infrastructure maintenance
methods of software development companies and creating a knowledge
database of the same. It also included gathering information about the IT
infrastructure of the companies and analyzing the market perception about
the outsourcing of the IT infrastructure maintenance.

The project named “FACILITIES MANAGEMENT” refers to the IT

infrastructure management. The IT infrastructure in any organization
mainly consists of computers, network products, servers, storage products,
software products, firewalls and antivirus products. The outsourcing of the
maintenance of such an infrastructure is a growing business in INDIA and
the ultimate objective was to exploit the trend by creating a list of potential
customers.

The project can be thus segmented under:

 Market perception – The project strives to determine the market

perception about outsourcing the IT infrastructure maintenance.

 Potential Customers – The project also includes creating a list of

potential customers based on the information gathered through the
survey.

Introduction Page - 2
Limitations

Use of non-probability sampling does introduce some amount of

inaccuracy and certainly a larger number of respondents would have
alleviated this problem up to a certain extent. But a larger sample size has
not been possible due to the following reasons

 The IT managers were reluctant to provide information about the IT

infrastructure, which they deemed as confidential.

 To reach any conclusive results a large no of responses for the

survey would be needed which was limiting due to time constraints
and limited resources.

 With most of the companies, the incidences of commitments of

appointments not kept have been experienced.

 Another limitation is the authenticity of the information imparted

by the IT managers.

 Since the survey was done only in the areas for Bangalore city, the
results may not hold good for any other city.

Scope of the study

Introduction Page - 3
 1. The Research study tries to cover important aspects of IT
infrastructure maintenance such as-
a. Employee satisfaction
b. Expectations
c. Service provider
d. Perception about outsourcing.
e. Willingness to outsource

2. The survey is limited to the city of Bangalore.

3. The sample size for the market research is 80.

4. An Exploratory research was also performed.

The research effort tries to understand the market perception towards

outsourcing the IT infrastructure maintenance and at the same time also
gathers some data which will be useful for NETWEB TECHNOLOGIES
in approaching the respective company.

Company Profile

NETWEB TECHNOLOGIES is India's reputed IT solution-enabling

company. Leveraging its 11 years of expertise in total technology
solutions, NETWEB TECHNOLOGIES offers value-added services in key
areas such as high power computing, networking consultancy and a wide
range of support services.

NETWEB TECHNOLOGIES is among the leading players in all the

segments comprising the corporate IT products, solutions and related
services, which include Servers, Storage, Clustering (Supercomputing), &
Communication products.

Introduction Page - 4
Continuously meeting the ever increasing customer expectations and
applications, its focus on integrated enterprise solutions has strengthened
the NETWEB TECHNOLOGIES' capabilities in supporting installation
types ranging from single to large, multi-location, multi-vendor & multi-
platform spread across India.

NETWEB TECHNOLOGIES, today has a direct support force of over

200+ members, is operational at 4+ locations across the country and is the
largest such human resource of its kind in the IT business. A majority of
the team members have been specially trained in a variety of supporting
solutions, the company's key focus area.

NETWEB TECHNOLOGIES' manufacturing facilities are ISO 9001 -

2000 & ISO 14001 certified and adhere to stringent quality standards and
global processes. With the largest installed Clusters in the country,
indigenously developed and manufactured server brands - 'Supermicro',
'Edra' 'Opslag' and 'Camarero' - and its robust manufacturing facilities;
NETWEB TECHNOLOGIES aims to further leverage its dominance in the
Server market. The 'Tyrone' line of business computing products is
incorporated with leading edge products from world leaders such as Intel,
AMD, and Silverstrom.

A fully integrated and business-ready family of servers and workstations,

is targeted at medium and large companies to help them to manage their
enterprise-related applications. It has considerable dominance in verticals
like Finance, Government, and Education & Research.

The Channel Business of NETWEB TECHNOLOGIES has an extensive

network of over 400+ resellers across 120 locations

NETWEB TECHNOLOGIES has closely seen the IT industry rise from

scratch, and has actively participated in its progress. During the eleven
years journey, it has picked up valuable lessons in serving the IT needs of
the Indian customer and gathered domain expertise to successfully
service various businesses.

Introduction Page - 5
Services Offered

Info structure Services

In the emerging net economy, IT infrastructure Plays the role of a Powerful

business enabler to improve the business processes, to help companies
focus on their goals and strategies and more importantly, to help them
serve their customers better. IT Infrastructure demands constant change
latest technology, reliable operations and high availability. Companies in
the process of selecting the best of breed in technology, require integrating
different solutions from various vendors.

Networking Services

Introduction Page - 6
Networks are multiplying day by day in every organization. Systems are
becoming more & more dependent on the availability of data resources of
various departments / divisions / locations of an organization and thereby
increasing the load and requirements of Networks. The well known
networked applications such as Email, Internet / Intranet, GroupWare
solution, Relational Databases render the users completely in-effective
services, in the event of network shutdowns.

Network Management involves Network Monitoring of Bandwidth

Utilization, Network Errors / Collisions, Network Troubleshooting, Day-
to-day Network Operations, Network performance monitoring, Tuning
Network Operating System and advice action plan.

Facilities Management

Today IT assets have become widely distributed and less visible. Many
organizations are spending a very high portion of their technology budget
on "TOC – Total Cost of Ownership" like purchasing, installing,
managing, administration, troubleshooting, training, recruitment, etc for
supporting the IT Hardware and Software. So if the systems are critical to
the operation of business, downtime can have a disastrous impact on
production, customer satisfaction and revenues.

NETWEB TECHNOLOGIES is in the business of helping customers to

use their equipment better. Their Facilities Management Services are a
comprehensive set of services that helps customers to fully utilize their IT
investments by improving availability, reliability and performance. The
achieve this by offering a complete portfolio of customized services and
expertise, from planning and design to procurement, installation,

Introduction Page - 7
integration, migration assistance to system management, telephone support
and on-site hardware and software fixes.

