Ascent Technology manages Vox Telecom’s heterogeneous database environment

As the leading independent telco in the country, Vox Telecom is a major player in the voice and data managed services space. Having been in this arena since 1998, the company has vast experience in providing voice and data services to all the key market segments in the country, from consumer right through to enterprise level. Clearly, when it comes to servicing its vast and varied customer base effectively, the management of the organisation’s database environment is critical.

As Vox Telecom has grown over the years, it has made its share of tactical acquisitions. This, in turn, has led to its database environment developing into a mix of Microsoft and Oracle technologies. According to Shane Chorley, Executive Head of Vox Core, because of the importance of the company’s databases to the day-to-day operations of the business, ensuring continuity and availability across this mixed technology environment is vital.

“Database management is not our core business, but the nature of our telco operations means it is nonetheless crucial to what we do. Therefore, we soon reached a point where we required a skilled and experienced database management services provider that could comfortably look after a mixed technology environment. Ascent Technology is recognised as an expert organasation in this field, so it was natural for us to turn to them,” states Chorley.

“Our databases have to deal with a wide variety of information that is of high importance to our business. Whether it is customer information and billing details, or critical live transactional information that we are dealing with, there is simply no room for error. While Vox has a certain level of these skills available in-house, we wanted the professionals looking after our database environment because it is absolutely critical to our operations.”

Chorley goes on to point out that it is not only for its skills and experience that Ascent Technology has been chosen, but also because it is one of the few organisations that can provide a heterogeneous database management offering. Since the company utilises both Microsoft and Oracle database servers, he explains, Vox requires a single service provider capable of looking after such a mixed technology environment.

“Ascent Technology has a well known reputation as a expert heterogeneous database management services organisation, and it has certainly come to the party as far as our environment is concerned,” adds Chorley.

Johan Lamberts, MD of Ascent Technology, indicates that the two organisations have now been working together for a number of years. “Vox obviously sees the value we add in our role as their trusted advisor. Our deep understanding of database environments means that we are able to effectively manage their mixed technology environment so that we continue to add value to their business going forward,” he says.

“Every client environment offers up its own unique challenges, and Vox Telecom is no different. However, thanks to our strong technical knowledge and the depth of our expertise, these challenges have been easily overcome.”

Chorley says that it is clear that the two organisations work very well together, which is why they have been involved in what has been a long-term, open-ended partnership.

“As we move forward, what gives me real peace of mind is the knowledge that Ascent’s people are genuine experts and we are able to tap into this experience and knowledge. We are comfortable using Ascent Technology, who we believe are the top experts in this space; this ensures we have the best skills available for the operation of our database environment at all times,” he concludes.

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