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WebNMS Case StudyMarubeni Access Solutions Uses VPN Managed Service in Large-Scale Environments to Satisfy Customer Needs and Reduce Operational Costs

AgendaTo renew existing system to handle monitoring requirements in a large-scale environment and enhance differentiation from competitors

Implementation Goals1. Develop new system to handle large-scale environments

2. Improve customer satisfaction by realizing functional requirements

3. Reduce operational costs significantly

SolutionUse of ZOHO’s network management system development platform for new system development

IntervieweesTakatoshi Mochizuki Server System Operation and Maintenance Department Director

Masami Naito Sales Department Service Planning Division

Customer ProfileMarubeni Access Solutions Inc.

Founded November, 1997

Representative Hidehisa Saito, President

Head Office 3rd floor, Asahi Seimei Otemachi Bldg. 2-6-1, Otemachi, Chiyoda-ku, 100-0004 Tokyo



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1. Develop New System to Handle Large-Scale Environments

Marubeni Access Solutions (Marubeni Access) is an approved telecommunications carrier providing a range of comprehensive service solutions, from large-capacity optical fiber network infrastructure construction for corporations to VPN network services, and supporting the broadband backbone. The company develops high-quality optical fiber line with high safety and reliability nationwide, and operates several urban data centers with high-performance facilities nationwide.

VECTANT, Marubeni Access’ IP connecting service, has an extensive service lineup including IP connection, VPN, mobile, and cloud, and has gained support and trust from many customers by its high service level.

Its web-based 24/365 network monitoring and fault management service for corporate business is called VOSS (VECTANT Online Support System). A synthesizing monitoring service that supports corporate infrastructure’s stable operation, VOSS is a pioneering online managed service in the industry. It provides the one-stop system of network monitoring and fault management needed by customers by using a VPN network configured by Marubeni Access.

In recent years, the increased number of broadband users and more complex requirements for customers in monitoring services have brought VOSS many challenges.

Takatoshi Mochizuki, Director of Server System Operation and Management Division, looks back on that time saying, “The increase of customers that we offer service made us review the renewal of VOSS to handle monitoring requirements in the large-scale environment.” In order to gain more users for Marubeni Access’ service and differentiate it from competitors, Mochizuki started the complete renewal project.

2. Improve Customer Satisfaction by Realizing Functional Requirements

In 2005, VOSS was just a start-up business as a commercial service, and at the time, system configuration was done without taking large-scale environments into consideration. However, as other carriers and ISPs came into the market, VOSS had to differentiate themselves by expanding their own service menu.

“From our customers we received requests that, in addition to the existing VOSS function such as monitoring SNMP traffic volume or monitoring via ICMP, they would like to utilize SNMP polling to gain more detailed information. Based on that, in order to improve service convenience and respond to customers’ needs, we started to review the enhancement of VOSS function in details,” says Mochizuki. Mochizuki is in charge of server planning/designing and building/operating, and is the key person for VOSS operation.

When Marubeni Access presented an RFP of the next generation system, one response proposed the “WebNMS Framework (WebNMS).” WebNMS is a Java-based development platform for network management systems, and has a history of being adopted by domestic/international telecommunication companies and service providers. Mochizuki was comparing and selecting several candidates, and when he had a look at the prototype that the respondent developed and built using WebNMS, he was convinced



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that it was the product with the functions that would fulfill the requirements and requests by Marubeni Access, which led to the adoption of WebNMS.

The decisive factor was that WebNMS was the most suitable in development of a monitoring system to realize both the monitoring requirements that the company simulated and the implementation scale (several tens of thousands monitoring targets). Marubeni Access anticipated using the system to reduce its own operational burden by using affluent functions to develop the network management system installed in WebNMS.

3. Reduce Operational Costs Significantly

Marubeni Access desired a number of new functions in the new VOSS. One of them, allowing other operators to handle registration/deletion/change of a monitoring target device (a function which users had previously been dependent on administrators for), was realized by customizing a default WebNMS function and making it operable by an arbitrary operator via a Web client. Mochizuki says, “Work can be done in one department by consolidating works handled in several departments. We could realize alleviation of operational burden and drastic operation streamlining.”

Also important in the renewal mission was the function of conducting alive monitoring, performance monitoring, and fault management of monitoring bases by using ICMP, SNMP, and SNMP Trap and displaying them in graphs. The solution involved using the extensive API, based on standard WebNMS functions. Mochizuki says, “Our customers are from companies with various sizes. This addition of functions enabled us to show traffic usage status between bases in graphs and determine the cause of network delay regardless of the scale of customers’ systems. This is such a crucial point that we could provide useful information for customers to review for system improvement.” Furthermore, the uniform management of monitoring information was realized in the customers-only Web portal screen and an easy-to-use UI design offering was evaluated.

In addition, Marubeni Access set a high SLA for its own service as the service provider, and for VOSS set the monitoring interval threshold to 5 minutes to guarantee a high quality level for customers. For alive monitoring or fault detection (which happens to as many as several tens of thousands of devices), they enhanced the alert function by installing the status management system, changing the signal color on screen when a monitoring target is in critical condition. In designing the screen, they installed a multi-tenant function that enables a different management information display for each customer. In order to be able to handle businesses specific to a customer, they made it possible to set permissions for viewing a management screen and installed layering functions with security considerations, which is a major point for function improvement.



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Up until now, VOSS has had to build servers to check thousands of monitoring targets, and operational cost increased when the scale increased. However, with renewed VOSS developed by WebNMS, the operation by one system to cover more than several thousand monitoring targets in one system was possible. Development using WebNMS helped realize a substantial reduction in operational maintenance and the streamlining of the operational management system.

4. Improve Customer Satisfaction with Competitive ServiceSince the official deployment of renewed VOSS at Marubeni Access in January 2011, the number of customers using VOSS is steadily increasing. Marubeni Access has even resold this monitoring system as a product to provide managed service, and VOSS has been regarded as a high-value added service among existing resellers. The adoption of WebNMS has helped Marubeni deploy large, scalable network management systems, and the new VOSS has increased customer satisfaction. In order to maintain a competitive edge among numerous service providers within the industry, VOSS has to provide satisfactory service for many customers. For that reason, they continue to add new functions. They can handle additional requirements from users by using customized functions for additional development, leading to the realization of need-driven service flexibly. By selecting WebNMS, Marubeni Access made it possible to change VOSS into a managed service with high expandability and provide service with high customer satisfaction.

Masami Naito, who is in charge of service planning in the Marubeni Access Sales Department, says, “It would be ideal to always adopt requests by customers and install them to VOSS,” and has high expectations for WebNMS. ZOHO WebNMS will contribute to the functional enhancement of VOSS.

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