Banca Marche Banks on New Tools for Network Performance

Banca Marche invested in new network management tools to help automate performance monitoring and solve problems before productivity suffered.

Banca Marche is the parent company of the eponymous banking group, which also includes Carilo, Cassa di Risparmio di Loreto, the asset-management company Focus Gestioni S.G.R. S.p.A, and Medioleasing S.p.A., which was set up in 2005 to provide financial and operating leasing.

Established in 1994–95 when the Cassa di Risparmio di Macerata, Cassa di Risparmio di Pesaro and Cassa di Risparmio di Jesi savings banks merged, Banca Marche employs around 3,000 staff at over 300 branches in the Marche, Umbria, Emilia Romagna, Lazio, Abruzzo and Molise regions.

From its headquarters in Macerata, Banca Marche runs a complex information system, directing and overseeing all application upgrades. The entire network infrastructure is managed by an outsourcer under Banca Marche’s direct control.

Needed to simplify from several net monitoring solutions to one

Before turning to Ipswitch, the bank was using several network monitoring software products, each with its own dashboard, with no effective overall picture of the systems’ statuses. Banca Marche to simplify the monitoring process so that all the networks, systems and applications could be managed from a single console. The bank evaluated various solutions, including open-source options, which turned out to be technically very complex with a considerable administration and maintenance commitment.

Detecting faults in real time was critical

Before WhatsUp Gold was introduced, network and server problems were addressed in response to reports from the help-desk team. WhatsUp Gold, however, sends immediate alerts as soon as a problem arises. “Initially, we tested an evaluation version of the product, and it worked extremely well right from the outset,” comments Lamberto Spadari from Banca Marche Operations department. “During the evaluation phase, WhatsUp Gold quickly identified the systems that impacted on network performance, confirming to us that the solution could detect faults in real time.”

Banca Marche decided to adopt Progress® WhatsUp® Gold, which immediately proved effective, simple to implement, and easy to use. The product’s ability to flag faults very rapidly has enabled Banca Marche to take prompt action to mitigate problems affecting users.

Up-front return on investment in WhatsUp Gold

WhatsUp Gold was implemented swiftly and was an immediate success. “The solution is as quick and straightforward to implement as it is to use. Only minimal knowledge is required, and that, coupled with the product’s great scalability, is a major benefit for us,” continues Lamberto Spadari.

Before even committing to buy the product, Banca Marche already had the key points of its IT infrastructure under control and began to see a return on its investment in very short order.

Moving from reactive to proactive network monitoring and management

Banca Marche has been using WhatsUp Gold since 2007 and has recently upgraded to version 16.2.3. Over time, the bank has purchased additional licences and has extended its implementation to move from a reactive approach (fault response) to include a proactive dimension, where analyses are run to help prevent problems arising. As the product is highly scalable, Banca Marche has been able to start by monitoring a small number of endpoints and scale up to suit the organisation’s needs. The bank now uses WhatsUp Gold to monitor around 2,500 endpoints. Ad hoc checks were recently implemented on specific aspects of online trading and the online services portal, a particular priority for Banca Marche.