Case Study: VMWare & Smartpath Software

“We would not have been able to scale to support our growth rates without deploying VMware virtualization. It is very much entrenched within our business.”

Owen Batt, Co-founder and Chieft Technology Officer at Smartpath Software

CHALLENGE

Implement a scalable, responsive infrastructure that enables the rapid delivery of asset and maintenance software to customers and the cost-effective running of internal applications.

SOLUTION

VMware virtualization enables Smartpath Software to deliver applications as pre- packaged virtual appliances to customers with and without virtualized infrastructure and expedite the creation of new servers to support customer needs if hosting with Smartpath. Smartpath is also running key applications at lower cost and with higher availability than in a physical environment.

VMWARE AT WORK

• ESXi/ESX

• VMware Consolidated Backup

• VMware vCenter Update Manager

DEPLOYMENT ENVIRONMENT

• ESXi/ESX on Supermicro servers with dual or quad-core Intel Xeon processors running at 2.2GHz to 2.5GHz and 6-8GB RAM s

• Supermicro SAN with 3TB of storage

• Guest operating systems: Red Hat Enterprise Linux, Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Mac OS X Server

• Virtualized applications: Apache Tomcat, PostgreSQL, Postfix email server, Bind DNS

=============================================================================

Founded in 2001, Smartpath Software delivers asset management software, maintenance and helpdesk services using Web 2.0 and Software as a Service (SaaS) technologies. Headquartered in Sydney and with an office in Melbourne, Smartpath also has a wide international presence. Fuelled largely by demand for its Loc8 asset management and maintenance suite, Smartpath has grown by 300 percent year-on-year for the three years prior to 2009. To deliver the IT resources to sustain growth, the organization leases space in a co-located datacenter in Melbourne, operates some hardware in Sydney for redundancy and is building its infrastructure internationally.

With datacenter costs and energy use growing and customer demand placing pressure on the business to increase the availability of server resources, Smartpath needed an infrastructure that combined scalability with centralized management to reduce the load on administrators. “We looked at virtualization around late 2007 when our physical server numbers had grown to about 30,” said Owen Batt, Technical Director. “We then implemented VMware ESXi with VMware Consolidated Backup and VMware vCenter Update Manager. The performance we achieved convinced us to upgrade to ESX. We are now evaluating features such as VMotion and High Availability to enhance the resilience of our infrastructure.”

The VMware hosts are running around 200 virtual machines, most of which are used to provide applications and services to customers. “We have been able to deliver pre-packaged applications as a VMware-based virtual appliance to customers that have a VMware installation in their own datacenters,”said Batt.“We are also running key internal applications such as email in a virtualized environment.” Smartpath also uses VMware’s Fusion product to develop its Linux- based virtual appliance in a Mac environment.

Results

• Avoided investment of A$1 million in new physical servers that would have to be housed in four to five racks

• Increased CPU utilization from 2-4% to 20-30%

• Improved quality assurance by delivering products in SOE integrated with VMware

About Smartpath
Founded in 2001, Smartpath publishes Loc8, a web 2.0 asset, maintenance, helpdesk and mobile workforce management software solution.

Headquartered in Sydney, Australia with offices in Melbourne, San Francisco, CA  and Plano, Texas, Smartpath works across all industries, predominantly engineering, health, IT, petro-chemical, resources, manufacturing, transportation, building and construction and government.

Customers include Rio Tinto, ARA Group, Brookfield Multiplex, Spotless, Spastic Centre, Cue Clothing, Department of Human Services, Spotlight Stores, William Angliss TAFE, Nortel Networks,  St John’s Grammar, and Microsoft.

For company information, please visit: http://www.smartpath-software.com or via www.twitter.com/smartpath.

PDF VERSION:  apac_au_09Q2_cs_vmw_smartpath_software_english

Case Study: Taking the Smartpath with Flex

By Brad Howarth, Builder AU | 2007/11/21 09:54:02

FROM: http://www.builderau.com.au/program/flash/soa/Case-Study-Taking-the-Smartpath-with-Flex/0,339028413,339283923,00.htm#

Sometimes it's worth taking a risk on a beta. For Smartpath, taking that risk has led to the creation of a robust and industry-tested asset, help desk and facilities management tool.

But it has also meant the company is now regarded as one of the leading lights for the Adobe Flex developer community in the region, while also being named in Deloitte's Technology Fast 50 2007 Awards.

The co-founder and technical director at Smartpath, Owen Batt, said he had first investigated building the company's Lob8 application when Flex was at its version 1 release, but was dissuaded by the cost.

The first code for Loc8 was written as an asset management solution only, in HTML and JavaScript. Batt said even that limited effort meant pushing the limits on what was possible.

"We always wanted to use Flex since 1.0 but it was just too prohibitive cost-wise for us to really consider and use," he said.

