Zumasys,
a leading provider of IT solutions for small and medium
businesses, today announced the implementation of a hosted
IBM AIX environment for
The Sieck
Company, an 89-year-old wholesale florist based in
Baltimore, Maryland. The
Sieck
Company utilizes
Zumasys’
Unix Hosting Services to run the company’s Pick-based floral
ordering system which handles peak holiday sales volume for
more than 2,500 retail florists spread across 8 states from
Richmond, Virginia to the Canadian border.
The Sieck
Company consolidated ten stand-alone accounting systems
to a co-location facility managed by Zumasys to leverage the
IT provider’s expertise in legacy application hosting and
business continuity. Zumasys managed the entire process
including the development of a fully functional test
environment, the conversion of the customer’s legacy QIC ¼"
tape media and porting the application to D3 AIX, a powerful
multi-dimensional database from
Raining
Data.
With nearly 350 users relying on the system, Zumasys had
to build a highly redundant environment to deliver the
uptime and performance demanded by The Sieck Company. The
system is accessed over the Internet using a combination of
three protocols: Telnet over VPN,
AccuTerm SSH
and Citrix Presentation Server allowing the company to
operate through virtually any power or weather-related
issue, or natural disaster. Zumasys provided on-site
professional services and support, resulting in a smooth
site-by-site cutover that was completed within just 30 days,
in time for Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day, two of the
busiest sales days of the year for Sieck.
"Zumasys’ hosting experience with multi-value databases
and their relationship with IBM provided us with a solution
designed specifically for our environment. We reviewed
several other options but Zumasys offered a managed hosting
package that was the best fit for us," said Will Sieck,
Partner with the The Sieck Company. "Our floral ordering
system must be available especially during peak holiday
seasons and Zumasys provides solid infrastructure and
support services to make that a reality."
"The Sieck Company is known for excellent customer
service and we are proud to keep their ERP system running
through sleet and snow, including the recent winter storm
that hit the East Coast on Valentine’s Day" said Paul Giobbi,
President of Zumasys. "By consolidating in our hardened
co-location facility and leveraging multiple access
protocols, The Sieck Company effectively web-enabled their
application allowing them to service customers through
virtually any situation, which is very compelling."