ITS' solutions has also reduced company's Data Center Footprint and Overhead Costs

Kuwait City, Kuwait - May 5th 2014: Kuwait National Petroleum Corporation (KNPC) and ITS (International Turnkey Systems),today announced the successful implementation of a virtualized Oracle Enterprise server,which has streamlined processes, reduced bottom line costs and increased its performance by 50 percent.

The project,which was the largest state-of-the-art server everdeployed in the GCC,was implemented by KNPC's ICT partner ITS, in a bid to increase operational efficiency and help the company navigate through the digital frontier.

KNPC's increased performance was recorded within its business critical systems, such as financial systems and its in-house applications that manage refinery procurement schedules. With the successful completion of the ICT project, KNPC now boasts one of the biggest hardware infrastructures in the region paving the way for similar successes from other enterprises in Kuwait.

By investing in this virtualized ICT solution, KNPC has further strengthened the security of its processes with the introduction of a new disaster recovery protocol, allowing for the business applications and data to be immediately backed-up and transferred to an alternative location in the event that the server is damaged.

As one of the only qualified company's in the region that integrate between different vendors and being fully certified to deploy High-end storage technology, ITS was well placed to manage the implementation project.

Abdulaziz Ahmed Abdulrahman Al-Duaij, Manager Information Technology at KNPC said: "At KNPC we have been working toward a single ICT vision - to align our technology systems under one unified solution, offering resources and benefits to our group of companies.  The introduction of this new virtualized Oracle Enterprise server, implemented by partner ITS, gives us the best design to support our databases and Oracle E-Business Suite applications according to our business requirements. As a result our system performance, availability and reliability have all improved tremendously and we are now confident we can scale to develop new key projects such as clean fuel and a new refinery. Due to our strict resource requirements, we needed an ICT provider that had all the appropriate certifications to deploy technology from a wide variety of vendors, ITS was the clear choice to implement this project due to its vast experience in this field and credentials in the market."

The ITS multi-threaded virtual Oracle Enterprise server has opened KNPC's network allowing it to share resources with its other offices across the region, offering Software-As-A-Service (SAAS), which reduces hardware infrastructural and system maintenance costs. This has reduced data center floor space by nearly 50 percent and significantly lowered power consumption and cooling requirements, which has reduced costs while helping the company attain environmental goals. SAAS offers KNPC the benefit of improved scalability and flexibility, previously considered a barrier for growth within the company.

As part of this project, ITS implemented more than Storage Clusters within KNPC, which is the highest number of storage clusters ever implemented in Kuwait.

The ICT project is part of a wider initiative by Kuwait Petroleum Company, parent company of KNPC to connect the many businesses under its umbrella, enabling them to share technological resources and ultimately becoming a more streamlined and manageable conglomerate.

YaqoubKhajah, Acting Line of Business Head - Energy,ITS said: "This deployment was an important project for KNPC and as the company's trusted ICT solution provider we oversaw and managed the implementation process. As consultants, we worked closely with KNPC to review their strategic goals, develop the project plan and identify the technical requirements that would assure the implementation could be conducted at minimum cost within their specific time-frame. The introduction of this high-end virtualized Oracle Enterprise server is only the beginning for KNPC as we work closely with them to fortify and upgrade its entire network infrastructure."

To make this project a success, ITS worked with a number third party vendors such as Oracle, Symantec and EMC to deliver these solutions to KNPC.

-Ends-

About International Turnkey Systems (ITS)
International Turnkey Systems Group (ITS), a leading integrated information technology solutions provider, offers cutting edge solutions for numerous valued clients in the Middle East, North African, and East Asian regions, as well as the Caribbean, through our resource pool of over 1,500 skilled IT professionals based in 14 offices worldwide. At ITS, we are proud of our long and successful track record since our establishment in 1981. For more information on ITS, please visit: www.its.ws
 
About Kuwait National Petroleum Company
Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC), a subsidiary of Kuwait Petroleum Corporation, manages oil refining and gas processing operations as well as the marketing and distribution of petroleum products throughout the country. Established in 1960, the company operates three major refineries at Mina Abdullah, Mina Al-Ahmadi, and Shuaiba. With a total refining capacity of 900,000 barrels per day, KNPC is one of the largest oil refining companies in the Middle East.

© Press Release 2014