Bull Provides IT infrastructure to Tunisia Ports Offices

Bull SAS has been working alongside Tunisia’s Merchant Navy and Ports Office, or
OMMP, to help upgrade its IT infrastructures.

The aim of the project has been to provide OMMP with a centralized platform
that is scalable enough to support the growth strategy for the country’s whole
chain of port activities.

OMMP’s role is to manage and monitor operations in Tunisia’s
commercial seaports, to ensure the best possible conditions in terms of
turnaround times, quality and security. To achieve this, the organization has
embarked on a modernization project.

Its aim is to ensure continuity of service and high levels of performance in
the centralized management of information systems, not just the business
systems that manage maritime traffic, but also central systems such as
financial and human resources management applications. OMMP’s priorities also
include appropriate use of new technologies and simplification of procedures.

Against this backdrop, the Ports Authority decided to implement a new,
homogeneous architecture, to hold all the data from its seven commercial ports
at a single site in La Goulette, and relying on simpler and secure operational
procedures.

Bull brought together all the  expertise at a local level,
to build and implement this new virtualized architecture, including all its
components, from servers to storage and networks.

With consolidation rates of up to 400 VMs per server, the
infrastructure is designed to keep pace with OMMP’s requirements for
centralization, simplification and scalability. It is based around
Bull Escala Power 7-based Unix data servers – that are matched
to the nature of OMMP’s demands – complemented by NovaScale Blade application
servers, guaranteeing 24×7 service continuity and capable of supporting an
unlimited number of virtual servers.

For security and resource sharing, Bull has also implemented a SAN
architecture based on EMC and Brocade technologies. Finally, skills transfer
and targeted training provided by Bull have helped OMMP to understand the new
technical platform, so it can be administered by its own teams.

The infrastructure is operational and will provide the
backbone of OMMP’s planned ERP system – currently being implemented – and,
later on, a private cloud.

As Moez El Ghali, CEO of Bull Tunisia, said: "At a local level, this project mobilized all Bull’s areas of expertise
in implementing complex, mission-critical architectures, and we are very proud
that we have been able to help OMMP respond to the tough challenges they face
in terms of modernization, security and service quality. This clearly
demonstrates Bull’s ability to respond to the new challenges of IT
transformation that our Tunisian customers face."