Background
Boston Sand & Gravel Company is a recognized leader in the New England Ready Mixed Concrete and Aggregate industry. Their facilities in southern New Hampshire produce and distribute sand and stone products from quarries in Hooksett and Ossipee, New Hampshire.
With a fleet of mixer trucks, state-of-the-art dispatch and GPS system, well-coordinated shipping and service capability, and network of ready mix plants in eastern Massachusetts, Boston Sand & Gravel is able to service jobs of any size, from small residential pours to mass pours for commercial and infrastructure projects, including the Central Artery/Tunnel project, waste water treatment plants, nuclear power plants, high rise-buildings and slurry wall construction.
Navigating End-of-Life Challenges
In June 2023 Brett Aron, IT Manager at Boston Sand, was faced with the impending end of life of the company’s IBM POWER 8 8286 server. With IBM’s announcement that the server would reach its end of life in May 2024, Brett embarked on a thorough evaluation of his options.
Their 8286-41A at IBM i OS V7.1 supported Boston Sands’ legacy JD Edwards ERP system, crucial for historical and compliance purposes. However, the exorbitant cost of upgrading to a newer version of JD Edwards and IBM i, amounting to over $200,000, rendered this option financially unfeasible.
“We were running an older version of JD Edwards. The cost for the JD Edwards license to run on a new IBM i OS version would have been upwards of $200k. Our hardware was also coming to end of life, with IBM no longer going to support it.
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“A new IBM POWER 10 was also very expensive. It would have been a gamble to stay on our current system. We didn’t really have a lot of choice there. New software and new hardware were just not an option for a legacy system we needed for access to history and compliance.”
Choosing Cloud400 – Straightforward, Ease Of Use, Competitive Pricing
In light of these challenges, Brett turned his attention to cloud hosting solutions for IBM i. After vetting several providers, Cloud400 emerged as the clear choice for Boston Sand. The straightforward approach, ease of implementation, and competitive pricing offered by Cloud400 made it an attractive proposition. Unlike other providers that seemed complex or prohibitively expensive, Cloud400 stood out for its simplicity and affordability.
“I began looking for hosting companies, and had come across Source Data over 6 years ago, so reached out for quotes. Cloud400’s proposal was a lot more straightforward.
“One of the companies we decided not to go with did not state whether they would be using a VPN, and hadn’t made it clear how the whole process would go. I couldn’t connect the dots to see how it would work for us. Another was going to change how we would access things and seemed very convoluted.
“Cloud400’s approach seemed much more straightforward for our users logging in, and how we run our reports which have gone unchanged. Pricing was also a factor. One of the quotes I received was double the price I received from Cloud400.”
Migration And Testing – Remarkably Smooth
Once the decision was made to migrate to Cloud400, the transition process was remarkably smooth. Brett initiated the migration by sending a full system save to Cloud400 via LTO tape. Within a day of receiving the tape, Cloud400 had set up Boston Sand’s system and established connectivity via VPN. Brett conducted rigorous testing, which revealed that everything on Cloud400 performed seamlessly, mirroring the functionality of the company’s previous server.
“I did the backup on a tape, sent that off to Cloud400. You guys did your magic, and we got the VPN running between our firewalls. I had to do a DNS change on my side and bingo-bango, we had things up and running. After less than an hour of testing, it was clear that everything was running smoothly.”
Cloud400 Technical Team Experience – Professional, Painless, Straightforward
Throughout the migration process, Brett found the Cloud400 technical team to be accessible, knowledgeable, and easy to work with. Their expertise and support ensured that Boston Sand’s transition to Cloud400 was hassle-free and efficient. Brett commended Cloud400 for their professionalism and proactive assistance, emphasizing their role in alleviating concerns and streamlining operations.
“Working with the Cloud400 team was painless, they answered all questions I had, and everything was straightforward.”
Brett Aron Recommends Cloud400
Based on his positive experience, Brett wholeheartedly recommends Cloud400 to other businesses facing similar challenges. Cloud400’s combination of expertise, accessibility, and reliability has enabled Boston Sand to overcome end-of-life server issues and focus on its core operations with confidence.
“I wouldn’t have done anything differently, other than moving to Cloud400 earlier. I would absolutely recommend Cloud400. You guys did a great job. The Cloud400 team is knowledgeable, accessible, and it’s a good solution.”
