Case Study
How UST enabled a cruise line to improve the operational reliability and efficiency of its IT infrastructure and applications
OUR CLIENT
Our client is a leading international cruise line that operates a fleet of 15 modern ships that travel to the world’s most iconic and remote locations. The company is renowned for its exceptional customer service and unique onboard experiences, providing its passengers with relaxation and adventure, luxurious accommodations, diverse dining options, and a variety of entertainment.
THE CHALLENGE
Documenting, assessing, and updating shipboard infrastructure and applications
The client was facing a substantial loss of knowledge and expertise within the organization, particularly with the various applications and IT infrastructure running on its ships. This loss of institutional knowledge created a gap in shipboard technology management, making it difficult for the client to maintain operational efficiency and reliability.
Without a comprehensive understanding of its applications and infrastructure, including servers, laptops, desktops, routers, and other critical hardware components, the client was at risk of operational disruptions, security vulnerabilities, and inefficiencies. Additionally, the client needed help identifying outdated legacy applications and hardware components that needed upgrades or migrations to more modern platforms.
To address these cruise line challenges, the client sought UST's expertise to help it rebuild and maintain its configuration management database (CMDB), which is essential for gaining a clear, accurate, and up-to-date IT asset inventory within the shipboard environment.
THE TRANSFORMATION
Rebuilding and maintaining a configuration management database using Device42 and Neo4j
To meet the client’s need for thorough discovery and documentation of its shipboard IT infrastructure, UST delivered a comprehensive CMDB implementation. The discovery phase was meticulously planned over 12 weeks, during which UST conducted 125 in-depth sessions to gather application information directly from IT owners, ensuring all relevant data was accurately collected. UST collaborated closely with ship IT officers to successfully install and configure Device42’s hybrid IT discovery and dependency mapping software on nearly 1,000 servers across the fleet.
Deploying Device42 on all ships was a pivotal part of the solution, enabling full-stack hybrid IT discovery and agentless data collection with minimal impact on the client’s environment. This tool was crucial to identify all Windows and Linux servers, detailing OS information, and cataloging end-user computing devices, such as desktops and operating system versions. Additionally, Device42 facilitated the mapping of network devices, offering the client a comprehensive view of its entire IT landscape.
UST leveraged the Neo4j graph visualization and exploration system to enhance the discovery process, developing interactive knowledge graphs and service maps. These tools offered the client a clear view of IT assets and interdependencies, providing critical insights for streamlined IT management, strategic planning, and improved decision-making.
By integrating these advanced tools and methodologies, UST delivered a complete and accurate inventory of the client’s shipboard IT infrastructure. This solution not only addressed immediate discovery needs but also laid the groundwork for a future IT transformation, including potential upgrades and migrations. The outcome was a more organized, transparent, and manageable IT environment, allowing the client to operate with increased efficiency and confidence in its system integrity.
THE IMPACT
Enabling better management and control of IT assets to facilitate future app upgrades
UST's comprehensive approach to assessing the current state of systems, determining viability, and recommending next steps to modernize the shipboard IT infrastructure not only helped the client improve the customer experience, but also helped the client achieve these significant benefits:
- Enhanced IT asset management—by developing a detailed and accurate CMDB cataloging all fleet applications and infrastructure, providing a complete IT inventory for better management and control, and by identifying unsupported hardware and software at the end of its life cycle, enabling proactive upgrade planning and security enhancements
- Improved data accuracy and reliability—by detecting and correcting anomalies and data mismatches during the discovery process, ensuring the CMDB accurately reflected the IT environment for informed decision-making
- Strategic infrastructure modernization—by delivering a phased migration roadmap to guide server upgrades and legacy system transitions, ensuring minimal disruption and maximizing modernization benefits
- Advanced visualization and insights—leveraging Neo4j to create knowledge graphs and service maps, offering interactive views of IT relationships and dependencies for strategic planning and enabling multi-perspective exploration of data by business, ship, or server, enhancing operational understanding and decision-making
- Optimized IT operations—achieving a more organized, efficient, and manageable IT landscape, positioning the client to confidently address future challenges and support business growth
RESOURCES
https://www.ust.com/en/what-we-do/strategy-implementation-operations