“Cloud400 Makes More Sense. It Provides Continuous Expert Support For Our Legacy Applications And Flexibility For The Future.”
Background
T.I.S. began in 1962 as a family-run academic publishing and textbook distribution business called Tichenor Institutional Services. Over the years the company name became just the initials T.I.S., making its reputation providing inexpensive, quality college textbooks. As T.I.S. expanded, the business grew to include a wide range of interests in college bookstores, sportswear imprinting and custom publishing.
T.I.S. is based in Bloomington, Indiana and is still family-owned. Jerome Stillions has been IS Manager at T.I.S for over 24 years.
IBM 8203-E4A V7.2 With Custom Business Applications
T.I.S. has supported over 40 users and hosted web sites on an IBM 8203-E4A at V7.2, but because of downsizing, currently supports 9 users. The primary business applications include Para Research General Ledger, Accounts Payable and Accounts Receivable that have been customized over the years. In addition, T.I.S. also uses Surveyor/400 provided by Linoma Software and FORMagic/400 Forms Suite by Keowee Systems.
Server Support EOS March 31, 2019, IS Manager Retirement Year-End 2018
“We had downsized our operation by about 95%. We know that our server support end of life is March 31, 2019,” explains Jerome Stillions. “In addition, we may move our applications to a different platform in years to come. My retirement has been planned by year-end 2018.
Hosting As An Option – Expert Support, Flexible For Future
“So a hosting option made more sense to provide continuous expert support for our legacy applications as well as flexibility for what the future holds.”
Reading SDP Newsletter Last 9 Years – Full Of Excellent Information
“I had been reading Source Data Product’s newsletter for the last 9 years. I looked forward to reading the newsletter every month because it included excellent information on how I can save money running my IBM POWER server.”
Cloud400 Instead Of New On Premise Server?
“We had been reading about Cloud400 for the last 3 years or so. During that period we knew we were going to be closing our wholesale distribution division. Then about 12 months ago we started getting notices from IBM that support for our 8203-E4A server was going away.
“We knew we were going to have to do something. So right about then I had a good idea that Cloud400 would work for us instead of a new on premise server.”
Cloud400 Assessment Checklist, Conference Call With Technical Team
“When I asked Source Data for more information about Cloud400 for T.I.S., we received the Cloud400 Assessment checklist which we completed and returned. We then had a conference call with the Cloud400 technical team.”
Source Data Products Offers 2 Proposals For Comparison
“SDP sent me a proposal for Cloud400 as well as a new POWER9 server proposal so we could compare both solutions. Not knowing if our company will stay with our current software, it did not make sense to get a new on premise server. When we compared the two options, Cloud400’s competitive pricing and flexibility just made a lot more sense for us.”
Cloud400 FREE 60 Day Trial
“When we decided to try the Cloud400 free 60 day trial, I was introduced to the Cloud400 project leader, JD Liford. JD is very knowledgeable and helped us complete the Cloud400 Readiness document. He also provided us with good information for testing and how to prepare to go live. During the testing process, JD called to check in to see how we were doing.”
Quick LPAR Setup And Connectivity To Cloud400
“We sent our Save21 tape to the Cloud400 technical team in Minnesota. Within a few days they had our Logical Partition (LPAR) up and connectivity set between Cloud400 and T.I.S.
“Initially we had a minor issue with user sessions getting dropped. We upgraded our desktops to the latest version of IBM iAccess and the problem went away.”
Special VTL Planning Session
“We had a special planning session to implement our back up with the Cloud400 Virtual Tape Drive. We shared with them how we did our two week backup cycle. They explained to us how the VTL works. We setup our job schedule entries to match exactly how it had been working here on site. So, the Cloud400 VTL backup works fine.”
Very Smooth Testing – No Bumps
“Our testing went very smoothly. After having worked on our system for over 20 years, we knew it very well. We knew our custom code. We knew our files. So that really helped out in our testing.
“We knew exactly what we needed to test and created a task list to follow. We tested over and over again and ran our reports on the 8203 server and Cloud400 comparing totals, and also did the same for batch and record count totals. Everything went well, there were no bumps. In fact, the testing and cutover went much better than I had expected.”
Pretty Much Knew In 30 Days Of Testing
“We pretty much knew in 30 days of testing Cloud400 that this was going to work for us”, Jerome recalls.
Cloud400 Team Very Attentive, Knowledgeable, Friendly
“We worked with several engineers on the Cloud400 team. They included Brett Sullivan, Allan Hamner and Darren Anderson. They were all very knowledgeable, friendly, and attentive. They were helpful, clear and responsive to any questions we had.”
No One Could Tell Difference After Go Live
“When we finally went live, no one could tell the difference. The only reason some of the users knew we moved to Cloud400 was because they were involved in the testing.
“For example, I had the Accounts Receivable clerk run the same routine on our 8203 server and then again on Cloud400. That is how we got our accounting people involved. They saw no difference in response time or how the applications worked. Other than that, no one knew the difference. Now that’s a smooth cutover! It was painless.
Management Likes Flexibility And Lower Cost
“As I had explained to management, we are going to have to change out our server in 2018 because support for our 8203 is coming to an end. We can go to Cloud400 instead of a new on premise server because you may want to go to new software in 2 years. They liked the flexibility and the lower cost of hosting in the cloud for a couple of years.”
Jerome Stillions Recommends Cloud400
“I recommend Cloud400. If you are looking to replace your IBM i POWER server, look at Cloud400 first. With Cloud400 you never have to deal with monitoring the system, applying PTFs, managing tape backup or conducting version upgrades. You don’t have to worry about your on premise server going down. Plus, you have the flexibility and lower cost of hosting with Cloud400.”