How logistics major J M Baxi boosted critical IT infra and achieved 99.9% uptime

Mumbai-based J M Baxi & Company, a leader in port terminal operations, recently underwent a major IT transformation to improve operational efficiency and service delivery across critical systems. The company manages 13 major ports, 28 minor ports, and several private ports in India, requiring continuous operations to ensure uninterrupted service.

Speaking to TechCircle, Yagnesh Upadhyay, Group Head IT at J M Baxi, explained how migrating to tech firm Nutanix's solutions has enhanced its terminal and gate operating systems, enabling 24/7 support without downtime.

Upadhyay noted that the company faced infrastructure challenges impacting efficiency, scalability, and availability. “Our goal was to simplify business processes for our teams and customers, creating a 'wow' factor that we have struggled to deliver consistently. Thus, we sought a quality technology partner,” he said.

Scalability and system uptime were significant challenges, as traditional maintenance often led to outages. The company needed a way to communicate scheduled downtimes without revealing internal issues. Flexibility was essential for the seamless management of systems, ensuring core operations could run continuously. Their IT infrastructure had to be robust enough to deliver timely solutions and prevent unexpected disruptions.

The organization relied on a three-tier architecture of compute, storage, and network components, which required extensive time—often three to five years—to identify suitable software, select hardware, test solutions, deploy, and fine-tune them. As Daryush Ashjari, CTO of Nutanix, pointed out traditional three-tier architecture complicates patch management due to varying vendor release cycles. Nutanix simplifies this with lifecycle management that pre-qualifies and tests patches, enabling one-click management and reducing deployment time from days to hours.

For J M Baxi, time is critical in logistics, where timely delivery is crucial. They have now built an agile infrastructure that allows for the creation of new environments with a single click, significantly improving adaptability and enabling seamless workload relocation between data centres. This capability was a key factor in choosing Nutanix, as infrastructure deployment that once took days or weeks can now be done in minutes.

The company implemented a fully on-premises Nutanix solution in its data centre that allows for seamless activity shifts without extensive technical intervention, yielding substantial benefits. For instance, provisioning a machine with VMware previously took several days, including vulnerability checks and backups. With Nutanix, this process has been reduced to hours, allowing for one-click environment creation, automatic patch application, and easy restoration using snapshots. This efficiency has boosted the IT department's productivity and received positive feedback from the business, explained Upadhyay.

J M Baxi's service level agreement (SLA) achievement improved from 98% to 99.5%, with uptime reaching 99.99%. This enhancement ensures business continuity and supports growth objectives. Ashjari said that including a built-in dashboard for real-time infrastructure monitoring provides smart notifications for issues, streamlines management, and allows proactive alerts to the OEM support centre before disruptions occur.

As part of its digitalisation journey, J M Baxi also transformed its contract management processes from manual checks to a fully digitalised system, gaining acceptance from both internal teams and third-party partners. Upadhyay said that the partnership with Nutanix has also allowed J M Baxi to focus on developing in-house applications through its IT arm, Portall Infosystems Pvt Ltd, driving further innovation within its operations.

Looking ahead, he announced the launch of India’s first cruise service for passengers this year in Mumbai, powered by Nutanix. This initiative – to be launched in the next few weeks – represents a significant shift from traditional cargo operations to passenger services, promising a unique experience.

Additionally, the company is leveraging AI to optimise cargo handling, specifically assessing the status of cargo arriving from Indian Railways. Traditionally, determining whether a wagon was full, empty, or contained residual cargo was challenging. The IT head said that the AI-driven solution automates this assessment, enabling real-time checks without manual inspection, thereby enhancing operational efficiency and meeting deadlines.