25x8 Services

Management, Support and Maintenance Service for that extra commitment including a total outsourced operation with accountability, business continuity and defined service level agreements.  The management and maintenance of your total environment solution, enabling you to release key personnel from none core activities.

All services are managed centrally by REMS with information represented, in a simple to read, graphical format and available via dedicated servers through REMS secure remote access service.  Alternatively access to the information is available over the Internet to a secure web site, (http://www.25x8.co.uk/), for instant availability of system status from any location in the world. The methods developed by REMS ensure that a low speed connection such as GSM can provide an equally high level of information retrieval by utilising the latest techniques for remote working.

The 25x8 service operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, all year and is backed with annual unobtrusive electrical system testing.  The latest thermal image technology is used, permitting problems in electrical systems to be identified without the cost of shutting down the service.  This is of particular interest to those companies running 24x7 operations or large power providers where it is dangerous to monitor the service when live.

REMS 25x8 suite of management solutions addresses the demands of our customers.  Three main services are offered, each one addressing a shared customer requirement.

Fault Management

Performance Management

Configuration Management

REMS 25x8 management tools monitor the customer network 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.  Fault events, which may be pre-agreed utilisation issues or real-time faults are logged and an agreed process of actions is initiated according to severity and the results of a procedural diagnosis. 

Every aspect of the event is documented with automated alarm forwarding, paging, e-mail and facsimile notifications, if required, to the client’s site.  Customers also use a web account whereby the progress of an event is monitored in real-time via a standard web browser with Internet access.  Summary reports are provided of all cases and posted to htm pages for on-line access.

This process is a front end to the equipment support arrangements, and is designed to enhance and complement their efficiency.  The output of the REMS process results in the notification of a customer’s nominated network support person and/or the triggering of the appropriate customer’s support vendor (REMS or third party).  In all instances a case is opened in the REMS 25x8 management system, including summaries of actions, diagnosis, progress, call-outs and rectification results that are summarised and presented to the customer at agreed intervals, along with any recommendations based on event trends and vendor performance.

25x8 Fault Management

25x8 fault management involves four distinct stages;  Detection, Diagnosis, Resolution and Reporting.

Real-time fault management, diagnosis, initiation of remedial action with summary reporting for managed devices, typically on a weekly and monthly basis.  Reports posted to your secure web site include a case summary with review of fault trends and case resolutions.

Benefits

Improved event resolution times: Dedicated REMS operators detect faults as they occur.  Fault logs are opened in the management and escalation system.  Remedial activities commence immediately with remote diagnostics performed to isolate the error condition.  Customer specific management procedures are followed, which can include dispatch of REMS or third party maintenance, notification to customer personnel or vendor management. 

Fault reporting: All reports are posted to a secure customer page on the REMS web site.  The monthly summary report details the faults opened with creation time, notification time and close time. 

On-line access to the REMS system: The REMS system is web-based permitting customers to monitor fault status on a read only basis for review of fault status.

Improved utilisation of client’s staff: Personnel are not interrupted while working on valuable business projects to respond to fault conditions.  The raw fault data is formatted into reports by the fault management service, the data collection and formatting step is eliminated and the client staff can spend more time on fault analysis and planning.

Consolidation of fault management: Fault management provides end-to-end management of the service, from monitored equipment through to the presentation point.  REMS can provide a single vendor management focal point for all multi-vendor faults.

Cost savings: REMS relieves the customer from the burden of providing qualified operations personnel, of staffing on a 24x7 basis, of purchasing, implementing and maintaining analysis equipment, systems, procedures and documentation.

Accountability:  REMS publishes its agreed service level objectives on the customer’s web page with agreed updates of the service level metrics from the latest performance statistics.

Devices

The REMS 25x8 management solution suite comprises lightweight, easily deployed software and hardware modules that can be economically distributed to numerous points on the network to provide a complete view of service availability.  These probes and monitors consist of unique executable rules and property files.  They also use a reliable message stream which guarantees delivery to the central management server.  The benefit is that it can support any device, regardless of manufacture from the simplest analogue or digital inputs and outputs to the more complex log files and SNMP traps.

