 Before moving to a new ERP package, Wauters Tanktransport chose to consolidate its stock of servers. In doing so, Wauters was able to rely on the expertise and training of I.R.I.S. ICT.
- Wauters consolidates with I.R.I.S. ICT
Wauters Tanktransport is based in Hamme and has around 170 employees. The company also has a site in Italy. Wauters specialises in the road and intermodal transportation of dangerous and non-dangerous liquid chemical products in tanks, nationally and internationally throughout Europe. Wauters Tanktransport’s IT activities relied on a stock of servers made up of eight classic servers, with a tailor-made ERP solution on IBM AS/400 as a spine. Instead of replacing one server after the other by means of blades – the company’s initial project – I.R.I.S. ICT proposed consolidating the existing servers and the related storage capacity by using VMware. Wauters thus moved to Intel blade servers on which it can also house the new ERP package.
Optimal use of hardware
The advantages of this solution are obvious. Consolidation reduced the number of servers at Wauters Tanktransport and thus the volume of maintenance. The company also benefits from the functionality and additional flexibility of the VMware, ensuring great availability, easier control of the stock of servers and optimal use of the current processor’s capacity. In the consolidated server environment, it is easier for Wauters Tanktransport’s IT team to programme tasks and easier to create a test environment. The solution was also extremely extendable, such that Wauters can if necessary easily add other servers. The company can thus get the maximum out of the available hardware.
- The I.R.I.S. ICT approach
The tailor-made ERP at Wauters is used mainly to assist in planning transportation. In addition, the solution controls all the logistical movements and includes, among others, functionality for the computers on board lorries. Of course, moving from the AS/400 to Intel blades with VMware needs considerable advance preparation. The I.R.I.S. ICT approach played a major part in this development process. Wauters Tanktransport’s ERP solution was not the only one to run on Intel servers; Citrix also runs on the stock of servers, while certain servers also act as Webserver and file & printserver.
|
