Background

Vilden Associates, Inc. has provided information systems solutions to the transportation industry since 1978. The company developed packaged and customized software applications for liner and agency companies, LTL trucking, NVOCCs, container freight stations and container drayage. With advancements in IT, Vilden hosts turnkey and customized solutions at Vilden’s global data center via portal.

More specifically, Vilden provides hundreds of international clients with IBM i-based hosted solutions such as electronic customs filing, so they can have their cargo approved by US Customs. Before cargo can be loaded on a container vessel, US Customs must receive a copy of the cargo manifest, approve it and transmit back a proof of acceptance. All container ships coming into the United States must have their shipping manifest approved by US Customs. Considering the cost of a vessel in port at $50,000+ per day, clearly this is a time-sensitive, critical application because without that approval, the ship cannot load.

Facing An Aging Technical Team

By 2022, Vilden’s President, Armando Villavicencio, Jr., was confronting an aging technical team with imminent retirements. Recognizing the challenge of finding competent IBM i skilled talent, Armando explored hosting as a viable solution.

Armando explains, “I am aware that finding competent IBM i skilled talent is difficult and can be expensive. Finding new replacements for upcoming retirements would be challenging. So I started thinking about hosting.”

IBM i Hosting: A Strategic Choice

Armando saw IBM i hosting as a way to alleviate the burden of replacing retiring team members.

“IBM i hosting would remove a lot of my burden of replacing those on my team planning retirement. Hosting offered me easy access to knowledgeable experts as well as removing the hassles of managing an on premise server,” he noted.

Given the trend of IBM i users moving their systems to the cloud, the decision seemed straightforward.

Even so, Vilden’s unique business and multi-tenant software design extended the migration period.

“As I understand it, most IBM i users are moving their own systems to the cloud. That seems to me a slam dunk. Due to the unique nature of our business and customer needs, our cloud migration took longer than 1-3 months.”

Intricate Needs of a Multi-Tenant Environment

Vilden’s environment is multi-tenant, with 1,000 worldwide users needing to exchange detailed information for US customs. Historically, Vilden allowed customers to access information through an open port, but for security reasons, hosting data centers do not permit this. To address this, Cloud400 introduced Vilden to Cloudflare, enhancing internet security while maintaining customer access.

“For internet security reasons, I understand why hosting data centers to do not permit open ports.

“To deal with our open port security, the Cloud400 team shared with us information about Cloudflare to make our internet access more secure. We tested Cloudflare. We made some tweaks to our software. We found Cloudflare to be a simple solution for us to offer our customers access to the intricate information they need with our Cloud400 hosted environment.”

SFTP/FTP Data Exchange Testing

Vilden relies on SSH File Transfer Protocol to securely share intricate import-export data with clients. Testing SFTP with clients was a time-consuming process.

Armando continues, “With the volume of our daily activities, scheduling the testing with our clients took a lot of time. All of our partners had to ‘white list’ our new IP connection. Then we had to confirm that the data exchange worked.”

Cloud400 Testing With US Customs

Vilden’s services require customer approvals from US Customs and sometimes the Department of Defense (DOD).

“Scheduling specific dates with US Customs and DOD is challenging. We are dealing with government agency back-office technicians, so we have to be ready to go with everything we

need once we get them. You can imagine that if we are not completely prepared this can lead to delays. It can be like Star Wars, Luke Skywalker firing the proton torpedo into the Death Star’s reactor core – ‘Luke, use the Force.’ Achieving US Customs and DOD sign-offs was a significant milestone.”

Cloud400 Technical Team: Accessible, Knowledgeable, Helpful

Armando praised the Cloud400 technical team, describing them as “easy to work with – accessible, knowledgeable and helpful.”

Reflecting on the migration process, he noted that outsourcing some of the migration project management would have been beneficial.

“If I had to do it all over again, I might consider hiring an outside project leader so we could have migrated more quickly. We just did not anticipate the volume of daily activities and the amount of time the intricate testing would take.”

Armando Villavicencio, Jr. Recommends Cloud400

Now that Vilden has gone through the Cloud400 process, he is happy to share his relief.

“Now that we are live on Cloud400, I am thrilled. I would definitely recommend Cloud400. The technical team is easy to work with and they know their stuff. They make IBM i hosting simple.”