Reporting

The information reported is date and time of fault initiation, person or organisation that problem was assigned to, fault description, cause of problem, problem resolution description and date and time of fault closure with client authorisation code.

25x8 PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT

Performance monitoring and long-term trending, with proactive diagnosis and initiation of action. On-line reports highlight areas for closer investigation, capacity planning and fault analysis.

25x8 performance management involves two distinct stages; performance monitoring and trending.

25x8 performance management provides network performance monitoring and long term trending, with proactive diagnosis, initiation of action and on-line reports with  typically monthly summaries and quarterly analysis.

This data is captured and analysed and reports are delivered on-line to the REMS 25x8 web site on a weekly basis, showing the previous week's trends as well as a rolling three month trend graph.  A historical database of key network trends is maintained and utilised in the quarterly performance analysis and network health report, prepared by a REMS analyst.

The performance management reports are particularly useful to identify significant performance events, to identify deviation from typical usage, to project the lead-time until breach of a bandwidth threshold and to confirm proper network sizing.  These reports provide valuable historical and projection data for use in the network planning and budgeting process.

A REMS engineer reviews these reports for our customers and raises a fault log on all significant issues.  REMS 25x8 management system is web-based and available to REMS customers on a read only basis via a standard web browser.  Customers may also elect to set thresholds for suitable criteria, which trigger REMS investigation of performance issues such as rapidly increasing utilisation in real time.

The on-line reports are generated once a week or as agreed, derived from data received during the previous week. The reports generated are grouped in six main areas as follows;

Smart reports are derived by scoring the network on hourly baselines for a set of variables.  When unusual events or emerging patterns (above or below baselines and device thresholds) are encountered, the system places these in the daily smart report, which reflects the top issues that warrant a closer investigation.

Failure analysis and capacity planning reports provide a prediction based on utilisation and other trends of when a device or network path is likely to become seriously overloaded, highlights under-utilisation and time of day usage trends.

Network change report gives a full list of network additions and deletions following a system rediscovery. The service captures this report and includes it within the summary reports.

The inventory report lists all network devices, correct to the last rediscovery and may be sorted by manufacturer, class, or software version level.

Device reports generate details on all devices within the inventory for key configuration and performance information.

Network reports provide a selection of information.

The list of devices is agreed with the customer and periodically updated.  The network change report identifies new devices in the network, customers can then determine if additional coverage is necessary.  The list also identifies, on a per device basis, the priority of performance events and the action to be taken by the REMS 25x8 customer service centre.

25x8 CONFIGURATION MANAGEMENT

Archive, recovery, documentation with authentication of changes for managed devices and administration of minor configuration changes.

The 25x8 configuration management service provides a single point of contact for managing the customer’s network configuration.

The 25x8 configuration management incorporates a disciplined network change methodology, to insure that operational changes made to the customer’s network are achieved with minimal network downtime.  Testing and validating the effect of changes off-line, the risk of catastrophic network failure, often caused by mis-configuration or unmanaged changes, can be minimised.

With 25x8 configuration management REMS maintains the overall quality and integrity of the network.  REMS reviews the most recent manufacturers release information  and advises the customer on the suitability of upgrades, as well as testing and validating proposed configuration changes.

In order to maintain the highest quality configuration control REMS provide the following configuration control features:

C     Weekly archive of device configurations, saved for three months

C     Maintenance of an audit trail of device configuration changes

C     Minor configuration changes (e.g. those affecting a single interface or device) under change control.  Major configuration changes can be engineered separately

C     Off-line testing and validation of proposed device configuration change from the production network

C     Configuration recovery in the event of loss or replacement

C     Configuration management includes a configuration variance report, which details the configuration changes made over the agreed period

C     Network review and analysis

REMS produce a fault trend summary of your historical network fault and performance results that identifies potential problems in the network.  All the gathered data from the previous period is employed within the analysis, to allow maximum benefit from the range of reports offered through the REMS 25x8 service.  Equipment and software fault trends are examined, pinpointing both short and long term deficiencies, and ultimately allowing you better fact-based business planning.