Customer Reference Story

3Com | Manufacturing/High-Tech | webMethods Product Suite

APPLICATION INTEGRATION

3COM MAKES THE RIGHT CALL BY CHOOSING WEBMETHODS TECHNOLOGY

Challenge 3Com is known for its engineering prowess, and its visionary CIO Jerry Kelly wants an enterprise application integration platform thats just as savvy. The platform must do it all: seamlessly interconnect applications, improve workflow, support B2B transactions and enable a Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) all at a low cost of ownership. Solution Using Software AGs webMethods product suite, 3Com gains a scalable platform to quickly integrate applications internally and across the supply chain while building the foundation for an SOA. By embracing SOA to drive its business integration strategy, 3Com has streamlined core business processes, reduced IT costs, synchronized master data and secured better real-time visibility into enterprise operations. Benefits First project moved into production faster and at less cost than budgeted Projects are deployed faster because custom code isnt required Business users benefit from more reliable access to real-time data and automated processes for better efficiency and accuracy Real-time transactions dramatically improve the quality and integrity of data increasing customer satisfaction IT can resolve problems quickly and has more time for high-value projects

3Com Corporation is a leading global provider of secure, converged voice and data networking solutions for enterprises of all sizes. Known for innovation, the company has more than 1,400 U.S. patents and nearly 50 patents in China. Annual revenue is $1.3 billion. 3Com is headquartered in Massachusetts, USA, and has more than 6,000 employees in more than 40 countries.

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We can pinpoint where we have a problemin

minutes, rather than days, so the overall integrity of our

data, the overall integrity of our applications, is of a much higher quality. Jerry Kelly | CIO and Vice President | 3Com Corporation

Needed: scalable platform for seamless integration

When Jerry Kelly took over as CIO at 3Com, he was alarmed his support staff spent up to 60% of its time on integration issues. While I had very, very capable core applications, the interconnectivity and inter-application transaction processing was primarily point-to-point and batch-oriented, he said. In fact, there were 250-plus point-to-point contacts to manage tied like spaghetti between backoffice applications for the supply chain, finance and HR, the Siebel CRM system, the data warehouse and Web-based applications. The reliability and integrity of our data and transactions were always in question, CIO Kelly said. We didnt know, for example, when we shared data or if transactions between applications actually happened. It was users who typically told us if we had a problem! Kelly knew the key to re-engineering his application portfolio was a scalable enterprise application integration platform. I wanted an enterprise service bus that would allow good application integration and that was robust with full-loop error recovery and errorhandling capabilities, he said. I also wanted to augment and improve my overall B2B interaction between my trading partners, my sales partners and my service partners.

Enter the solution: webMethods technology

3Com evaluated five different integration alternatives, narrowed the selection to two and then chose webMethods. The cost of ownership with webMethods showed clear market leadership compared to the competitive product, said Karl Lovelock, Senior IT Director of Infrastructure. Fast deployment of the webMethods solution also had great appeal. The webMethods suite had a technological lead by having off-the-shelf adapters to key applications that we needed, said IT Programs Director Kathleen ONeill. That meant 3Com would not need to develop custom code to integrate SAP or Siebel systems, for example, which would speed up projects and reduce development costs.

to application as well as transactions from application to application. The backbone system of all of this was webMethods and needed to be perfect. Otherwise it all grinds to a halt. The webMethods technology performed as promised, and Kelly gives high marks to the professional services team, which provided valuable mentoring to determine the optimum infrastructure requirements and configuration. Leveraging the professional services organization enabled us to unearth the full power of the webMethods product, he said. Additionally, local support in Singapore and India helped assure project success, faster.

Improved visibility increases supply-chain performance

3Com customers are already benefiting from

First project goes live in record time

Ahead of schedule and under budget, the IT team has just completed its first and highly complex integration project using webMethods technology. Project Daylight bringing a customer service solution in house was massive, requiring the integration of internal applications as well as significant integration with outside service providers and logistics partners globally. Many customer processes would be impacted, from keeping customer records, to providing Web self-service, to issuing licensing keys and validating product registrations. We put our reputation on the line, Kelly said, Because 3Coms performance is higher, the company can expect higher service levels from its third-party logistics providers. The end result is better service for 3Com customers. significant improvements to the supply chain. For example, 24-hour information delays have been replaced with real-time visibility of inventory status at hubs. That means customers can see where materials are and, if theres a problem, it can be resolved quickly. 3Com is also able to make changes to master data more quickly and accurately.

Highly satisfied and planning more improvements

People within IT and across the 3Com business are quite delighted with how the initial integration project came together. Theyre amazed with the reliability, that they can get real-time transactions amazed at the ease in which we were able to integrate, Kelly said. Now people are coming up

Add to the wish list re-usable code, said IT Applications Director Chen Hong. We wanted a re-usable code library because each of these pointto-point contacts had its own code stream, she said. A Service-Oriented Architecture would really drive home the re-use of code.

by using a technology new to 3Com. Yet the webMethods technology actually proved to reduce risks and surpass expectations! The key enabler to this total end-to-end solution was webMethods, Kelly said, because it was my transaction hub in moving data from application

with ideas, saying, You know what? We should

Situation Before: 250+ Spaghetti-tied Point-to-Point Contacts

No effective handshaking No effective full loop capacity No error recovery and handling capabilities Antiquated B2B technology Multiple code streams

use webMethods for this, webMethods for that. So were seeing additional uses we didnt think of before. Other projects are underway. 3Com is replacing the Gentran EDI system with webMethods technology an initiative thats coming in under budget, according to ONeill. With seamless integration in place, 3Com also plans to use webMethods Business Process Management Suite to replace Savvion for workflow applications, including auto-

3Com Environment

ERP (SAP)

HR/Finance/ Logistics

Business Partners

mating employee on-boarding and termination.

The benefits are just beginning

Good data drives good performance. And with the higher data and transaction integrity enabled by
Database Warehouse
(home-grown)

CRM (Siebel)

an agile enterprise application architecture, 3Com is able to respond faster to customer needs while also lowering costs. Its a state-of-the-art platform, ready to scale with 3Coms market-leading business.

Integration Platform
webMethods Enterprise Service Bus

Key Components
webMethods Enterprise Service Bus acts as an integration server and assures highspeed messaging between applications internally and with partners.

CRM (Siebel)

Databases

Packaged Applications

Business Partners

Legacy Applications

webMethods Business Process Management Suite enables 3Com to automate workflow and optimize processes. Professional services team helps 3Com realize the greatest benefit from webMethods technology globally - faster and at the least cost.

webMethods Solution: Scalable Application Integration Platform

Agile platform for application development Shorter application development times Improved error handling and recovery capabilities Improved B2B transactions Reusable code for application development

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