The prepayment environment demands that the system must be 100 per cent available at all times.
The benefits of a pre-payment system, according to KPLC, included improved cash flow as payments are received in advance, as well as a reduction in operating costs due to the elimination of monthly customer meter readings and production of monthly consumption statements for customers. For KPLC customers, they can budget for their consumption in advance, to avoid debt accumulation.
The KPLC decision to select Oracle’s Exadata solution was due to the scalability (from quarter to full racks) of the machine, enabling them to invest based on their immediate need with a clear view of scaling the solution with future business demands.
KPLC also has a rich internal skill base for both Oracle database and hardware, and this combined with Oracle’s products being engineered to work together boasting high performance and availability, also made the decision to select Oracle an easy one.
The solution included Oracle 11g Enterprise Edition, Oracle RAC, Oracle Automated Storage Management (ASM), the Oracle hardened Linux operating system, Storage management software and Infiniband switches.
Local Oracle reseller, Seven Seas Technologies, managed the implementation of the project and is providing ongoing support. Oracle Advanced Customer Services provided the consultancy and training.
