Kalbar with Atman for the Dramatic Theater

The Dramatic Theater of the Capital City of Warsaw is one of the largest theaters in Poland. Tens of thousands of viewers annually watch performances on its four stages. Such institution needs an efficient and reliable IT infrastructure to smoothly administer and maintain constant contact with viewers.

The need to implement completely new, modern solutions in the field of connectivity, data security and reliable access to theater websites derived, among others, from organizational changes, i.e. from merging the structures of two independent theaters into a single institution.

This task was undertaken by a company that specializes in IT consulting – Kalbar IT Services – with the use of the infrastructure and services of Atman.

Previously, the Theater in Wola and the Dramatic Theater – which operated separately – had their independent LANs and used various Internet providers. Unstable operation of the Internet connections and outdated equipment resulted in frequent downtimes in the accessibility of theaters’ websites, including sites for booking and purchasing tickets (the so-called e-ticketing). Kalbar knew the specifics and needs of the Client perfectly well because the company’s experts had previously supported the construction, maintenance and modernization of the server room of the Theater in Wola.

Marcin Kalbarczyk, founder of Kalbar IT Services
“At the outset of the project, the so-called existing resources posed an important problem. The separate institutions had IT equipment of different ages, with different levels of wear and tear and suitability for servicing new systems or applications. Depending on the location, some servers, network equipment or power supply devices were even 10 years old. This meant that the systems used by the merged theaters were inefficient, and so constantly overloaded. It was not only a problem to enter the e-ticket website, but sometimes also even to connect to the company e-mail. We should remember that a decade in technology is an eternity, and so-called legacy (i.e. technologically outdated) systems usually involve a constant uncertainty and concern for whether the company‘s systems will work properly.” 

The institution formed as a result of the merger of two theaters faced many challenges, including in the field of ICT.

First of all, the dispersion of administrative teams required providing employees with fast, stable and – most importantly – secure communication between the locations as well as supporting the mobility of the employees. Namely – a private network with high bandwidth.

It was also necessary to start sharing the IT resources (servers, systems, applications) – and to modernize them. Currently, viewers, like other consumers, expect constant availability of up-to-date information and the possibility of convenient online purchase around the clock.

Marcin Kalbarczyk, founder of Kalbar IT Services
“To meet these new expectations, the Dramatic Theater of the Capital City of Warsaw needed a solid ICT foundation for the operation of its websites, e-ticketing or e-mail. Therefore, we had to modernize two areas – the IT network and infrastructure. However, creating a technological base from scratch for the new Dramatic Theater in its head office would be time-consuming, and – above all – very costly. We are talking about transforming a room in an office building into a real server room, with appropriate environmental conditions and security features. Then, it is also necessary to take into account the costs of maintaining and operating such server room, including servicing the IT equipment. All together, in a 10-year horizon, this could amount to several tens of millions of zlotys.”

Kalbar experts, after a comprehensive analysis of the project and Client’s needs, decided to design a solution based on outsourcing of resources, and more precisely on the lease of dedicated servers located in a professional data center away from the theater, which would guarantee stable operation and uninterrupted availability of systems and data security. Such variant eliminated the costs of investment in adapting and equipping the server room, in the purchase of servers, etc. Outsourcing was also supposed to guarantee the Client a high level of flexibility in terms of future expansion and selection of new components.

At the telecommunications level, Kalbar recommended that the Client create a WAN using VPN, so that it was not necessary to build an expensive infrastructure of its own. Selecting Internet access services with high bandwidth and reliability was the starting point.

Kalbar IT Services chose a proven partner to help implement the project – a recognized provider of IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service) solutions and telecommunications services.

Marcin Kalbarczyk, founder of Kalbar IT Services
“We needed a reliable and solid partner to professionally service a cultural institution for which it is important to keep low costs of its IT infrastructure while maintaining a high quality and stability of services. Atman has many years of experience in the industry and excellent reputation in the IT outsourcing market. In one of its data centers, it maintains a farm of about 3,000 dedicated servers with a spare parts warehouse on site, which is of great importance for the speed of response in the event of a component failure. Moreover, it is the operator of its own fiber-optic network with guaranteed high availability of services. So we chose Atman.”

The implementation of the solution was divided into three stages:

• First, broadband Internet access for the Client’s two main locations was provided using Atman telecommunications connections. In addition, local networks were modernized and a WAN was built using VPN.
• In the second stage, we leased the environment of dedicated servers in which the theater’s websites, e-ticket system and e-mail operate currently. By default, Atman dedicated servers are protected with the anti-DDos system, and in addition, the Client‘s environment was equipped with a hardware firewall. Its task is to protect the Client’s systems and network from various types of threats from the Internet, e.g. filter out spam, so that the least possible unwanted mail reaches the employees’ boxes.
• In the third stage of the project, Kalbar IT Services intends to implement a system for the management of the entire IT infrastructure of the Client, including both its equipment and Atman devices. Moreover, the Client’s accounting management systems are to be migrated to the Atman dedicated servers.

• High availability of high-speed Internet in the Client’s locations is guaranteed by 24/7 monitoring of the Atman network run by the Network Operations Center (NOC) operators and their immediate response to incidents.
• Fast and secure communication between staff in different locations of the Client is provided with WAN. VPN channels also increase data security with remote access of mobile employees to the company’s network.
• Constant availability and security of websites and the e-ticket system as well as stable operation of the Client’s e-mail thanks to the professional environment of dedicated servers. Located in the Tier III+ level Atman Data Center Warsaw-1, the Client’s servers are provided with appropriate environmental conditions, guaranteed power supply at the level of 99.999% and uninterrupted Internet connectivity protected with the anti-DDoS system and firewall. The technical support provided 24/7 by highly qualified staff, quick replacement of components or the entire device, if necessary, as well as easy development of the environment are also important.

Marcin Kalbarczyk, founder of Kalbar IT Services
“Atman infrastructure increased, above all, the speed of operation of the theater’s websites and e-ticketing. Currently, it is practically unlimited. It is assured by a safe and scalable service of Atman dedicated servers equipped with redundant Internet connections with guaranteed bandwidth. Secondly, the stability of the systems, and hence the availability of websites, is incomparable. This involves, among others, a redundant data center power system from the power grid, and the continuity of power supply is additionally guaranteed by the emergency power backup system. This is very important to us because previously the equipment in the theater’s server rooms often failed during voltage surges.”

Thanks to the fact that Kalbar IT Services experts’ advice had a significant impact on the ICT environment architecture and the choice of the outsourcing model, the Client did not incur high investment costs. The cooperation between Kalbar and Atman provides the Client with high quality and availability of services.

The Client’s administrative staff can focus on their tasks, and are not distracted by technical problems with the IT infrastructure. The viewers of the Dramatic Treater of the Capital City of Warsaw are currently supported at the highest level in every respect.