Through their Total Facilities Management Solution, NETWEB

TECHNOLOGIES offers a range of service options, customized to the
specific requirements.

These include:

 365x24x7 Support for mission critical sites

 Value added Support Services

 System Administration

 Helpdesk Services

 Network Consulting

 Network Implementation and Management

 Asset Management etc

All these help the customer in deriving maximum value from the
investment in IT hardware and software.

Scope of Facilities Management

 Level 1 Help Desk

 Maintenance of Equipment

 Maintenance of Server/ L A N Hardware

Introduction Page - 8
  Maintenance of System Software- Operating System, Database

 Virus support

 UPS and Air conditioner Maintenance

 Vendor Management for Warranty systems

 System S/W support

 Asset Tracking- Hardware, Licensed Software

Types of Networks

A computer network is a data communications system, which interconnects

computer systems at various different sites. A network may be composed
of any combination of LANs, or WANs.

1. Peer-to-peer - Computers can provide resources (act as server) or

access resources from other computers (act as client). Used for 2 to
10 computers

2. Server based - Allow for a central control over network resources.

o Single Server - Used for 10 to 50 users where it is wise to add
a server around 25 or 30 users.
o Multi Server - Used for 50 to 250 users.
o Multi Server high-speed backbone used for 250 to 1000 users.

Introduction Page - 9
Main Network Types
 Ethernet
 FDDI (Fiber Distributed Data Interface)
 Token Ring
 ARC net (Attached Resource Computer Network)
 AppleTalk

LAN
Local Area Network is a computer network that spans a relatively small
area. Most LANs are confined to a single building or group of buildings.
However, one LAN can be connected to other LANs over any distance via
telephone lines and radio waves. Most LANs connect workstations and
personal computers. Each node (individual computer) in a LAN has its
own CPU with which it executes programs, but it also is able to access data
and devices anywhere on the LAN. This means that many users can share
expensive devices, such as laser printers, as well as data.
There are many different types of LANs Ethernets being the most common
for PCs. The following characteristics differentiate one LAN from another:

Topology

The geometric arrangement of devices on the network is called topology.

For example, devices can be arranged in a ring or in a straight line.

Protocols

These are the rules and encoding specifications for sending data. The
protocols also determine whether the network uses a peer-to-peer or
client/server architecture.

Media

Introduction Page - 10
Devices that can be connected by twisted-pair wire, coaxial cables, or fiber
optic cables. Some networks do without connecting media altogether,
communicating instead via radio waves.

LANs are capable of transmitting data at very fast rates, much faster than
data can be transmitted over a telephone line; but the distances are limited,
and there is also a limit on the number of computers that can be attached to
a single LAN.

WAN
A system of LANs connected in this way is called a Wide Area Network.
The size of a network is limited due to size and distance constraints.
However networks may be connected over a high-speed communications
link (called a WAN link) to link them together and thus becomes a WAN.

WAN links are usually:-

 Dial up connection
 Dedicated connection
It is a permanent full time connection. When a dedicated
connection is used, the cable is leased rather than a part of the
cable bandwidth and the user has exclusive use.
 Switched network
Several users share the same line or the bandwidth of the
line. There are two types of switched networks:

 Circuit Switching - This is a temporary connection

between two points such as dial-up or ISDN.

Introduction Page - 11
  Packet Switching - This is a connection between multiple
points. It breaks data down into small packets to be sent
across the network. A virtual circuit can improve
performance by establishing a set path for data
transmission. This will shave some overhead of a packet
switching network. A variant of packet switching is called
cell switching where the data is broken into small cells
with a fixed length.

Security

Firewall

Firewalls can be composed of a single router, multiple routers, a single

host system or multiple hosts running firewall software, hardware
appliances specifically designed to provide firewall services, or any
combination thereof. They vary greatly in design, functionality,
architecture, and cost.

Connecting an organization to the Internet provides a two-way flow of

traffic. This is undesirable in many organizations, as information is often
displayed freely within an intranet

In order to provide some level of separation between an organization's

intranet and the Internet, firewalls have been employed. A firewall is
simply a group of components that collectively form a barrier between two
networks.

Firewalls are devices (software or appliance based) used to maintain

network security. Network security involves safeguarding information
critical to the organization from unauthorized access.

Firewall  fall into four broad categories:

Introduction Page - 12
  Packet filters
 Circuit level gateways
 Application level gateways
 Tasteful multi layer inspection firewalls.

All firewalls run firewall software, and they all run it on some sort of
hardware, but the terms appliance based firewall and software firewall are
used to distinguish between products marketed as an integrated appliance
that comes with the software preinstalled, usually on a proprietary
operating system, and firewall programs that can be installed on general
purpose network operating systems such as Windows or UNIX.

VIRUS

In computer security technology, a virus is a self-replicating program that

spreads by inserting copies of itself into other executable code or
documents. Viruses are one of the several types of malware or malicious
software. In common reference, the term virus is often extended to refer to
computer worms and other sorts of malware. However, computer viruses
cannot directly damage hardware, only software is damaged directly. The
software in the hardware however may be damaged.

While viruses can be intentionally destructive, some viruses have a delayed

payload. For example, a virus might display a message on a specific day or
wait until it has infected a certain number of hosts.

Earlier, virus were made for testing the programmers, but has quickly
transformed itself into a multi million dollar menace every company has
been trying hard to combat.

The ease with which a virus can be made makes it easier for its
proliferation. Viruses today can proliferate networks within a matter of
minutes across countries infecting thousands of computers along the way

Introduction Page - 13
destroying data and causing computers to malfunction. Examples:
MyDoom, Melissa

ANTIVIRUS

Anti-virus software consists of computer programs that attempt to identify

and eliminate computer viruses and other malicious software (malware).