The arrival of the Flex 2 alpha code however allowed Smartpath to shift its front end into a very dynamic environment that is much faster to develop within.

"We pretty much then and there made the decision that, despite it being alpha, we should start diving into the technology and wear the pain of pushing our product into it," Batt said. "That was the best move by far because we've come out way ahead of the game as a very mature Flex development house."

In May of last year Smartpath did not have a helpdesk application, but through using Flex 2 it had designed and implemented the entire application by July of that year.

He has no qualms about having developed the application using beta software.

"It is a bit a painful, but it was a decision that we made for a speed-to-market thing," Batt said. "By the time that we actually went live with a product Adobe were actually in beta 2. When beta 3 came out we had to do some quick porting, because a new player was released as well.

"We've evolved as we've understood their product and we have taken advantage of a lot of the features in Flex 2 that were opened up through this beta process. It really did allow us to test the water as well.

"We've all just started to cut over to Flex 3 now from the development perspective. And that's a major change, in terms of what end users are going to see."

Now the program is built entirely in Flex and delivered through a Web browser as a rich media application. Loc8 is now at release 2.7, with a 3.0 release in the works for release in April or May of next year. Smartpath has subsequently developed its software to be hosted on a software-as-a-service basis, and is now investing in rebuilding its framework to make it more akin to a full enterprise resource planning application.

"It's quite a large piece of software, and is definitely one of the bigger Flex projects around full stop," Batt said. "Now it's time to really leverage Flex. It can do some visually fantastic things, which allow us to do some fantastic work flows and really put some smarts in. We've got some great designs and things that we've always wanted to implement but never really had the time."

Batt said the application itself is frequently used by managed service providers, such as companies who are managing buildings and equipment on behalf of third parties, as it has the ability to manage multiple business units, geographic locations and contracts.

For example, the software is used by Hutchison's mobile phone network in Vietnam, along with the company's network operation centre.

"Every event that occurs on that network gets logged in that help desk and used in our asset management and that's all delivered through Flex," Batt said.

Batt said he owes the strong relationship with Adobe to the efforts of that company's technical director, Mark Blair.

"He has been fantastic, because we get a lot of insight to what's going on inside Adobe, what they are planning, and what they are releasing," Batt said. "It is a real good sneak peek to what they are doing with Flash Player and it's handy for us so that we know we can invest before the rest of the market is going to be able to. Just getting in and looking at the Flex 2 Alpha -- that completely changed our business."

Blair said for him it has been exciting and rewarding to see Smartpath succeed over the past few years as it has adopted Flex.

"They have really leveraged Flex throughout their asset management platform, and it's provided them a rich application experience and more familiar to desktop applications than Web applications and that's helped them win business," Blair said.

Smartpath wins Deloitte Technology Fast 50 award

Smartpath wins Deloitte Technology Fast 50 award
By Smartpath marketing
November 12, 2007

Media Release

Smartpath wins Deloitte Technology Fast 50 award

Sydney, November 12, 2007 - Smartpath, the asset management, helpdesk and maintenance management provider, has ranked 22^nd in Australian and 15th in NSW in the 2007 Deloitte Technology Fast 50 awards, achieving 329 per cent revenue growth over the last three years.

The Deloitte Technology Fast 50 ranks the 50 fastest growing technology companies, public or private, based on percentage revenue growth over three years (2005-2007) and includes all related industry sectors: communications; software; semiconductors, components and electronics; life sciences; internet; and computer peripherals.

Smartpath Managing Director, David Hodges, said, "Our significant growth is a result of our talented software developers, innovation in technology adoption and a commitment to best practice management for our clients. One of our most successful strategies has been to offer both a software and software-as-a-service model all developed using Adobe Flex to give true internet application benefits to enterprise-grade software," Mr Hodges said.

"We expect to again exceed 100% per cent growth over the next 12 months."

Deloitte Technology, Media and Telecommunications partner Julia Bickerstaff said the growth of Smartpath has been astounding.

"Managing growth is challenging for many organisations, but Smartpath has achieved exceptional growth during a downturn in the technology sector. With the global tech sector recovery, Australia is leading the region and the future is looking very bright for Smartpath.

Founded in 2004, Smartpath delivers asset management and help desk via web 2.0 software and Software-as-a-Service to give companies total visibility and control of their fixed and IT assets including the location, condition, value and status. Smartpath works internationally across all industries, predominantly engineering, health, IT, petro-chemical, resources, manufacturing, transportation, building and construction and government.

Customers include Royal North Shore Hospital Attorney General's Department, Qantas, Westfield, Australian Insurers' Group, Spotlight, Corning Cable, Births Deaths and Marriages, and Fuji-Xerox and partners include the ARA Group.

