Finance | E*Trade

E*Trade Australia Trades Up to Adonis

OVERVIEW

As part of the E*Trade Group, E*Trade Australia is a pioneering organization in the area of online trading. In their business, they offer Australian traders the ability to access foreign markets through a secure, personalized trading environment. E*Trade Australia seeks to provide investors with “an unprecedented combination of tools and information as well as the ability to place buy and sell orders via the Internet.” As a Senior Network Administrator at E*Trade Australia, Glen Peake and the Information Technology team are responsible for making sure that the trading services are always available to clients. With four domains to maintain, DNS servers provide access to trading services and to email. Mr. Peake emphasizes the importance of DNS to their business, saying, “This website is the primary source of income to the company so it is vital that DNS records are available and accurate.”

OPPORTUNITY

When DNS services are not available or accurate, online business is affected. Mr. Peake explains that, “our DNS was hosted at our ISP, thus making any changes to DNS a drawn out process.” This scenario had resulted in some misinterpreted modifications and incorrect DNS changes being implemented. To prevent lost business, Mr. Peake felt that, “We needed a process whereby we could manage our own DNS in an efficient manner.”

SOLUTION

In the Adonis 1000 DNS/DHCP Appliance™ from BlueCat Networks, E*Trade Australia found the solution that they were looking for. Adonis allows Mr. Peake and the Information Technology team to manage their own DNS records through the use of the graphical, crossplatform Adonis Administration Console. Instead of bringing in experts from outside along with the DNS management, the Information Technology team was able to manage all of their DNS through the Adonis Administration Console, which they described as, “easy to use.” They found the layout of the Adonis Administration Console “simple” and, “easy to follow.”

Dealing with a vendor as an international customer can be a daunting prospect. However, with BlueCat Networks’ support E*Trade Australia had, “no trouble dealing with the customer support team.” The support that they received via email and phone “has always been dealt with efficiently and professionally.”

IMPACT

Adonis reduced E*Trade Australia’s wait time from eight hours to mere minutes. The error checking and validation features available through the Adonis Data Check utility also meant that change requests were right the first time and did not have to be requested from the ISP again with another time lag before re-implementation. By performing the DNS modifications in-house, the E*Trade team no longer depends on outside help for this vital service.

Adonis has enhanced the control that Mr. Peake and the Information Technology team have over the availability of the web site that is their company’s source of income. Thanks to Adonis, the “whole process of managing DNS for E*Trade Australia has become [a] much more efficient, accurate and reliable system.”