Case Studies

StrataCore Reduces Amdocs Interactive’s Data Center Cost by 50%

Introduction

Amdocs is a market leader in customer experience systems innovation, delivering the most advanced business and operational support systems to innovative service providers in more than 60 countries. The company’s digital commerce, personalization, and mobile Internet solutions are offered through Amdocs Interactive, a unit formed in 2008. Amdocs’ systems, platforms and services are all founded on a deep commitment to operational excellence.

The challenge

Amdocs Interactive inherited multiple data center operations from the acquisition of Seattle based Qpass, including:

• More than 70 full size racks in a carrier grade Seattle data center
• Additional racks in another carrier grade Seattle data center
• Plus racks in the company’s own downtown Seattle data center

A business case analysis of the costs associated with running these disparate data center operations led Benny Zaidenberg, Amdocs Interactive’s IT Director, to conclude that the cost structure was out of line.

Our analysis showed that we could significantly reduce costs by moving all production operations to our Salt Lake City data center while consolidating all non-production operations in a single Seattle area data center,” explained Zaidenberg. “In addition, our team was committed to supporting Amdocs’ commitment to operational excellence by moving off old hardware and accelerating virtualization in the non-production environment.

Once a decision was made to consolidate all non-production operations in a single data center, Zaidenberg and his team were faced with a significant timing challenge. The company’s primary Seattle data center contract was up for renewal, giving the team just five months to choose a facility, negotiate a contract, configure the space, and move in. “We knew it would be a challenge to meet an aggressive time line,” said Zaidenberg. “Thanks to the support of Aaron Loehr and his team at StrataCore, we met our time line objective and beat our cost savings projections.”

Choosing the right data center

Amdocs Interactive was familiar with StrataCore’s reputation for having a deep understanding of the data center market and retained them to help identify provider options. “From the outset of the engagement, StrataCore added value to our project,” commented Herman Crank, Amdocs Interactive’s data center consolidation project manager. “They developed a short list of data centers, presented each facility’s cost structure, and measured those results against a detailed analysis of our unique business requirements. Their extensive analysis of our power and bandwidth requirements became a significant driver in choosing the right data center.”

Leveraging their proprietary Data Center Vendor Selection Process, StrataCore quickly narrowed the data center options for Amdocs Interactive down to six potential providers and began scheduling on-site tours. “StrataCore’s market intelligence and executive contacts proved to be a tremendous help in accelerating our data center selection process,” said Crank. “They served as our advocate 24/7 during the selection process and throughout contract negotiations.”

The art of price negotiation

“StrataCore ensured that our requirements and verbal agreements – both internally and with the service provider – were accurately reflected in the contract,” said Zaidenberg. “They reviewed every single line of the contract and provided us with the data needed to bring the agreement in line with our performance, scalability and financial goals.”

“The level of contract negotiation expertise and redlining support we provided to Amdocs Interactive exemplifies the level of service we provide to our clients,” said Aaron Loehr, CEO of StrataCore. “Meaningful custom pricing requires an in-depth understanding of the back-office processes at the larger data center providers. In many cases, the true decision makers are behind the scenes. StrataCore specializes in crafting a compelling business case that speaks the language of senior executives and business analysts. This skill set provides immense value in completing successful business arrangements on behalf of our clients.”

The results

StrataCore was instrumental in helping Amdocs Interactive meet its time line requirements and beat its cost saving projections. From a time line perspective, the data center selection, negotiation, and move out/move in process was complete in 100 days. “On the cost savings front, our new data center contract drove Amdocs Interactive’s data center costs down by 50% and reduced bandwidth costs by 75%,” said Zaidenberg. “Our new data center has the higher power density needed to support the transition to virtualization, can scale to meet our growth and connectivity requirements, and is right in line with Amdocs’ commitment to operational excellence. StrataCore saved us time and a significant amount of money, while delivering a high value solution.”

StrataCore Saves CarToys $250,000

The challenge

CarToys, headquartered in Seattle, WA, is the largest independent car audio and mobile entertainment retailer in North America. The company has over 50 retail stores located in major cities across the Western United States. CarToys needed a voice and data service provider that could offer a variety of connectivity speeds to their locations. A majority of the stores required additional services, such as POTS lines. CarToys had been using over eight different providers in order to achieve the level of service and connectivity required of their stores, which caused a variety of problems for their IT staff and senior level executives.

As their current contracts came to term, the CarToys team engaged StrataCore to help consolidate their providers and to substantially cut costs. The key objectives for a new network solution were to:

• Significantly reduce the current spend
• Identify one or two providers who could provide all of the services necessary for CarToys
• Run a reliable and robust network
• Obtain fair and reasonable contract terms

StrataCore analyzed multiple options for the CarToys network, and throughout the sourcing process helped the client select two national providers to begin contract and pricing negotiations with.

The solution

StataCore understood CarToys needed a robust MPLS network, as well as additional voice and data services. They quickly identified an immediate opportunity for cost-savings by consolidating their voice and data networks into a single, converged, integrated access T1/private port MPLS solution. “StrataCore helped us analyze our current bills and vendors, guided us through the selection process, and assisted in finding vendors who would provide fair pricing and a reliable network”, said Rob Reed, Chief Information Officer at CarToys. “We had over eight different service providers and contracts to manage, which was very timeconsuming and complicated for our IT department. StrataCore consolidated services for all locations across the country into two national providers, and redlined our contracts, giving us the ability to focus on other important areas of our business.”

The result

StrataCore successfully consolidated CarToy’s telecommunications vendors to two national providers who could support the company’s current and future needs. By taking the lead on much of the day-to-day negotiations, StrataCore was able to obtain a very competitively priced solution saving the client more than $250,000 over a 36 month period. “StrataCore worked tirelessly to help us in all aspects of our 54-site MPLS move—they reviewed our current contracts, identified potential monetary savings, and helped us negotiate our new contracts”, commented Reed. “Thanks to StrataCore we realized a significant cost savings month over month. We were very impressed with StrataCore’s industry knowledge and expertise. They were able to quickly pinpoint areas where we could save money and improve our network and we will continue to use them for future services.”