Anti-virus software typically uses two different techniques to accomplish

this:

 Examining (scanning) files to look for known viruses matching

definitions in a virus dictionary
 Identifying suspicious behavior from any computer program which
might indicate infection

Most commercial anti-virus software uses both of these approaches, with

an emphasis on the virus dictionary approach.

Approaches to virus detection

Virus dictionary approach

In the virus dictionary approach, when the anti-virus software examines a

file, it refers to a dictionary of known viruses that the authors of the anti-
virus software have identified. If a piece of code in the file matches any
virus identified in the dictionary, then the anti-virus software can take one
of the following actions:

1. Delete the infected file

2. Quarantine the file (such that the file remains inaccessible to other
programs and its virus can no longer spread)
3. Attempt to repair the file by removing the virus itself from the file

To achieve consistent success in the medium and long term, the virus
dictionary approach requires periodic (generally online) downloads of

Introduction Page - 14
updated virus dictionary entries. As civically minded and technically
inclined users identify new viruses "in the wild", they can send their
infected files to the authors of anti-virus software, who then include
information about the new viruses in their dictionaries.

Dictionary-based anti-virus software typically examines files when the

computer's operating system creates, opens, closes or e-mails them. In this
way it can detect a known virus immediately upon receipt. Note too that a
System Administrator can typically schedule the anti-virus software to
examine (scan) all files on the user's hard disk on a regular basis.

Although the dictionary approach can effectively contain virus outbreaks

in the right circumstances, virus authors have tried to stay a step ahead of
such software by writing "polymorphic viruses", which encrypt parts of
themselves or otherwise modify themselves as a method of disguise, so as
to not match the virus's signature in the dictionary.

Suspicious behavior approach

The suspicious behavior approach, by contrast, doesn't attempt to identify

known viruses, but instead monitors the behavior of all programs. If one
program tries to write data to an executable program, for example, the anti-
virus software can flag this suspicious behavior, alert a user and ask what
to do.

Unlike the dictionary approach, the suspicious behavior approach therefore

provides protection against brand-new viruses that do not yet exist in any
virus dictionaries. However, it also sounds a large number of false
positives, and users probably become desensitized to all the warnings. If
the user clicks "Accept" on every such warning, then the anti-virus
software obviously gives no benefit to that user. This problem has
worsened since 1997, since many more non malicious program designs
came to modify other .exe files without regard to this false positive issue.
Thus, most modern anti-virus software uses this technique less and less.

Introduction Page - 15
Data Warehousing

A Data Warehouse is, primarily, a record of an enterprise's past

transactional and operational information, stored in a database designed to
favour efficient data analysis and reporting. Data warehousing is not meant
for current, "live" data.

Data warehouses often hold large amounts of information which are

sometimes subdivided into smaller logical units called dependent data
marts.

Periodically, one imports data from Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)

systems and other related business software systems into the data
warehouse for further processing. It is common practice to "stage" data
prior to merging it into a data warehouse. In this sense, to "stage data"
means to queue it for preprocessing. The preprocessing program reads the
staged data, performs qualitative preprocessing or filtering, and writes it
into the warehouse.

DAS

It means Directly Attached Storage. In the old days all mass storage
devices such as disk drives etc were attached directly to the nearest
computer (or were located inside the same box) so there was no need for a
term describing this. But since the technologies, which enable storage
networking, have become more prevalent, the term DAS has been used to
describe those parts of a wider storage network in which this local
connection is still used.

Introduction Page - 16
Reliable, cost-effective external SCSI (Small Computers Systems
Interface) storage systems attach directly to Power Edge TM servers in rack-
mount configurations or mounted vertically next to the server. SCSI drives
provide immediate expansion for one or two servers. While additional
drives and enclosures can be added as needed, SCSI drive enclosures
currently do not support more than 2 servers, for a given application, due
to the limited number of front-end ports available on SCSI disk arrays.
SCSI storage is ideal for departments and workgroups requiring additional
storage capacity.

Dell | EMC also offers highly scalable fiber channel RAID (Redundant
Array of Independent Disks) storage products. Fiber channel systems give
you high-capacity, non-disruptive access to data, while redundant
connections throughout help ensure data integrity.

NAS

A Network Access Storage, that is, a storage server or a special device

designed to provide access to the network. For example, it can be a
computer connected to the network and equipped with several modems.
Such a NAS will allow a user connecting to one of its modems to access
the network

NAS challenges the traditional file server approach by creating systems

designed specifically for data storage. Instead of starting with a general-
purpose computer and configuring or removing features from that base,
NAS designs begin with the bare-bones components necessary to support
file transfers and adds features.

Like traditional file servers, NAS follows a client/server design. A single

hardware device, often called the NAS box or NAS head, acts as the
interface between the NAS and network clients. These NAS devices
require no monitor, keyboard or mouse. They generally run an embedded
operating system rather than full-featured NOS. One or more disk (and

Introduction Page - 17
possibly tape) drives can be attached to many NAS systems to increase
total capacity. Clients always connect to the NAS head, however, rather
than to the individual storage devices.

Clients generally access a NAS over an Ethernet connection. The NAS

appears on the network as a single "node" that is the IP address of the head
device.

A NAS can store any data that appears in the form of files, such as email
boxes, Web content, remote system backups, and so on. Overall, the uses
of a NAS parallel those of traditional file servers.

NAS systems strive for reliable operation and easy administration. They
often include built-in features such as disk space quotas, secure
authentication, or the automatic sending of email alerts should an error be
detected.

SAN

Storage Area Network is a network of storage disks. In large enterprises, a

SAN connects multiple servers to a centralized pool of disk storage.
Compared to managing hundreds of servers, each with their own disks,
SANs improve system administration. By treating all the company's
storage as a single resource, disk maintenance and routine backups are
easier to schedule and control. In some SANs, the disks themselves can
copy data to other disks for backup without any processing overhead at the
host computers.

A SAN is distinguished from other ways of networking storage by the low-

level block storage access method used. Put simply, data traffic on a SAN
is very similar to those (like SCSI) used for internal disk drives. Most
SANs actually use the SCSI communications protocol to access data on the
network, though they do not use SCSI's lower-level physical interfaces.

