NEWS

Old American provides InfoSphere Professional Services to Blue Cross Blue Shield Association (BCBSA) - a federation of 39 separate health insurance organizations and companies in the United States

Company partners with IBM's Lab Services and Training Group to Apply InfoSphere Strategic Skills to Migrate and Transform Critical Data Utilizing IBM's Market-leading Data Integration Platform

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE –Wilmington, DE & Newport Beach, CA – December 06, 2012: Old American Corporation, a Premiere IBM Business Partner for over twenty years, along side of IBM Lab Services, provided certified InfoSphere professional services including mentoring, design, development, implementation and training.

Old American was able to quickly define and implement a streamlined data migration solution path for BCBSA. The dedicated technical team successfully upgraded BCBSA’s enterprise, achieving positive results through the implementation of IBM’s InfoSphere DataStage, a powerful ETL solution.

Work by Old American consultants resulted in the following:

• Reduction of PVU requirements by 80% (7200 to 1400)
• Migrations of over 600 jobs from IIS 8.1 to IIS 8.5
• Converted over 500 jobs from using DB2 enterprise stages to DB2 connector stages
• Installation of multiple IIS 8.5 environments to mirror the environments in their IIS 8.1 implementation of DEV, PV, PVE and PROD to IIS 8.5
• Worked closely with IBM Technical Support and Engineering while resolving issues around IIS 8.5 and the AIX kernel. Resulting in 1 IIS engine patch and 1 AIX kernel patch
• Configuration of parallel configuration files to best support the use at BCBSA
• Application of best practices for code management and performance designs

Industry leaders like BCBSA are turning to powerful solutions such as data warehousing and business analytics to gain greater insight from their operations and client opportunities.

BCBSA strives to maintain operational efficiencies for their clients by migrating and consolidating applications to drive a consistent view into their business while also providing timely and relevant content. As a provider of healthcare coverage for more than 98 million people or one-in-three Americans, BCBSA required a comprehensive data integration strategy to tap into the power of the company's strategic initiatives.

Old American understood the significant impact of the upgrade strategy on companywide operations. With extensive experience in data management, they recognized that the insights gained are only as valid as the data they are based on. Due to complexity and the significance of the engagement, Old American joined forces with IBM Lab Services to provide the depth of talent and resources that BCBSA's comprehensive solution required.

InfoSphere DataStage proved to be an ideal solution for BCBSA due to its ability to leverage existing mainframe resources and maximize the value of the company’s IT investments. IBM’s market-leading data integration platform provides security, manageability and reliability of the mainframe and the ability to upgrade mainframe information without added operational costs. This was a key consideration when Old American assembled BCBSA’s upgrade and data migration strategy.

IBM InfoSphere DataStage provides unique capabilities. The powerful ETL solution supports the collection, integration and transformation of large volumes of data, with data structures ranging from simple to highly complex.

The scalable platform enables BCBSA to solve large-scale business problems through high-performance processing of massive data volumes. By leveraging the parallel processing capabilities of multiprocessor hardware platforms, IBM InfoSphere DataStage Enterprise Edition can scale to satisfy the demands of the growing company’s ever-growing data volumes, stringent real-time requirements, and ever shrinking batch windows.

Old American's InfoSphere solution experts provided BCBSA with an integrated package of technology and services. Strategic planning, environment assessment and technical recommendations were exclusive deliverables. The team assembled a detailed installation checklist along with a customized BCBSA technical installation document. They spearheaded implementation processes and were instrumental in delivering certified skills in the critical extraction and importation of data into the new environment.

Performance metrics by addressing the top 20 long running jobs with performance modifications is resulting in an overall 25 to 35 percent reduction in overall run time.

One of the largest system integrators in North America, Old American specializes in data management, extraction, mapping and warehousing. The company's InfoSphere Services technical staff will continue to work closely with BCBSA's team to provide professional services that include training, support, system development expertise and valuable warehouse design strategies.

Old American President Joe Rodriguez comments, "BCBSA’s technical databases are the largest and most comprehensive of their kind. It's an honor and a privilege to partner with IBM Lab Services and Training on this monumental project. InfoSphere includes native database connectors to many sources, so it's a go-to solution for enterprises that need to quickly react to the modern world, and we have the expertise to expeditiously and cost-effectively drive global-cross platform engagements."

Old American has been garnering the respect of its more than 77,000 users and eighty IBM InfoSphere sites since the inception of the InfoSphere product line. The company's mentoring approach and unsurpassed depth of experience along with a comprehensive IBM certified support structure provides customers with streamlined, cost effective implementations.

About Old American Incorporated

Old American, Inc. specializes in creating unique programs designed to suit the requirements of each specific vendor. We understand the dynamics of each technology sector and are able to provide solutions that are competitively tailored to your unique requirements.

About IBM Lab Services and Training Group

IBM Systems Lab Services and Training helps infuse intelligence in the way the world's information technology works. The division focuses on driving down costs by designing flexible infrastructures while at the same time managing risk through the use of deep technical skills and training expertise.

The Lab Services and Training division of IBM was designed to help optimize the utilization of customer data centers and system solutions. Focused on new technologies emerging from IBM product development labs the division specializes in the delivery and training of new, mature and end-of-life market technologies.

About BCBSA

The Blue Cross Blue Shield Association (BCBSA) is a federation of 39 separate health insurance organizations and companies in the United States. Combined, they directly or indirectly provide health insurance to over 100 million Americans. The history of Blue Cross dates back to 1929, while the history of Blue Shield dates to 1939. The Blue Cross Association dates back to 1960, while its Blue Shield counterpart was actually created in 1948. The two organizations merged in 1982, forming the current association. The company has its headquarters in the Michigan Plaza complex in the Chicago Loop area of Chicago, Illinois.

For more information, contact Art Leon or Joseph Rodriguez @ 949-587-5138 or click here to send us an email.