KUALA LUMPUR: Local port operator Westport has invested RM5mil in a server consolidation project for which it purchased a Sun Microsystems Inc Fire 12000 server and StorEdge SAN (storage area network) systems

The server consolidation is expected to allow Westport’s database management systems, which currently run on a variety of platforms, to merge under a single architecture.

“The survival and prosperity of the port are dependent on how efficient we are in planning for, and moving containers on and off ships that call at our port,” said Chan Chee Keong, Westport’s chief financial officer.

“This requires logistical speed and precision,” he said, adding that the port’s container volume had grown by about 40% over the past two years.

Chan said that Westport expects to see better protection and more efficient utilisation of its IT investment, which the port operator claimed cost more than RM10mil annually, by opting for the Sun solution.

Westport places a high degree of importance in IT adoption. We are constantly seeking new ways to apply technology in our operations and in our business but often find that we rapidly outgrow our hardware requirements, sometimes even for new hardware that is barely a year old,” he said.

The new solution is expected to help Westport recoup its investments through lower operational, resource as well as personnel costs.

According to Suman Menon, chief technology officer of Makmal Consulting Sdn Bhd, the company in charge of Westport’s server consolidation project, the port should begin seeing return on its investment in three years.

Menon said that the project, which went into its planning stage last December, is now complete.

The port operator said that the project is its single largest IT expenditure at present but expects more in the medium term.

Chan said that additional IT spending, which is anticipated to grow exponentially, is expected to come in for its vessel and yard planning system in the not too distant future.

According to Lionel Lim, Sun’s corporate vice-president and managing director for Asia South, the port was the first organisation in the country to use the Sun Fire 12000 server.

Sun claimed that it has proposed the same solution to a few local companies and could potentially have about five new customers by next year.

Eric Foo, Sun’s partner sales manager, said a local telecommunications company had confirmed purchase and would be moving on to the implementation stage.

He added that a ministry is also ready to move from its current mainframe environment to Sun Fire 12000 systems.

However, he declined to mention the parties involved, adding that the other potential clients were from the energy and banking industries.

For further information, contact Sun Microsystems at (603) 2116-1888, fax (603) 2116-1999 or visit www.sun.com.

Westport can be reached at (603) 2095-0899, by fax at (603) 2093-3005 or by pointing your browser to www.westportmalaysia.com.my.