The Company was faced with numerous problems in transferring files between its various depots, factories, branch offices located at different parts of India.

Situation

The Company is equipped with Digital Alpha Systems in an Unix environment at its various office locations spread all over the country. The file transfers were carried out through VSAT. Availability of low bandwidth during high traffic hours lead these file transfer operations to be unsuccessful. And there was no procedure for detecting errors and confirmation of messages reaching the destination.

Objective

The objective is to provide a file transfer service that operates sensibly managing the traffic. There was a need to utilise the bandwidth effectively with a facility to detect errors during transmission and inform the user.

Solution

MeCOM delivered a solution that enables hassle free file transfer operation. It is to customise the file transfer procedure so that files are transferred optimally with limited available bandwidth. The software that is installed at Windows NT Server at HECL Hub, located at Gurgaon is responsible for complete control of the network traffic.

The software is specifically designed to reschedule the traffic, collecting files from different source and storing into a specific outgoing directory at the NT server without any manual intervention. The files of these outgoing directories are then sent to their respective destinations in a predefined way, prioritising the files to transfer, based on size to make use of available bandwidth. The software also ensures that, there is no overcrowding in the out-route and every file gets sufficient bandwidth for accurate and timely transmission. The files are made to reach destination safely with the facility to report errors and status of each file to send.

Solution features:

1. Requires just a browser on a PC with modem to use the new system.
2. Authenticates the user access with username and password.
3. User friendly Web Interface.
4. Allows to track the consignments.
5. Authorised users can update consignment booking and delivery details online .

Results

The solution smoothened the operation of file transfer Following are the key benefits of the solution :
1. Resulted in cutting down the cost of VSAT charges for file transfer purpose.
2. The user is now freed from worries of the availability of sufficient bandwidth, while sending the files.
3. The feature of prioritization of files to transfer has made VSAT bandwidth to be used wisely