For storage consolidation, Santos recently purchased IBM 4500 and 4800 SAN systems, including the storage virtualization software. Norris said these will be used initially to consolidate all the corporate storage with a view to virtualizing it.

To monitor the Unix server infrastructure, Volante implemented NetIQ's software which integrates with Microsoft's Operations Manager (MOM) giving the administrators a unified view.

"Previously Santos used other products, including a hosted solution [so] we moved to one we could host ourselves," he said. "Integration has been straightforward [and] using NetIQ gives us the ability to monitor and alert applications. We can start monitoring performance of Oracle databases and ERP."

Also on Santos' agenda is a move to ITIL (IT Infrastructure Library) which resulted in a migration from the Aegis service desk tool to Computer Associate's Unicenter service plus.

"This is an integrated service support tool which can drive process improvement," Norris said, adding CA tools are also being used for automated security services.