Telenomics recently (January 99) completed the first phase of implementing the Pware 9000 Telephone Management System software modules at Applied Materials (AMAT) headquarters in Santa Clara, Ca.

The implementation included call accounting software for three AMAT sites, two in California and one in Austin TX. These modules changed the method used for the on-line telephone directories from terminal based to a Windows PC Client Server based system utilizing data from the Oracle Data base on the HP 9000 Unix Server for approximately 10 directory operators. Phase II includes porting the directory data to the Web for worldwide directory look-up and implementing additional Applied Material locations worldwide.

Danny Salinas, who headed up this project on the Telenomics side reports the project was really a lot of fun. We first went to the Austin Texas site to install our network buffer on the AMAT WAN . We are now able to transfer the call data to the Santa Clara site HP 9000 using the TCP/IP protocol. With this configuration, we are able to take advantage of their wide area network already in place and eliminate dial up connections (which were more expensive, slower and less reliable).

George Olivera, the Worldwide Director of Telecommunications at AMAT in Santa Clara stated the idea in Phase I was to capture, process, integrate and store call data for the three Applied Materials sites, taking advantage of other software modules already in place on the server, enabling the end users to print their own reports at the remote locations either through the Pware client server module, or view them through Vista or the web.

George also pointed out AMAT had a lot of issues to consider before taking on this project. For example, "We wanted to integrate our Peoplesoft system to manage the adds, moves and changes required to identify individuals and departments responsible for telephone and equipment related costs. Since we already enter this information to our Peoplesoft Human Resources module, we didn't want to have to do it again for the call accounting system. We also need to allocate costs back to our individual departments for cost control and departmental manageability. We wanted the Pware module to automatically allocate these costs into our SAP G/L for charge back posting and then integrate the reporting features into Vista to eliminate the need for hard copy reports which wastes a lot of paper and printing time. It was an idea opportunity."
The AMAT Pware implementation was started in November and completed the following January. According to Danny Salinas, the implementation took just a little longer than normal. AMAT had a lot of company milestones on the implementation plan that we had to achieve. They wanted custom programming integrating PWARE to their existing modules. We incorporated many new features AMAT wanted into our Windows PC Directory modules. The project was a lot of fun and we enjoyed working with their people. We look forward to Phase II in May, which includes AMAT international sites in Japan, Korea, Twian and Signapore. Phase III is scheduled for the fall of 1999, installing over 30 additional sites beginning in Europe.

When asked why AMAT selected Telenomics, George pointed out they had been working with Telenomics over the last 11 years. "We looked at other vendors before making a final decision. We've always been impressed with Telenomics customer service response. They are one of their few suppliers we can call and get immediate response. Customer support should be a large consideration in any project where the end user is dependent on the supplier to support their systems. " George also pointed out benefits of using a stable Unix server with an Oracle data base. When asked the downside of the implementation, George pointed out how they all went out to lunch to celebrate the success of project and that he had to buy.