Systems integrator, MDI, has marked its 25th year in the business and is set to leverage on its strength in providing solutions in the areas of infrastructure, cloud computing, mobility, big data and managed services.
“The next five years will be MDI’s next cycle of iteration and an investment period for new areas of technology,” said Myla Villanueva, its Chairman. “The technology world is ever fast changing, with infrastructure, cloud, mobility, big data and managed services as our area of focus.”
A systems integrator since 1988, MDI has over the years been building information infrastructure and systems for the top 1000 companies. Some of the company’s notable clients include Digitel, PLDT and ePLDT, Globe Telecoms, SMART Communications, Bureau of Internal Revenue, Department of Public Works and Highways, Land Bank of the Philippines (Landbank), Social Security System (SSS), Petron, ABS-CBN, GMA 7 and Meralco to name a few.
As a systems integrator, MDI builds the computer, network and security infrastructure of its clients. The company also offers outsourced-managed services and data governance and analytics solutions.
Builder of the country’s first WAN
In the 1990s, MDI signed up with US-based 3Com Corporation, the pioneering network hardware manufacturer, and began building the country’s first Wide Area Networks. Notable was the Meralco WAN built in 1993 which was used for their billing system, and billing inquiry, a first of its class and introduced the concept of wide area networking to the country.
By 1995, MDI’s strength in government systems was apparent when it installed the information highway of the SSS comprising of over 120 branches, changing its platform from predominantly mainframe to distributed computing. It was hailed as the largest network in the Philippines at the time. In the same year, MDI also established the LAN-WAN Internet for SMART Communications, at its exponential growth and start-up phase.
Developed content for mobile phones
Not only was MDI an integrator, but also an innovator. In 2000, during the start of the boom in mobile telephony, MDI spun off a business, Wolfpac, which developed content for mobile phones. Wolfpac sold the first ringtones and screen logos to Smart and later on ventured into interactive TV and Mobile program, in the hit game show Text-To-Millions. In effect, the MDI Group pioneered the mobile content industry in the country. Wolfpac was thereafter the first mobile content company to be acquired by Smart Communications, as Wolfpac became its largest content provider.
Another innovative business MDI developed was the broadband wireless internet company, Meridian Telekoms. Using Israeli base station and US CPE wireless technologies, Meridian was able to connect secondary cities and rural areas to the internet in a cost-effective manner. It also delivered best class high-speed broadband to major universities and secondary schools across the country, with Meridian’s basic tenet that the internet is crucial to education. Meridian Telekoms was also then acquired by Smart Communications and PLDT, and later re-named SmartBro. SmartBro became the foundation of growth for broadband wireless for the PLDT Group, with over 3,500 stations built within three years of its acquisition from MDI.
Strategic partnerships
Throughout the 2000s, MDI signed up more strategic partnerships, including those with Netscreen Systems, Cisco Ironport, and Juniper Networks, in its aim to be the dominant player in Internet Security. MDI was responsible for the first IronPort Email Security installation in shipping company WG&A, and at the Landbank with the first Juniper Intrusion Detection security Installation. Moreover, MDI established the first Juniper SSL VPN Installation in PLDT, and the first ArcSight SIEM Project Implementation in a utility market (Meralco), among its large installations.
In 2012, MDI closed the first FIREMON implementation in PLDT, and was chosen by IBM as its first and only certified partner for IBM Smarter Cities. This year, MDI has expanded its solutions offering Data Migration from Backoffice Associates and CRM solutions from Salesforce.com. It has also signed up with Cisco Meraki as reseller for its cloud WiFi management solution. The company recently completed its certification that upgraded their status to a Cisco Premier partner.
MDI is now a Cisco Premier Partner. Photo shows Myla Villanueva, MDI Chairman, Stephen Thomas Misa, Managing Director, Cisco Philippines, Jennie Ligones, MDI President and CEO and Marivic Segismundo, MDI Chief Operating Officer.
A happy camper
The Philippine Clearing House Corporation (PCHC), an MDI client since 2005, shares its positive experience with MDI insofar as the integration of various IT solutions, among them Dell Servers, EMC SAN Storage, and various network security devices. PCHC, whose mandate is to provide, maintain, and render an effective, convenient, efficient, and economical cheque-clearing service to participating banks, had faced diminishing or limited technical support for proprietary systems, as well as the high cost of upgrading to the supported operating software version before MDI stepped in.
Gil Lim, PCHC Assistant Vice President, says, “MDI offered a cost-effective, open, and scalable solution backed with a competent technical support team. We are very satisfied with the working relationship with MDI, Dell, and EMC-specifically with regard to the post- installation technical and sales support.”
In the works for PCHC and MDI is the Check Truncation Project, a major initiative that seeks to make paper-based processing a thing of the past with the introduction of the Image-based Clearing Operation.
