Hosting & Infrastructure

Hosted Service Option

As a ‘thin’ application, Transactor insurance software is naturally suited to deployment as a hosted solution for clients who do not wish to have any onsite server-side infrastructure.

Everything the user needs is delivered to them over the Internet via a fully secure connection. So as long as the user has a PC that can connect to the Internet they can be up and running with the full insurance application in minutes.

Transactor’s use of Microsoft standard thin client architecture ensures remarkably little per user ‘bandwidth’ is required, allowing the use of virtually any type of Internet connection, including low-cost ADSL or SDSL connectivity (although where a guaranteed level of connectivity is required a Leased Line is recommended as neither ADSL nor SDSL offer true ‘uptime’ guarantees).

To maximise flexibility, Transactor offers hosted clients the opportunity to convert their contracts to in-house infrastructure contracts with three months notice, and with guaranteed service levels around the migration. That way, Transactor insurance software clients can be confident that if things change, either in the wider economy, or in their own businesses, they have not made an irreversible decision regarding the location of their database and associated servers. 

Installed Solution

Microsoft Technologies

Transactor has been designed and built using Microsoft technologies. All Transactor components, toolsets and functionality developed since 2003 have been carried out using the Microsoft.Net Framework which provides a comprehensive programming model and a common set of APIs.

The .NET Framework allows us to build the Transactor insurance management application in our preferred programming language, across a range of software, services and devices, in a rapid application development environment.

TGSL chose Microsoft SQL Server as its preferred Database Platform. Microsoft SQL Server meets the high demands of our client base while providing class leading cost benefits, ease of implementation, and manageability. In addition to the core functionality of Transactor which leverages Microsoft’s .Net framework, our clients can integrate with the breadth of comprehensive features within Microsoft SQL Server to successfully understand and gain further insights into their Business Data.

Infrastructure Overview

As a true ‘thin client’ solution, Transactor doesn’t rely on the users’ PC for any of its functionality, thus avoiding any potential PC upgrade or replacement costs. All processing work is done on a centralised server (or group of servers), which considerably reduces ongoing system management costs and makes Transactor an ideal solution for multi-site insurance businesses. 

Due to various .Net, SQL and Windows Server related Transactor specific configurations, a dedicated Transactor infrastructure is strongly recommended. This can be provided either by the installation of new hardware specifically for this purpose or, where sufficient existing server processing and storage capacity already exists, by the use of ‘Virtual Server’ to provide a clean environment within the existing servers.

The infrastructure is designed to ‘scale sideways’ via the addition of extra servers if usage increases beyond the initial system capacity. For sub-10 user systems, it is also possible to combine all the elements and services that make up the Transactor infrastructure into a single server. This solution can be expanded into a multi-server solution at a later date.

To make a system implementation as straightforward as possible, TGSL provides a full-cycle infrastructure design, procurement, implementation and ongoing support and maintenance service. Where clients take advantage of this service, TGSL provides a performance Service Level Agreement.