Aviva selects Pirean for critical business transformation project and innovative new web services development platform

Published 29th July 2009

Aviva selects Pirean for critical business transformation project and innovative new web services development platform



Security, access management and virtualisation technologies to underpin new portal for 25,000 consultants; New development environment to cut project times from months to days



London, England – July 29th, 2009 – Pirean, a leading delivery partner for IT Service and Security management, today announced the commencement of a major project for Aviva UK to migrate bespoke legacy applications onto a new standards-based IBM centric virtualisation platform. The move will help reduce new product development times for the Aviva Business IT unit from an average of 6 months to as little as 7 days.



The work carried out by Pirean, an IBM Tivoli AAA rated partner for IT Service and Security Management, uses a combination of IBM Tivoli Access Manager, IBM Tivoli Identity Manager, Tivoli Application Dependency Discovery Manager and other complimentary IBM Tivoli software to help Aviva create a highly manageable framework for product development based on IBM’s leading platform virtualization technologies.



“Our work with Pirean is helping us deliver a new focus on web service that enables us to better interact with our partners and customers in an environment where security and speed to market are absolutely paramount,” comments Ian Chapple, Director of IT Strategy & Architecture for Aviva UK, “Pirean have a strong technical understanding of our environment and a proven track record of delivering innovative solutions. The detailed design work they have carried out so far gives us a clear indication of the benefits of the new system backed by a carefully phased implementation strategy to ensure constant availability of our critical applications during the process.”



As part of Aviva Plc, the worlds 5th largest Insurance group with over 50 million customers across 28 countries, Aviva UK selected Pirean as lead implementation partner following the success of a 3 month detailed design and planning project. As Mike Cartwright, CTO for Pirean explains, “The new solution will carefully migrate a number of Aviva’s highly bespoke, business critical systems onto IBM based equivalents and will create a standards based development environment using virtualisation technology to help meet capacity, reliability and security requirements.”



One of the first benefits of the Pirean designed solution will be a new consultant’s portal under development by Aviva for the UK’s 25,000 brokers and financial advisers. The solution will also underpin services for helping larger corporations better manage employee entitlements and coverage via the web.



Cartwright, CTO for Pirean commented, “As more organisations deploy critical web based applications, there is a growing requirement to build integrated security, access and management platforms designed from the outset to grow and adapt.



“In the past, many organisations have tended to deploy new web apps without due consideration to managing both old and new applications cohesively. Many have often had to ‘reinvent the wheel’ each time which ultimately leads to problems as business and technology requirements change.”



“By building security, access control and management into the very start of the development phase and using a coherent process from cradle to grave, organisations like Aviva are able to realise significant cost and process benefits while minimising the risk of unsecured “rogue” applications causing unforeseen problems in the future” Cartwright adds.



The Pirean solution will allow Aviva’s Business IT to use standardised templates for development of new business applications with a unified and centrally managed access and security model. The implementation and migration of the first legacy business applications is due to go fully live in Q1 of 2010.



About Aviva
Aviva, the international savings, investments and insurance group, is the world’s fifth largest insurance group, serving 50 million customers across Europe, North America and Asia Pacific.

In the UK, Aviva is a leading provider of life, pensions, investment, general insurance and health products to more than 20 million customers. Aviva also provides roadside assistance through the RAC. Products are distributed through a number of channels including IFAs, brokers, corporate partners and direct to customers via the internet.

Aviva's UK Insurance business has a market share of around 15%, making it the largest general insurer in the UK. The business is focused on insurance for individuals and small businesses.

Aviva's life and pensions business in the UK has a total market share of 12% and a top three position in its key markets of savings, protection, and annuities.

About Pirean
Pirean is a leading systems integrator and consultancy delivering real-time business and service assurance through solutions for infrastructure and application management.

Working in partnership with Pirean, your business will quickly realise the full potential of your technology infrastructure. We focus on helping our clients to achieve their business goals and providing them ongoing support through proven capabilities in:



· Business Consulting

· Technology Consulting

· Software Development and Application Delivery

· Tailored Managed Services and Solution Assured Support



We deliver the visibility, control and automation capability that you need from your infrastructure and applications to deliver robust, highly available and streamlined business services while managing risk and compliance.

Our unique blend of services and capabilities enable us to help you take a strategic view of your business; where you are, where you want to go and how to better leverage the resources you have to get there.



Pirean are one of Europe’s Leading IBM Premier Business Partners, having been awarded IBM Tivoli’s AAA Accreditations for a range of products in both the IT Service Management and Security portfolios.



Accolades include the IBM ‘Business Partner Innovation Award’ and ‘Beacon Award Finalist – Outstanding Service Management Tivoli Solution’ in 2008 and 2009 respectively.



We deliver expert support for Infrastructure, Service and Security Management platforms using IBM technologies throughout the life of your solution from design and build through delivery and into ongoing performance improvement and support.



Contact details:



Anne Harding

The Message Machine

01895 631448

anne@themessagemachine.com