"We actually had two reasons for the network upgrade: the implementation of the Media Asset Management System (MAMS) and the obsolescence of the eight-year old infrastructure," says Javier.

The company was using a four-core infrastructure (with each core capable of handling 1G of data) set up at the ABS-CBN main building and the Eugenio Lopez Jr. (ELJ) building. However, due to ABS-CBN's highly critical operations, whenever a system downtime or failure occurred, getting support or, in some cases, parts replacements increasingly became more difficult. This problem, plus its new initiative to digitize all of its content materials, handle multimedia lifecycle management and enable workflow productivity enhancements using MAMS, prompted the broadcasting giant to upgrade its network.

"The network will be the main delivery channel for production people to view their work in progress online, and for delivering content to our various platforms. Thus, the need to upgrade our network infrastructure to 10G," Javier explains.

One of the things that Javier immediately addressed when she came on board last year was to establish a closer IT and business relationship- which really helped them when they began the process of their network upgrade. "I noticed that some departments are protective of their own network due to security risks. They designed and implemented their own network that do not allow other groups in; this would run contrary to future plans of tapeless production where video files will flow across departments from creation to distribution," she notes. "So I asked all concerned groups to send their representatives to a workshop we conducted. There, my team and I demonstrated our network upgrade plan and explained the importance of having a continuous flow of information and data. We asked them to critique the proposed design and share with us their concerns. In other words, we asked them to participate in the design of the new network."

Held in June 2007, the workshop played a key role in laying the foundation of the upgraded network. The workshop and subsequent presentations to other heads became instrumental in getting the buy-in of various business unit heads in the project. "It was more about developing partnerships and we (at the IT department) made the first move by showing our plans and proposed design since we wanted to make sure that the upgrade was acceptable to all users," she says.