Introduction Page - 18
A SAN can be thought of as an extension of direct attached storage
(DAS). Where DAS was a point-to-point link between a server and its
storage, a SAN allows many computers to access many storage devices
over a shared network.

Sharing storage usually simplifies storage administration and adds

flexibility since cables and storage devices do not have to be physically
moved to move storage from one server to another. Note, though, that with
the exception of SAN file systems and clustered computing, SAN storage
is still a one-to-one relationship. That is, each device on the SAN is
"owned" by a single computer (or initiator). In contrast, network attached
storage (NAS) allows many computers to access the same set of files over
a network.

SANs tend to increase storage capacity utilization, since multiple servers

can share the same growth reserve.

SANs are normally built on an infrastructure specially designed to handle

storage communications. Thus, they tend to provide faster and more
reliable access than higher level protocols such as NAS.

The most common SAN technology is Fibre Channel networking with

the SCSI command set. A typical Fibre Channel SAN is made up of a
number of Fibre Channel switches which are connected together to form a
network.

IP-SAN

Internet Protocol –Storage Area Network links employees with stored data
for the complete continuity of business critical applications & databases
using an Ethernet. IP-SAN connects application servers, clients and
storage resources over IP networks. It facilitates uninterrupted access and
complete availability of business data.

Introduction Page - 19
A SAN can be deployed in two ways: using Fiber Channel or the IP way.
The first is called FC-SAN while the second is IP-SAN. IP-SAN can also
mean the network built with iSCSI as the protocol.

In an FC-SAN the file I/O is between the application and the file-system,
which in turn makes block I/O to the storage device. The file-system and
the volume manager are on the server and the storage has the RAID and
the disks.

The basic components of an IP-SAN system are the same, but here the
application makes the file I/O to a file-system which is outside the server
and the block I/O now happens within the storage between the volume
manager and the RAID.

Traditionally, NAS has been used for File services only and SAN for all
other applications. But those were the days of File-services from servers
and 10 Mbps LANs. With dedicated appliance and gigabit speeds on the
wire, throughputs that can be obtained from NAS devices are really good.
Applications have their own requirements or limitations in terms of the
bandwidth that they use. Just because you have connected a 200 Mbps link
between the server and the storage, the application server will not use the
full bandwidth, it might not use half of it too—it all depends on the
application requirements. An application might require about 20 Mbps
bandwidth, so there's no point giving it 200 Mbps Also, the servers have to
be big enough to pump so much of data in and out, a small or medium
server will not be able to pump so much I/O. A detailed assessment of the
I/O requirements and server capacities needs to be made before sizing any
storage device.

Types of Facilities Management

HELP DESK MANAGEMENT

Introduction Page - 20
It provides support to end users on a variety of issues. It Identifies,
researches, and resolves technical problems. It also responds to telephone
calls, email and personnel requests for technical support. Tracks and
monitors the problem to ensure a timely resolution. Has knowledge of
commonly used concepts, practices, and procedures within a particular
field.

Technical support is used to assist and promote the use of technology

within a business environment.  The Help Desk is the traditional
mechanism for technical support, accompanied by on-site assistance,
training and self-help programs.  Technical support includes software
assistance, hardware repair, and related services.

ANTIVIRUS MANAGEMENT

Every month approximately 300 new viruses are released worldwide.

Vendors like Symantec and McAfee release periodic patches (monthly) to
guard against the hostile programs. These patches are released on the
vendor’s website and are available for download for a fixed period
according to the terms of the license.

The process of regularly checking for newer updates and

installing/updating them on the client machine is known as Antivirus
management.

Most of the popular antivirus software have an option for scheduled

downloads. For example, a download may be scheduled on the 1 st of every
month. The license may expire typically after a period of 36 months, this
need to be taken into account and accordingly a new license has to be
bought.
Antivirus management is one of the important functions of an organization
especially for one used to managing huge amounts of data.

NETWORK MANAGEMENT

Introduction Page - 21
The conceptual control element of a data station that interfaces with all of
the layers of that data station and is responsible for the setting and resetting
control parameters, obtaining reports of error conditions, and determining
if the station should be connected to or disconnected from the medium.

Types of Network Management

 WAN MONITORING

WAN links are usually the most expensive part of the network, and
managing bandwidth allocation can be complex. Oversubscribing to
bandwidth could mean that the company is paying for more
bandwidth than required, and under subscribing could result in
congestion and unacceptable network performance. WAN
Monitoring and Router Monitoring thus become very critical.
Network managers need to optimize the quality of service by
balancing throughput, committed information rate (CIR) and burst
rate with congestion, response time, and discards.

 SERVER MONITORING
Servers are the heart and soul of today’s computing infrastructure.
Running mission critical applications as well as core IT services
such as email, file, print and database services, availability and
performance of your servers are critical to ensure smooth running of
business. The inherent complexity of heterogeneous distributed
environments makes server management both essential and
challenging.

 SWITCH MONITORING

Switches are the backbone of LAN networks. Any problem in the

switches affects a large proportion of LAN users. Implementing a

Introduction Page - 22
 proactive switch monitoring system helps detect problems early and
avoid potential problems.

Operation Manager's switch monitoring functionality automatically

discovers switches in the network and places them on a special
switch map. All the switch ports are also discovered and intuitively
placed on the map.

Using Operation Manager’s switch monitoring capability, operators

can gain visibility into the status and availability of switch ports.
OpManager actively monitors switch ports and quickly notifies
operators whenever a switch port or the switch goes down.
Operators can setup OpManager to monitor only critical ports, an
industry best practice for Switch monitoring, that prevents
unnecessary alarms from being generated. OpManager also offers
visibility into spanning tree status showing which ports are blocked
and which ones are forwarding.

