Norwich Union Insurance Turns to AppSight Black Box Technology from Identify Software to Transform Application Support Processes.NEW YORK New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of -- Accelerating Application Problem Resolution is Part of a Paradigm Shift A dramatic change in methodology or practice. It often refers to a major change in thinking and planning, which ultimately changes the way projects are implemented. For example, accessing applications and data from the Web instead of from local servers is a paradigm shift. See paradigm. to Support Growing Online Business and International Operations Internal Operations (I.O., IO or I/O) is a fictional American Intelligence Agency in Wildstorm comics. It was originally called International Operations. I.O. first appeared in WildC.A.T.S. volume 1 #1 (August, 1992) and was created by Brandon Choi and Jim Lee. Identify(R) Software, the pioneer and leader in application problem resolution software, today announced that Norwich Union Norwich Union is an insurance company in the UK. It is the biggest life-insurer in the UK, and has a strong position in motor insurance. It is part of the Aviva group, itself created by a merger of Norwich Union and CGU plc in 2000. Insurance (Norwich, UK), the largest general insurer An individual or company who, through a contractual agreement, undertakes to compensate specified losses, liability, or damages incurred by another individual. An insurer is frequently an insurance company and is also known as an underwriter. in the UK, is deploying Identify's AppSight Black Box application problem resolution software as part of its strategy to transform its application support processes. A division of Aviva Worldwide, Norwich Union Insurance insures one in five households, one in seven motor vehicles and more than 800,000 businesses in the UK. In 2003, Norwich Union helped 1.6 million UK customers get their lives back to normal following an incident. Underlying and supporting Norwich Union's significant transactional volumes is a complex network of business applications that must be operational, fault-free, and performing well to enable effective, profitable business performance. "We needed an efficient support infrastructure for our business-critical applications, which range from consumer-facing Web pages through to transactional and quoting engines," explains Janet Randell, manager of tools and technology at Norwich Union Insurance. "We have thousands of users internally and 30 million externally, so a rapid response in isolating i·so·late tr.v. i·so·lat·ed, i·so·lat·ing, i·so·lates 1. To set apart or cut off from others. 2. To place in quarantine. 3. and resolving software problems is imperative for us. AppSight gives us insight into application execution so that we can assign and solve problems significantly faster." AppSight uses patented AppSight Black Box software technology to monitor application execution and capture a synchronized syn·chro·nize v. syn·chro·nized, syn·chro·niz·ing, syn·chro·niz·es v.intr. 1. To occur at the same time; be simultaneous. 2. To operate in unison. v.tr. 1. , real-time log of user actions, system events, performance metrics Performance metrics are measures of an organizations activities and performance. Performance metrics should support a range of stakeholder needs from customers, shareholders to employees [1]. , configuration data, and code execution flow--much like the "black box" flight recorder flight recorder Instrument that records the performance and condition of an aircraft in flight. Regulatory agencies require these devices on commercial aircraft to make possible the analysis of crashes or other unusual occurrences. on an aircraft captures a real-time record of a flight. The AppSight Black Box log can be replayed and analyzed an·a·lyze tr.v. an·a·lyzed, an·a·lyz·ing, an·a·lyz·es 1. To examine methodically by separating into parts and studying their interrelations. 2. Chemistry To make a chemical analysis of. 3. to quickly pinpoint the root cause of all kinds of application problems, whether related to performance, configuration issues, user mistakes, or code errors. Because AppSight allows IT professionals to simply replay, rather than recreate the problem, it eliminates up to 70 percent of the cycle time traditionally consumed con·sume v. con·sumed, con·sum·ing, con·sumes v.tr. 1. To take in as food; eat or drink up. See Synonyms at eat. 2. a. by root cause analysis. A growing trend in Norwich Union's business is driving the company to transform its application support processes. The majority of Norwich Union sales are through broker channel accounts, but the growing preference of their personal lines customers is to deal with the company through Norwich Union Direct. This trend dramatically increases the application support challenge. "The Internet eliminates the buffers of brokers or customer support personnel, so business functionality, as well as potential application problems could be exposed directly to our customers," said Jim Sadler, director of technology and innovation at Norwich Union Insurance. "Identify's AppSight Black Box technology is a core component of a new application monitoring initiative that shifts the fundamental focus from 'fix it fast' to 'anticipate and avoid' application problems." Norwich Union's critical applications are a combination of packaged software See software package. and software developed in-house using mainly Microsoft technologies. The firm has now spent a full year training staff and testing and proving the software in development cycles, with a staggered rollout of the technology still underway. "From a development point of view, AppSight has proven itself a tremendously effective tool," says Randell. "We will soon be deploying AppSight in production, and expect to achieve significantly improved diagnosis times. Nothing else could give us this kind of insight, particularly in view of the production codes that are commonly in use today." Norwich Union Insurance is due to incorporate AppSight into its standard support and development processes and Identify's patented Black Box technology will be embedded Inserted into. See embedded system. in the company's standard operating environment (standard) Standard Operating Environment - (SOE) A specification of the architecture, operating systems, application set and configuration of computers within an organisation. . "We are already finding that AppSight has provided significant business value," continued Randell. "The total cost of ownership is low, with a quick time to market and the practical benefits being realized very rapidly. The scalability of the platform and the ease of integration were other plus points. As an enabler of increased productivity and lower costs, we have found Identify's AppSight Black Box to stand out as a pioneering technology." About Identify Software Identify(R) is the leader in application problem resolution software, helping hundreds of enterprises and software vendors speed application delivery, increase application quality, performance, and availability, and reduce application support costs. The company's AppSight Application Problem Resolution System leverages unique, patented Black Box Application Flight Recorder technology to capture, communicate, and determine the root cause of application problems, thereby dramatically accelerating problem resolution processes across the application lifecycle. Founded in 1996, Identify is a global organization, with operational headquarters in New York and offices in Israel and throughout the U.S., Europe, and Asia Pacific. For more information about Identify, please visit www.identify.com or call 800.364.5467. Note: Identify is a registered trademark and AppSight is a trademark of Identify Software Ltd. All other company and product names contained herein are the marks of their respective holders. |
|
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion