A problem that has plagued many an ERP implementation is insufficient network resources. Those "fat client" architectures of old never lent themselves to running across WAN links and to underpowered PCs and workstations. However, because Children's was using PeopleSoft's first Web-based client architecture, there was no need for a major network overhaul.
That was just fine with Network Manager Hourigan, who was already busy with a hospitalwide infrastructure upgrade that would support not just the PeopleSoft project but business initiatives yet to come.
At the time, the hospital's existing network backbone was a mesh of the now defunct Digital GIGAswitches running on 100-Mbps FDDI links. Hourigan and his team were building a new network core based on Cisco Catalyst 6000 Ethernet switches linking at 4 gigabits per second--40 times the capacity of the old network. When Hourigan was approached to monitor load testing of the ERP application, he understandably concluded that "bandwidth is not the issue." In fact, the SolarWinds.Net SolarWinds application used to monitor traffic between clients, Web servers and database servers barely registered the testing.
However, Hourigan needed to verify that the PeopleSoft application would work across its modem dialup, VPN and WAN infrastructures. Web-based or not, there were still concerns that the application might fail outside the hospital LAN. Testing showed that the application ran well within the usability requirements in all areas, albeit with a small performance degradation at remote offices. As the hospital expands the PeopleSoft application to 7,000-plus employees, Hourigan expects to see the network load grow but is confident the Cisco architecture will meet the demand.
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