Managing the network infrastructure for some of the world’s largest companies is demanding, but inadequate information regarding the networks to be supported adds unnecessarily to cost and complexity.

Poor Inventory Information Costs Money

Our client – one of the largest global network services providers – suspected that some customers were being under billed, because support was being extended to infrastructure and machines beyond what was anticipated.

In addition they knew that shortcomings in terms of information on the networks they were supporting, was costing money in other ways too.  That is because some contracts stipulated the  delivery of an accurate asset register and non-performance in this area was resulting in monthly penalties.

How to Scan 100,000 Devices Globally?

The services provider was faced with challenge of completing network inventories across a diversity of client networks, involving multiple sites and a variety of protocols and standards.  Then, once such an inventory was complete, keeping it up to date.  The existing patchwork of tools was clearly insufficient.  Thus, began the search for an alternative.

Enter iQSonar – chosen because of its speed of implementation.  It enabled the client to scan the top 17 customers for the network services – in less than 14 weeks.  That involved scanning more than 100,000 devices globally.

While previous tools had taken weeks to audit even a small site with a few hundred devices; iQuate scanned thousands of devices per hour without any impact on the client’s network.

The Benefits

The IT inventory data was put to immediate use – resulting in:

- The avoidance of penalties, where inventory data was required by the end customer

- A dramatic increase in billing, as well as more precise billing methods (billing based on port usage, etc.)

- Improvement in service by pin pointing network issues  (e.g. devices were not configured consistently; did not have consistent security access).

iQSonar – The Solution

iQuate’s audit, inventory and monitoring suite, called iQSonar, enables organizations to discover, scan and track all PCs, software and devices in real time, pin pointing; licensing, utilization, compliance and other issues.