BACKUP MANAGEMENT

Backup management can be divided into the following parts:

 Full Backup: A full backup is a complete copy of everything on the

source drive to the backup. Most users and administrators run a full
backup on a weekly or monthly basis.

 Incremental Backup: An incremental backup only copies the data

that has changed since the last backup. Administrators will run
incremental backups on a daily basis to capture the data files added
or updated during the day.

 Differential Backup: A differential backup copies the data that has

changed since the last full backup media. It is important to

Introduction Page - 23
 understand the difference between an incremental and differential
backup. Administrators use differential backups to facilitate more
complex tape rotation schemes and sometimes in database
environments.

 Archiving: Archiving is the process of moving data from one media

(typically a hard drive) to another media (optical disks or tapes).
Archiving deletes the files from the original location. Companies
may use archiving to store things such as historical financial data.
Archiving saves space on hard drives, while retaining the ability to
restore the data quickly.

Application Service Provider

Abbreviated as ASP, it is a third-party entity that manages and distributes

software-based services and solutions to customers across a wide area
network from a central data center.

In essence, ASPs are a way for companies to outsource some or almost all
aspects of their information technology needs. They may be commercial
ventures that cater to customers, or not-for-profit or government
organizations, providing service and support to end users

ASPs are broken down into five subcategories:

 Enterprise ASP - deliver high-end business applications.

 Local/Regional ASP - supply wide variety of application services

for smaller businesses in a local area.

 Specialist ASP - provide applications for a specific need, such as

Web site services or human resources.

Introduction Page - 24
  Vertical Market ASP - provide support to a specific industry, such
as healthcare.

 Volume Business ASP - supply general small/medium-sized

businesses with prepackaged application services in volume.

Management Service Provider

A Managed Service Provider (MSP), also called a Management Service

Provider, is a company that manages information technology services for
other companies via the Web. An MSP client may use internal operations
or an ASP to run its business functions.

An MSP is a service provider that offers system and network management

tools and expertise. An MSP typically has its own data center that runs
advanced network management software. It uses these tools to actively
monitor and provide reports on aspects of its customer's networks,
including communication links, network bandwidth, servers, and so on.
The MSP may host the customer's Web servers and application servers at
its own site. The services provided by MSPs have been called "Web
telemetry" services. The MSP Association defines MSPs as follows:

Management Service Providers deliver information technology (IT)

infrastructure management services to multiple customers over a network
on a subscription basis. Like Application Service Providers (ASPs),
Management Service Providers deliver services via networks that are billed
to their clients on a recurring fee basis. Unlike ASPs, which deliver
business applications to end users, MSPs deliver system management
services to IT departments and other customers who manage their own
technology assets.

TriActive is an example of a Management Service Provider. It provides

management and monitoring of PCs, servers, networks, and Web sites
from its own NOC (Network Operations Center), which is hosted by

Introduction Page - 25
Exodus Communications. Exodus ensures that the NOC has fully
redundant power, network connectivity, routing, and switching to ensure
maximum reliability and integrity. A "micro agent" interacts with customer
systems to provide system management. The agent is lightweight and
designed for use over the Internet. It acts as a universal agent invoking and
managing other agents and programs as required for specific actions

The service is delivered via the Web through a secure Internet portal that
lets customers view management information, based on their role in the
organization. For example, CIOs can view overall management
information while help desk technicians can check call queues, escalations,
and open ticket status. Systems analysts can conduct asset inventories and
view virus reporting.

Objective Systems Integrators is another management service provider that

provides software solutions for unified network, service application, and
process management.

Introduction

Today more than 75 percent of companies selectively outsource some IT

functions to outside service providers. Outsourcing is a proven strategic
way to reduce and control operating costs, improve company focus and
gain access to world-class IT processes.

INFRASTRUCTURE management services promises to be a significant

growth engine for the top-tier Indian software companies. Quite a few
high-profile deals signed in the infrastructure management space by
frontline companies have stoked up considerable interest and attention on
this segment.

Introduction Page - 26
There is a big growth in infrastructure outsourcing. There are two reasons
for this trend. The real reason is that in terms of IT budgets, there is zero or
just 1-2 per cent growth. Outsourcing is a way of stretching the budget and
savings from this source are funded into innovations.

IT infrastructure is a key area for CIOs (Chief Information Officers) to

look at. Any investment in infrastructure is one ROI (Return On
Investment) cycle away from actually making a visible impact to end-user.

The last real big investment in desktops was four-five years ago.
Companies are looking to upgrade or buy MS tools and hardware. They
would need to outsource parts that would buy assets and amortize costs
rather than having to budget additional capital.

The other reason is that there is a lot of benchmarking going on in the

infrastructure space. Some of the service packages and bundles available in
the marketplace are pretty well defined. Most infrastructure outsourcing
deals have benchmarks associated with them through existing deals. Prices
are more visible and a lot of commoditization is going on. So, the risk is
reduced and hence CIO’s have to build a strong business case, if they
intend to keep IT infrastructure management in-house.

Clearly, the big move is towards transparency in offerings and prices for
such outsourcing. There is also a growing need and desire to invest in
selective sourcing. Companies have realized that there is a lot of risk in
outsourcing to one particular vendor. End users want vendors to provide
selective sourcing, with best-of-breed companies providing elements of
good IT services; At the same time, in this sourcing strategy, there is link
between strategy and business value. The end-users are asking providers
(or vendors) to demonstrate business value that they are providing, help
them build and communicate a business case. The CIO’s (of end-users) are
asking this of in-house and outsourced providers.

Introduction Page - 27
So, the CIO is not looking so much to reduce cost of discrete operations
but also to manage cost effectively and push total business value associated
with all this. That's a trend we see - associate spending with business value.

