Audatex “Insures” Network Health with Intermapper Software Solution

Network monitoring delivers enhanced uptime and compelling ROI

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When 1,500 employees across the country rely on network operations to get business done, the network better be up and running. Network engineers and technicians at Audatex, an insurance agency and collision repair shop headquartered in San Diego, California, rely on Intermapper to watch over network health and act quickly on performance issues. Intermapper alerts are used to create trouble tickets in Remedy. Capacity utilization data is sent to Tivoli to support network expansion planning. With Intermapper in place, Audatex network managers have increased uptime, saved money, and maximized ROI. 

Delivering Uptime Nationwide

Audatex technology products, information, and knowledge bases support the work for its insurance and claims processing clients. Products and services are delivered by over 1,500 associates who are located in Oregon, California, Illinois, Michigan, and Ontario, Canada.

Associates and customers communicate with one another via corporate LANs, WANs, and Internet connections. Twenty technicians are charged with watching the network and staying on top of performance issues to ensure network uptime. Watching a nationwide network distributed over so many locations and with so many users required a monitoring solution that provides an overall view and enough detail to drive needed improvements.

Staying on Top of Things with Network Monitoring

“When we started to look at our monitoring system, a friend of mine from the University of Michigan recommended Intermapper,” said Dave Demers, Network Engineer. “We started playing with the free evaluation version and it didn’t take long to realize it could do the job for us. Even better, the price was so good it was easy to get financial approval.”

Now Audatex uses Intermapper to get a “general health snapshot” of its networks. Technicians use Intermapper Remote Access to gain a continuous view of network operations and easy access to maps and reports. Wireless Cisco equipment is polled using built-in probes.

“Our operations center leaves Intermapper up on the plasma screen and we use alerting so that we see what goes down right away,” said Demers. He attributes increased uptime to Intermapper data and maps. Technicians can spot problems before they’re critical and reduce time-to-fix by quickly locating and diagnosing troubled connections and servers. “We’re so on top of things. We can see if utilization is up or CPU usage is spiking. Maybe a process is taking too long or something is going wrong.”

When technicians do receive an alert or notice a problem, the data provided by Intermapper is used to populate the Remedy trouble ticketing system. Capacity utilization data is also sent to Tivoli where it is stored and viewed via browser to note trends and plan for network expansion. “We’re tracking load averages and CPU speed over months,” said Demers.

Significant Cost Savings

Demers has never calculated Intermapper’s return-on–investment, but figures the software has paid for itself “several times over.” Audatex previously used Tivoli NetView for network monitoring. A comparison of Intermapper and NetView costs indicates substantial savings. Demers has also noticed network improvements that translate into additional ROI. “We’ve increased uptime using Intermapper. I know I’d see an increase in uptime if I compared before and after Intermapper timeframes.”

The network monitoring team is getting the most out of InterMapper. “It’s so customizable. There’s not much we haven’t been able to make it do,” said Demers. If there is a question or problem, the Intermapper customer support team is able to provide quick help. “Intermapper support is outstanding. I get in early in the morning and write up my questions and hear back right away.” 

Find and Fix Issues Faster with Intermapper

See how Intermapper can help you detect network issues before performance is affected. Map your network today with a free 30-day trial

 

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