Pythian helped a global medical device leader modernize its complex database environment, standardize operations, improve monitoring, and deliver enhanced system performance and reliability.
Key Outcomes
Overview
A global healthcare technology provider faced significant challenges managing its complex and extensive database ecosystem supporting critical manufacturing and business applications. The company lacked deep in-house expertise for its mission-critical Oracle Exadata environments, including new ExaCC systems.
Support was fragmented across multiple vendors, leading to operational inefficiencies and inconsistent quality. Furthermore, inadequate proactive monitoring across diverse database platforms (Oracle, SQL Server, PostgreSQL) resulted in reactive issue management, impacting stability, particularly for high-availability manufacturing systems requiring minimal downtime.
The company needed a unified strategy to enhance reliability, standardize operations, and gain specialized technical skills for its complex environment.
What we did
- Provided unified 24/7 support and monitoring across Oracle, SQL Server, and PostgreSQL environments
- Implemented and enhanced monitoring infrastructure (OEM, SolarWinds DPA, Prometheus/Grafana) with automated alerting and ticketing integration (ServiceNow)
- Delivered specialized Oracle Exadata and ExaCC expertise for critical maintenance, optimization (e.g., storage rebalancing, dynamic CPU scaling), patching, and performance tuning
- Standardized database operational procedures (creation, retirement), documentation (runbooks), compliance processes (SOX testing), and change management
- Addressed critical performance issues through proactive optimization, such as implementing proper memory configuration for SAP manufacturing systems
- Expanded support capabilities to include additional PostgreSQL instances and AWS RDS environments
Technology Used
- Oracle Database, Oracle Exadata, Oracle Exadata Cloud at Customer (ExaCC)
- Microsoft SQL Server
- PostgreSQL
- Monitoring Tools (Oracle Enterprise Manager, SolarWinds DPA, Prometheus, Grafana)
- ServiceNow (Ticketing Integration)
- AWS RDS
Key Outcomes
Pythian's comprehensive database management transformed the healthcare leader's operations from reactive to proactive, while generating over $700K in annual savings by replacing fragmented systems. This resulted in significantly improved system performance and reliability, as evidenced by reduced P1 incidents and enhanced stability for critical manufacturing applications (addressing key SAP ME performance problems).
The company gained vital specialized Exadata skills, enabling proper maintenance and optimization previously lacking internally. Operations became more efficient through unified ticket management (handling over 1,600 tickets monthly with a 98% closure rate) and standardized processes across 1,900+ database assets, including standardizing over 65 PostgreSQL instances.
Security and compliance were strengthened through regular patching, verified backups, and successful quarterly SOX restore testing, positioning the company for continued operational excellence.