In many organizations, there is an off shoring mandate that is linked to IT

spends initiatives. Application outsourcing is the most mature amongst IT
activities. So, that is off shored. Infrastructure is also becoming active.
There are a lot of questions around this and what is possible to offshore.
Lot of assessments is going on. But the danger with this initiative of an
offshore mandate or increase in offshore spend is that CIO is not
developing a true understanding of why they want to outsource. There
must be a business reason for outsourcing. For instance, if that reason is
cost reduction, then you must have a business goal that rewards cost
reduction. Increasing spend with an offshore outsourcer is not going to do
that.

What is FM

Facilities Management, which basically means "IT infrastructure

maintenance outsourcing" refers to hiring somebody outside your
company to manage the IT infrastructure, which will help the company to
concentrate on its core business.

It can also mean hiring someone to be your IT department. Such a partner

must have people who can work closely with your staff, understand your
unique business problems, implement and service unique solutions.

An organization engages in IT infrastructure maintenance outsourcing

when it uses a 3rd party to perform some or all of the required IT
infrastructure maintenance functions on its behalf. The scope of IT
infrastructure outsourcing ranges from support contracts for individual
elements through to total handover of the operation and ownership of the
IT infrastructure. Common scenarios are:

Introduction Page - 28
  Network outsourcing: The network is viewed as a utility,
connecting end-users with a pre-defined service level.

 Server support: The client retains control of the business

applications, but out sources the day-to-day support of the physical
computer infrastructure.

Many outsourcing contracts would be a mix of elements. An outsourcing

contract would specify, amongst others, the outsourcing objectives, the
scope of the outsourcing contract, the key performance indicators, the
required service levels and the cost of the contract, including any penalty
clauses.

Types of Outsourcing

Total Outsourcing

Refers to all of the major functional areas of IS, including data centers,
applications development, systems maintenance, networks, help desk,
desktop services, and so on. Typically, only user liaison and contract-
management functions remain.

Selective Outsourcing

Where one or more major IS function or activity is outsourced, but

significant activities and functional areas remain in-house.

Transitional Outsourcing

Refers to situations where a company outsource ageing or obsolete systems

and/or technology platforms in order to focus its attention and limited
resources on the creation of new systems and infrastructure.

Introduction Page - 29
Transformational outsourcing

It is the reverse of transitional outsourcing, where a vendor is hired to

move a company to a new technology platform and/or applications
portfolio, and to build new skills and capabilities.

Who Needs Outsourcing

There are many pitfalls in putting together an outsourcing contract. Firstly,

not every organisation has a problem that can be fixed by outsourcing. It is
vital that the business challenge is well understood, so that an informed
decision to outsource is made.

Assistance with IT infrastructure maintenance outsourcing is required

when:

 An organisation is considering outsourcing, but doesn’t know where

to start
o Structuring an outsourcing contract is a formal process that
shouldn’t be learnt through experience.
 IT infrastructure is too difficult to manage
o Small companies find IT infrastructure doesn’t deliver what
they want.
 IT infrastructure maintenance is a distraction from the core business
o Even larger companies can find IT maintenance taking senior
management focus away from effective company
management, particularly when IT is a strategic tool.

Introduction Page - 30
  Companies are trying to do something new
o Delivering standard IT services can distract the
implementation of new projects.
 Need enforceable service level objectives
o Enforcing a Service Level Agreement is easier with an
external organisation using commercial inducements than
with an internal IT maintenance department.

Motivations and Benefits

Motivations

There are many motivations for IT infrastructure maintenance outsourcing

– the first of which is the desire to reduce cost and improve service levels.
A second motivation is to focus on core competencies, whereby an
organisation performs only those activities that really differentiate it from
the competition and outsourcers the rest, including IT infrastructure
management. The need for change, in both the business and IS, is also
increasingly a motivation for IT infrastructure maintenance outsourcing. It
can involve the need to migrate from old mainframe platforms and systems
to a new client-server infrastructure, to reengineer the business and its
supporting technology, or to consolidate and standardise technology
platforms and operating procedures. A fourth motivation is cure – that is,
to fix information systems, work processes, functional areas or entire
departments that are perceived as broken. A surprisingly high number of
organisations are opting for outsourcing.

Benefits

 Cost Savings - Outsourcing price-wise is hard to beat

Introduction Page - 31
  Experience - There are two broad areas of IT infrastructure
maintenance expertise - business analysis (knowing how a business
works and how a particular software can help) and technical skills.
A company may not be good at these things. Here outsourcing the IT
infrastructure maintenance will help because a high level of
expertise will be available at a much lower cost. This also allows the
company to focus on the core area of business rather than worrying
about the network breakdowns or malware problems.

Strategic Intent

The role of IT infrastructure maintenance outsourcing has grown in

prominence as companies strive to reshape critical business and IT
capabilities in response to changing competition and shifting markets.
Information systems and business executives are grappling with key
questions about outsourcing, such as:

 What should be the intent and ambition for IT, and how can
outsourcing be used to achieve them?
 What kinds of outsourcing relationships should be entered into?
 How should these relationships be structured to meet company
objectives?
 What must be done to ensure the success of these arrangements?

There are three kinds of strategic intent for IT infrastructure maintenance:

Information System improvement, business impact and commercial
exploitation. Each is associated with very different kinds of ambitions and
goals, and different approaches to outsourcing.

 Information System improvement focuses on enhancing the

efficiency and effectiveness of the IS function and the IT resource
more broadly.

Introduction Page - 32
  Business impact concentrates on improving the contribution of IT
to company performance within its existing lines of business.

 Commercial exploitation focuses on leveraging technology-related

assets such as applications and infrastructure, as well as IS and
business knowledge in the marketplace, through the development
and marketing of new technology products and services.
Outsourcing agreements focusing on business impact usually
encompass IS improvement as well, and agreements targeted at
commercial exploitation often incorporate elements of both business
impact and IS improvement. Foundation research has shown that the
nature of the relationship with an outsourcing vendor should vary
significantly with strategic intent. Performance measures,
compensation structure and vendor-selection criteria must all align
with this intent in a consistent way for outsourcing relationships to
succeed

IT departments have never faced more daunting challenges and demands

for change than they do today. They must dramatically increase the
business results delivered through information technology whilst
continuing to make robust improvements in their cost and service
performance. IT departments are also under intense pressure to completely
transform the skills and tool sets of their human resources, to re-architect
their technology platforms and infrastructure, and to radically improve how
IT is deployed both in the business and in the marketplace.

