Site MapQuasar Systems Limited
Keeping the lights on with technology that delivers
Quasar Systems Limited is a leading supplier of advanced energy and power quality metering systems, process control instrumentation, and industrial automation systems to organisations in both New Zealand and Australia.
With the principle of ‘Delivering Intelligent Data’ Quasar have developed a reputation of excellence for providing single-source, integrated, end to end power and energy management solutions, giving energy suppliers and consumers a unique level of insight into every energy-related cost, risk and opportunity. In conjunction with their SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition) & HMI solutions, delivering intelligent network, substation data information and complete supervisory control systems, Quasar have a complete energy management solution for their utility business users.
Over the last 26 years, Quasar has also provided complete integrated control and industrial automation solutions to a wide range of clients that include major power generators, network distribution utilities, blue-chip industrials, manufacturing, commercial and institutional enterprises.
In working with these organisations, their focus is on delivering intelligent data solutions that contributes to the effective operation of their clients’ business.
Delivering on high availability requirements
As a provider of management and control solutions for critical core infrastructure and plant equipment of utility and industrial organisations, many of which operate 24 hours seven days a week, it is essential that Quasar is able to provide their clients with technical support any time from any place.
To match these highly demanding operational requirements, Quasar identified a need to upgrade their existing network systems to assist in improved system availability, management, and provision of remote support to their clients’ systems. Quasar engaged Datasouth to design and implement a solution that would meet these exacting requirements.
The solution developed was designed around a Microsoft Essential Business Server 2008 platform and HP Blade Server infrastructure. This solution was chosen as together it provided a highly robust, available, and secure solution.
"Our technology platform had to be optimal in terms of robustness and security to ensure we met the service level requirements of our clients’. As our IT infrastructure provides management to remote power control services to utility and corporate clients alike, we needed to ensure that our technology platform was designed to be constantly available. The solution provided by Datasouth has ticked all of these boxes." – Richard Schwass, Quasar Systems Limited Technical Director.
The utilisation of HP Blade Servers provided the ability to deploy Essential Business Server 2008 in a best practice configuration, with key functions of the network being delivered by dedicated servers. In addition single points of failure were able to be reduced with these functions being able to be replicated onto other production servers. The utilisation of a blade infrastructure also provided a simple expansion path for future growth.
Network management made simple
The deployment of Essential Business Server 2008 provided immediate benefits in network management and productivity. Previously large amounts of time had been required to manually manage the network and optimise its performance, as the existing solution no longer scaled to the demands of the business. Essential Business Server provided an appropriate resolution to this problem as it was designed to deploy in a configuration that was recognised as best practice, therefore ensuring automatic optimisation of the network platform and reducing future system management issues.
The provision of a central administration console across all platforms also provided improved management and reporting of the various systems. This has simplified the creation and management of users, the integration and deployment of new applications, and the management and deployment of system updates.
With the inclusion of System Centre Essentials, the health of the networks servers and client devices are centrally monitored with incident alerts reported as they occur. Where possible System Centre Essentials attempts to provide appropriate resolutions to incidents ensuring that the network remains fully optimised.
"The administration tools provided in Essential Business Server have provided direct benefits in increased productivity and reduced costs. No longer are we intensively managing our network to ensure the successful solution delivery to our clients. Instead we can now focus purely on our clients’ requirements resulting in improved delivery satisfaction." – Richard Schwass.
Remote Access that securely delivers
The remote access requirements of Quasar differed to those of most organisations. Not only did they require access to their network resources when away from the office, they would also require highly secure access to their clients systems. To complicate matters, access to these clients’ systems would also be required by users’ when working away from the office.
The solution was the deployment of Microsoft Forefront Threat Management Gateway. The utilisation of Forefront Threat Management Gateway provided a complete perimeter security solution that protected the network against external attacks and unauthorised access, while providing controlled network access to authorised users’ working away from the office. The solution also provided the ability to deploy multiple virtual private networks (VPN’s) to client networks for the support and management of clients’ power systems, while at the same time isolating and protecting the production network of Quasar.
The requirement for user remote access was for the deployment of functionality that matched that which was available when working in the office. This has been achieved by the deployment of Remote Web Workplace, providing users with secure remote access to their SharePoint document libraries, server shares, and individual client devices. Via their web browser, a user can confidently access and modify information assets in a fully secured web session.
"As an organisation that can have users travelling around the globe, it was essential that any remote access solution was simple and functional. The solution developed by Datasouth provides us with the confidence that no matter our location, we can continue to conduct business in the same manner as if we were in the office." – Richard Schwass.
