TierPoint Manages IBM Workloads for Supply Source
TierPoint assists Supply Source secure vital data and hosts their ERP system in an IBM environment.
Introduction
Supply Source, headquartered in Toledo, is a manufacturer and distributor of cleaning and safety supplies. Recently, their desire to decommission and virtualize a data center and find a solution for a high-risk disaster recovery scenario motivated them to look for a third-party provider that could aid in both areas.
Challenges
Realizing they had a high-risk environment for disaster recovery, Supply Source was in need of a secure solution. They had experienced minor electrical outages, one of which led to the system being down for an entire day. Supply Source’s single data center for their ERP was not where they wanted it to be in terms of security and redundancy. They were lacking in disaster recovery, plus they were following a strategy to virtualize and decommission their data center.
Supply Source needed a high-availability disaster recovery solution, as well as a virtualized option where they could move their ERP environment and get support for IBM workloads. They also wanted to get more state-of-the-art with their environment, backup, restore, and support.
Solutions
Before going with TierPoint, Supply Source weighed their options, including purchasing more of their own hardware or using a different third party for hosting and support services. They started working with TierPoint in two distinct stages: First, they got a high-availability disaster recovery solution in place. A year later, they moved the ERP environment and supporting servers to TierPoint.
The main benefits of the solution include hardware support; being up-to-date with software and versioning for the hardware; having the ability to spin up virtual machines if and when needed; and full backup and restore capability with a cold site at TierPoint’s Raleigh data center. They know that if and when there is an event, they have an option at the ready for disaster recovery.
Results
While Supply Source had the skill sets, they needed in-house or with previous third-party providers, they see TierPoint’s experience as one of the strongest points of working with the team: “When it comes to analysis, The TierPoint and CloudFirst team had stronger expertise and greater experience for [IBM] AS/400 support, and that was a plus for us.”- Troy E. Rochat, Chief Information Officer at Supply Source.
Working with TierPoint has allowed Supply Source to stay current and secure without having to manage a data center, worry about the state of its disaster recovery solution, or purchase new hardware every couple of years.
At A Glance
Industry
Manufacturing & Distribution of Cleaning & Safety Supplies
Technology
Disaster recovery & IBM workloads for ERP
Challenge
Supply Source knew they needed a high-availability disaster recovery solution and support for a data center they needed to virtualize. Their existing data center did not provide all the required physical, data, and server farm structures for the future strategy of the company.
Solution
TierPoint first started working with Supply Source by getting them set up with a disaster recovery solution. One year later, Supply Source virtualized its data center and moved its ERP environment and supporting servers to TierPoint.
Results
Working with TierPoint has allowed Supply Source to execute on their strategy implementing a state-of-the-art hardware, licensing, and real-time support solution in a state-of-the-art hardened data center with full supporting infrastructure and services.
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