Successfully dealing with these imperatives is essential to the future of the

organisation, yet few IT departments are equipped to meet these challenges
on their own. Success depends as much on judiciously exploiting external
resources and capabilities as it does on optimally deploying internal ones.
Foundation, therefore, believes that IT infrastructure maintenance
outsourcing must be proactively considered within, and should often be an
explicit part of, every organization’s strategy.

Introduction Page - 33
New Perspectives

Recent outsourcing contracts have typically encompassed a greater

proportion of IT activities as well as additional non-IT services. The
boundaries of IT outsourcing are, therefore, becoming blurred as
outsourcing expands in terms of its scope and complexity.

Information technology maintenance outsourcing is reaching across the

entire spectrum– beyond self-contained functional areas such as data-
center operations and networks – to include desktop systems management
and new applications development. These days, outsourcing contracts often
include discrete projects and activities such as major systems integration
undertakings, and consolidation and management of contract workers.

In addition, outsourcing vendors are increasingly offering services in areas

beyond the systems department.

As the scope of activities outsourced increases, so does the complexity of

the arrangement. This trend is being driven by two different groups:
customers who want more value-added from outsourcing providers, and
vendors who wish to expand their service offerings into areas with greater
profit potential than the provisioning of commodity IT services

Introduction Page - 34
NETWEB Technologies’s Chance

So there was a move away from the “total outsourcing” of computer

systems, to the “discrete” outsourcing of parts of it, including those
functions that can be handled remotely. That is where the opportunity lies
for NETWEB TECHNOLOGIES, with the telecommunications links built
for their software businesses and the outsourcing of other business
processes. It is estimated that between 60% and 70% of the services
surrounding a data center can be executed at a distance.

The big American firms also offer services out of India, and other local
firms are competing for a share of the market, notably Wipro. A recent
survey by the firm of 145 executives in a range of industries found that
about a third had plans to outsource some of their computer infrastructure
maintenance.

Cost, however, remains the big factor. On estimation it can be said that that
outsourcing the management of part of a computer infrastructure can cut
the “total cost of ownership” of it by an average of 40%. That is incentive
enough to live with the risks and drawbacks that come with any type of
outsourcing

Introduction

It is a research project, which involved the study of the IT infrastructure

maintenance methods of software development companies. The project
also included gathering information about the IT infrastructure of the

Introduction Page - 35
companies and analyzing the market perception about the outsourcing of
the IT infrastructure maintenance.
The ultimate objective of the project was to create a list of potential
customers for NETWEB TECHNOLOGIES Info systems.

To do the study a questionnaire was formulated and a sample of 80

companies was chosen for the research effort.

How was this done?

 First of all a premise on which the market study was going to be

based upon, was constructed.
 Then the industry scope was analyzed.

This is how it was done:

 Define industry - scope and nature of the industry.

 Gather information about the IT infrastructure of the organisation.

 Determine the type of facilities management they are using.

 Determine the satisfaction level and the expectations of the

employees with the current IT infrastructure maintenance method
company was using.

Before the actual Market Research survey, an Exploratory Research was

done. This Exploratory was done to check the effectiveness of the
questions in the Questionnaire and to check for any anomalies that arose
while conducting the actual Research Survey.

Introduction Page - 36
Any feedback or suggestions that was received and any difficulties that
were faced was given priority and the errors were carefully looked into and
rectified.

This led to the creation of the Final Questionnaire, which is attached at

the end as annexure. A web survey was also created to develop an easier
approach to the companies and also to ease the process of collection of
data.

Research Methodology

SOURCES OF DATA

Introduction Page - 37
The data for the target sample has been collected from various sources. For
the survey to be effective a database had to be created by selecting the
organizations and then collecting information about them.

The database was divided into two sections primary and secondary.
The survey demanded attention towards certain prime and important
organizations

 Primary: These were the organizations which had to be surveyed

first as they were considered important due to their huge IT
infrastructure and various other criteria.

 Secondary: These were the companies, which were decided by me

on the basis of certain criteria such as geographical locations and
industry type. The organizations thus selected had to be an effective
sample of the huge population of IT companies.

Methodology

1. Identifying the Research objectives – Identification of potential

customers

2. Analyzing the Scope and limitations of the survey – Sample size,

Markets to be covered etc.

3. Understanding the type of information required – IT

infrastructure, Satisfaction Level, Expectations.

4. Creation of a premise for the development of the survey

Questionnaire – Industry, IT infrastructure size.

5. Development of the Questionnaire - Formulation of Questions

that need to be included to derive the required information.

Introduction Page - 38
 6. Creation of Database of Software Development and ITES
companies.

7. Collection of data –Interviews, Telephonic Interviews and Web

Survey.

8. Tabulation and Analysis – Data entry and Tabulation of Results.

9. Reporting – Finalizing the report to understand the trends and

evaluating the same.

10.Completion of Study – Result

Diagrammatic Representation

MARKET
STUDY

CREATING A

Introduction PREMISE FOR THE Page - 39

QUESTIONNAIRE
 CREATION OF

QUESTIONNAIRE

COLLECTION OF

DATA

ANALYSIS
OF DATA

FINAL

Research Design for NETWEB TECHNOLOGIES

Questionnaire Design

The questionnaire was designed keeping in mind the information needs

that have been listed before. As far as possible, structured questions were
used in order to facilitate data interpretation and analysis. Questions that
probed expectations from facilities management services and vendors were
open ended to get the exact in their own words.