NB: For more information see media releases and research at www.deloitte.com.au

Smartpath Goes For Gold In Nigeria

Smartpath Goes For Gold In Nigeria
By Smartpath marketing
March 2, 2009

Smartpath Goes For Gold In Nigeria

~ strong blue-chip opportunity for asset and maintenance management software in Africa ~

Sydney, March 2 2009 - Smartpath, provider of web 2.0 asset, maintenance, helpdesk and mobility solutions, is continuing its international expansion through the appointment of a partner in Nigeria, UnoTelos Ltd.

The partnership was signed in just under a month following UnoTelos' review of a number of global asset management and maintenance software solutions, and a trial of Smartpath's Loc8 asset, maintenance, mobility and help desk web 2.0 software.

A specialist in the provision of infrastructure and network management, network planning and design and network deployment, UnoTelos has taken Smartpath's Loc8 product to organisations in the petro-chemical, telco, airline and banking industries, in which it has particular expertise through work with, Chevron, Arik Airlines, Global Fleet Group, ExxonMobil Nigeria and MTN Nigeria.

Smartpath's web 2.0 solution, Loc8, is a business control solution that enables companies to gain a consolidated view of their assets, meet statutory reporting and compliance requirements, mitigate risk, manage asset additions, disposals and transfers, control procurement andmaintenance costs and leverage the value of assets throughout their organisation.

Training on the Loc8 software with UnoTelos has been conducted virtually from Smartpath's head offices in Sydney.

"We have strong demand for business control systems at blue-chip user organisations requiring highly functional asset and maintenance management solutions with a low implementation footprint but which deliver rapid return on investment," explained Jude Egbokwu, Managing Director, at UnoTelos. "These are large organisations for which efficient operations can seriously impact the bottom line positively. We look forward to strong success with Smartpath's Loc8 product in Nigeria."

"2009 is shaping up well for Smartpath, and the countries we're currently targeting are ones experiencing rapid economic growth and those investing heavily in infrastructure, "said Philip Hare, Partnering and Marketing Director at Smartpath. "Currently, these are typically within ‘emerging markets' which have a strong requirement to keep critical assets, including telephony equipment and plant machinery, operational to help sustain strong economic growth."

This partnership comes ahead of Smartpath's imminent launch into the UK and its recent work establishing a partner presence in South America, where there are strong opportunities for the Loc8 asset management and maintenance solution. The company is also seeking specialised partners in Australia.

For more information, please visit www.smartpath-software.com

Property Asset Management Easy As 1-2-3

Property Asset Management Easy As 1-2-3
By Smartpath Marketing
September 7, 2009

MEDIA RELEASE

PROPERTY ASSET MANAGEMENT EASY AS 1-2-3

~ new, affordable online service helps local government

with asset management ~

Sydney, September 7 , 2009 - Local governments moving to adhere to NAMS, National Asset Management Standards[1], as per the recently released IPWEA recommended guidelines on Building Condition and Performance Assessment Standards, can now simply log on and use a new service from Australian companies, Smartpath and SPM.

The new service, the first of its kind in Australasia, has been designed to provide councils with a comprehensive asset management system directly aligned to NAMS principles.  It will deliver the best in asset management, planning and financial modelling from operations to strategy. Delivered online, the service enables Councils to trial and sign up easily at an affordable per user per month cost.

The service offers Local governments a ‘software-as-a-service' (SaaS) or ‘cloud' delivery mechanism, to facilitate rapid adoption without financial burden. It combines all asset management and capital planning functions based on the NAMS principles including data collection, asset register, maintenance management, predictive models, project planning, capital planning, developer contribution cost allocations and decision management.

The solution sits within one highly scalable system that provides for specific local government requirements and extracts the value of the Smartpath and SPM asset knowledge libraries, including maintenance regimes, total useful lives, unit rates, criticality grades, and quality statements such as 5 star ratings, and general functional or quality standards.

"We recognise that local governments want to improve their asset management but many need guidance on where to start, and how to ensure that it becomes an ongoing sustainable process that delivers real value," explained Steve Lyons, Managing Director, SPM. "Between Smartpath and SPM, we've established a holy grail for asset management."

"The joint solution offers proven asset management and modelling gained from expertise in both the public and private sector, and it's available here and now with low pricing and easy technology set-up - all users need is a web browser," said David Hodges, Managing Director, Smartpath. "With ‘cloud computing', the sharing of information and benchmarking between organisations will be an automated output through dashboards and provide information that is only possible through the Smartpath / SPM solution."

The two companies are showcasing the solution at the IPWEA International Public Works Conference at the Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre from 6-10 September 2009, stand 14.

For more information, please visit www.smartpath.com.au or www.spmassets.com.au .

ABOUT SMARTPATH

Founded in 2001, Smartpath publishes Loc8, a web 2.0 asset, maintenance, help desk and mobile workforce management solution.