Pre-Testing

Introduction Page - 40
The questionnaire was pre-tested on four companies. Based on their
responses, and the responses faced in getting them a web questionnaire was
designed. The wording of some questions was also changed to make them
less ambiguous and click options as answers were provided in the web
survey to make it user friendly.

Sampling

Once the questionnaire was ready, the companies were surveyed. Out of
the total of 80 companies 25 were put in the primary list as they were
considered important due to their IT infrastructure size. The rest were in
the secondary list. These companies were selected from using a lot of
mediums, primarily the Internet.

Editing

Based on the questions which test validity, forms which had crucial
questions unanswered were rejected. The final number of forms used for
data analysis was 27.

Plan of analysis

Foe structure, quantitative questions, the percentage of people who gave a

particular response was found. Unstructured, open-ended questions were
analyzed to see the kind of responses that were given (in the respondents
own words).

Some tips that work kept in mind while developing the Questionnaire:
Stepwise design of the Questionnaire:
 Understanding what you want to know – know what your
requirements are and what you are doing to achieve it.

Introduction Page - 41
  Translating objectives into information required – All the data
collected through survey would be in the forms of numbers and
statistics. It depends on how well one can sift through that matter
and derives the right information that will help in achieving the
objectives.

 Formatting the questions – User friendliness has been the main

factor in formatting the questionnaire.

Cautions exercised during the framing of the questionnaire:

It is necessary to give a clear idea of the objective of the study because that
increases the interest levels of the respondents and especially when the
respondents happen to be senior people. It becomes more pertinent.
Questionnaire has to be crisp, precise and helpful in the deduction of the
inferences.
 Vocabulary has been kept simple, direct and familiar.
 Vague words have been avoided.
 Options for answers have been provided..
 No leading questions have been included.
 No confusing instructions were kept.
Analysis

NO. OF COMPANIES CONTACTED: - 81

Introduction Page - 42
 RESPONSE OF THE COMPANIES

RESPONSE
RECEIVED, 24,
30%

DID NOT
RESPOND, 57,
70%

RESPONSE RECEIVED DID NOT RESPOND

ANALYSIS

The number of responses received was very less as the information

asked for was considered confidential by a majority of the
organisations.

Organisation Interested in Facilities Management

Introduction Page - 43
 INTERESTED IN FACILITIES MANAGEMENT

10, 12%

71, 88%

NO YES

ANALYSIS

12% of the respondents are interested in Facilities Management. During

the interviews it was realized that companies were not aware of the cost
benefits of the outsourcing. These companies were more concerned
about the service levels which they feared would deteriorate if
outsourced

Companies with outsourced IT Infrastructure Maintenance

Introduction Page - 44
 level of satisfaction

not satisfied satisfied

40% 40%

average
20%

satisfied average not satisfied

ANALYSIS

40% of the customers are not satisfied with the service levels and are
looking for a change. This implies that very high levels of services
should be maintained to retain the customers. At the same time it is also
inferred that the since the level of the service provided by the other
vendors is low, a high level of service would attract many customers.

COMPANIES WITH FACILITIES MANAGEMENT

Introduction Page - 45
 LEVEL OF SATISFACTION WITH THE FACILITIES
MANAGEMENT LEVELS
Very Poor
Very High 11%
22% Poor
0%

Average
High 39%
28%

Very Poor Poor Average High Very High

ANALYSIS

The level of satisfaction of the companies with the Facilities

Management Services can be said to be slightly above average. It
should be ensured that the companies understand that high levels of
service can be received with the outsourcing to technically skilled
companies. This also implies that the IN HOUSE Facility Departments
are performing just above average.

Findings

Introduction Page - 46
  Respondents Profile
 81 IT companies were contacted with a response rate of
30%.
 The respondent list includes Software engineers, Help Desk
managers, HR managers, Network Engineers, IT Managers,
Technical Architects, Facilities Heads and Design engineers.
 Areas covered for survey –
M. G. Road Residency road
Jayanagar J. P. Nagar
ITPL Electronic City
C.V. Raman Nagar Vijayanagar,
Brigade Road Indiranagar
And many surrounding areas

 Only 12% of the respondents were interested in Facilities

Management due to lack of knowledge about the service.
 Among the companies with outsourced IT Infrastructure
Management the level of satisfaction is very low.
 The companies with Facilities Management have an above
average level of satisfaction.
 We can say that the level of satisfaction with IN HOUSE
Facilities Management is very high when compared to
outsourced Facilities Management.
 The industry is only aware of a service called Facilities
Management; they have no knowledge about the advantages
and risks attached to it.

Recommendations

After studying the Market the following recommendations can be given:

 NETWEB TECHNOLOGIES could aggressively try to capture the

growing small and medium scale enterprises. This is a suggestion based

Introduction Page - 47
 on the fact that many respondents of the survey have mentioned that with
the growth of the company they will soon be looking for outsourcing; so
that they can concentrate on their core areas of business.

 NETWEB TECHNOLOGIES could come up with some winning

aggressive strategies for the Facilities Management Service business for
2007-08 so that it can capitalize on the growing market.

 NETWEB TECHNOLOGIES could also look at increasing the reach and

size of the market by offering affordable solutions to the customers.
Making the customers understand the cost benefits is a must.

 NETWEB TECHNOLOGIES could launch a good range of Facilities

Management Service packages to suit the different needs of the
organisations.

 Customized service offerings could be made available to organisations

with specific needs.

 Brand presence of NETWEB TECHNOLOGIES could be improved in

the market with effective advertising.

 A very high level of service could be maintained to retain the customers.

The importance of a satisfied customer should be understood as the word
of mouth advertising can be beneficial

 As the companies usually choose vendors which have a strong presence in

the market. Branding the service as cost effective and of high level should
be considered.

 NETWEB TECHNOLOGIES could try to fortify their channel

infrastructure to have maximum reach in the markets and bring down the
cost. It could also try to be the differentiator in the market with its
technology and approach to business.

Introduction Page - 48
Introduction Page - 49