Headquartered in Sydney with an office in Melbourne, and a global partner program, Smartpath works across all industries, predominantly engineering, health, IT, petro-chemical, resources, manufacturing, transportation, building and construction and government.

Customers include Royal North Shore Hospital, ARA Group, Multiplex, Spastic Centre, Cue Clothing, Department of Human Services, Spotlight, Microsoft, William Angliss, Nortel Networks, IJN Hospital (Malaysia), St John's Grammar and Morgan FM.

For company information, please visit: http://www.smartpath-software.com or via www.twitter.com/smartpath .

For media information, interviews or photography, please contact:

Jo Balfour

Telephone: 02 9365 6258

Mobile: 0405 542 018

Email: jobalfour@progressiva.com.au

ABOUT SPM

Established in 2001 with offices in Auckland and Sydney, SPM is a recognised thought-leader in asset management planning, providing specialist solutions to a diverse range of clients utilising innovative asset management principles and analytical techniques which are embodied in its proven suite of web 2.0 applications.

SPM software is widely used by asset intensive organisations across across a diverse range of market sectors including Local / State Government Property & Infrastructure; Facilities Management; Social Housing; Health and Education.

Customers include Spotless Services Australia Pty Ltd (supporting a growing number of its Public Private Partnership contracts in Australia including Sydney Water; ACT Housing; University of New South Wales and Orange Health); Housing New South Wales (the largest social housing provider in the Southern Hemisphere); and seven of the top 10 largest Councils in New Zealand.

For company information, please visit www.spmassets.com

For media information, please contact:

Roger Jameson

General Manager, Sales & Marketing

Telephone: +64 9 921 4021

Mobile: +64 21 466692

Email: roger.jameson.spmassets.com

[1] Please visit www.ipwea.org.au for further information

St John’s Grammar Takes Progressive, Automated Approach To Teacher and Student Safety and Support

St John's Grammar Takes Progressive, Automated Approach To Teacher and Student Safety and Support
By Smartpath marketing
July 23, 2008

MEDIA RELEASE

St John's Grammar Takes Progressive, Automated Approach To Teacher and Student Safety and Support

Sydney, July 23, 2008 - St John's Grammar School in South Australia has demonstrated its proactive approach to improving the safety and support structure for its 1020 students, teachers and other support staff with the implementation of a Web 2.0 helpdesk and asset management solution from Smartpath, the asset and maintenance management and helpdesk software and SaaS (software as a service) provider.

St John's Grammar School will use Smartpath's Loc8  for preventative and routine building, maintenance and service delivery management with the objective of facilitating easier communications between the teaching and administrative staff and maintenance staff as well as improving analyses of KPI reporting.

Founded in 1958, the Anglican Independent School has around 150 teaching and support staff.  To support a school of this size, featuring an Early Learning Centre, Junior and Secondary Campuses, St John's Grammar needed to have a better process in place to manage approximately 150 maintenance and IT support requests logged each month than the previous manual system. It also needed to streamline the way IT and maintenance staff was physically managing their time among the three campuses.

Loc8, Smartpath's powerful web-based asset and maintenance management and helpdesk application, will catalogue the location, value and condition of the St John's non- fixed assets, including computers, desks, data projectors, TVs, videos, whiteboards, filing cabinets, chairs and bookcases, as well as fixed assets such as the location of smoke detectors, security systems, exit lights, walls, windows, ceilings, carpet and flooring, among others.

Dustin Fisher, Infrastructure and ICT Manager at St John's Grammar, reviewed a number of available software tools  and, appropriately, found Smartpath's web-based offering via the internet. He had four straightforward criteria for his helpdesk, asset and maintenance management software package:

• Cross-platform functionality as the school has Mac and PC computers
• Requests to be handled via email for ease of job logging and workflow management
• Comprehensive asset tracking for fixed and non-fixed assets and;
• PDA integration for property ground staff who use handheld scanners and to effect efficient use of their time.

"Our checklist was straightforward and Smartpath, with its Loc8 solution, met all the criteria. We needed visibility into our asset and maintenance management to uphold safety standards at St John's, while having access to a helpdesk system that is easy for everyone to use and that improves efficiency all round," explained Mr Fisher. "We particularly liked the fact that Smartpath is an Australian company as it means we have access to local technical support if required, and we have been invited to provide feedback into Loc8's ongoing development."

"Schools are accountable for student and staff wellbeing while on school premises so it's vital infrastructure and equipment are regularly maintained and kept in good working condition. Australian education facilities are also increasingly being assessed on a number of key performance indicators, especially as more international students come to study here, so reporting tools play a strong part for St John's," said Phil Hare, General Manager at Smartpath.

In future, St John's Grammar will also use the information contained with Loc8's Helpdesk to track the relationship between an asset and its predicted maintenance, failure and replacement points for improved infrastructure management.

For more information, please visit http://www.smartpath-software.com or telephone 1300 651 315.