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Case Study: BOScom's e-Twin@x Controller

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You want to go to a pure IP network--like the rest of the world--but you can't simply dump all those twinax terminals and printers. Take heart; there is a simple solution, as many companies have already discovered. The e-Twin@x Controller from BOScom lets you preserve your investment while taking advantage of all the benefits of IP networks: faster access to your iSeries (AS/400), network cost savings, added functionality for existing applications, and a single-protocol environment to support.

The only true TCP/IP controller in the industry, BOScom's e-Twin@x Controller lets you retain your existing terminals and printers, with little or no disruption or downtime, while gaining all the benefits of a TCP/IP environment. The only change your users will notice is faster response time and the text-based email they can send/receive. Each controller requires only a single IP address and supports up to 112 users, depending on the model. Thanks to its self-setup and self-healing properties, implementation and administration are quick and easy and can be done remotely via Web browser. The controller is equipped with several features that guarantee excellent uptime, even for disaster recovery, such as dial backup, IP rollover, and a hot spare program for customers under service contract.

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TCI Tire Centers Saves $1.5M Per Year with IP-Based WAN and e-Twin@x Controllers

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At TCI Tire Centers, LAN/WAN Manager Mechelle Cunningham, MCSE, reports annual savings of $1.5 million after switching to an Internet-based WAN.

"When we replaced our frame-based WAN with an Internet-based WAN, we installed BOScom e-Twin@x Controllers in our 128 stores to connect PCs and twinax displays and printers to our iSeries server in South Carolina," she explains. "Conservatively, we save $1.5 million annually. The system paid for itself within three months, and every day we realize more savings."

TCI Tire Centers is one of the country's leading tire service networks, with over 128 stores, 13 state-of-the-art retreading plants, and more than 30 wholesale distribution centers. A subsidiary of Michelin North America, Inc., the company employs more than 2,300 people in 39 states. TCI's retread plants run on UNIX servers, while its 128 stores are run on an AS/400 iSeries Model 830 located at headquarters in Duncan, South Carolina.

Cunningham notes that, while TCI's prime goal was cost reduction, network speed was also important. "In all locations, users are getting equal or better response time from the iSeries Model 830 server at Duncan. We ordered 56 KB Internet access, and in places where we were able to replace the dedicated frame connections with 128 KB DSL connections, performance is twice as fast."

Security was the main selection criteria: "We looked at everything that ran over our frame connections and looked at how to encrypt the data for sending it to the remote locations via the Internet. The BOScom e-Twin@x Controllers are very secure."

The transition was painless for the twinax users, who continue to use their terminals and printers just as they did before--only faster. It was painless, too, for Mechelle and her staff, who switched over several stores a day, completing all 128 in three months, between July 1 and September 30, 2002.

Apria Healthcare Consolidates Servers, Replacing 48 AS/400s with Two iSeries Model 890s and Reconnecting Thousands of Twinax Users with e-Twin@x Controllers

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The second largest iSeries user in the United States, Apria Healthcare recently consolidated its servers, replacing 48 AS/400s around the country with two mirrored iSeries 890s with 32 partitions each.

"With the BOScom e-Twin@x Controllers, it was simple to connect thousands of orphaned twinax displays and printers in remote locations to the new centralized systems," explains Dave Slack, Manager of IS Networking. By the end of 2003, Apria will have installed 240 e-Twin@x Controllers around the country.

Apria Healthcare is the country's homecare leader in the alternate-site respiratory, HME, and infusion markets, serving more than 1 million patients annually. Apria has headquarters in Lake Forest, California, and employs more than 9,700 healthcare professionals in 480+ branch offices across the United States.

"Our company had grown fast and installed distributed AS/400s to meet the rapid expansion. As a result, consolidating information from the business units was a lengthy and difficult process. To shorten the cycle and also to reduce maintenance fees on so many AS/400s, Apria decided to consolidate onto two i890 iSeries servers. However, we still had over 6,000 twinax terminals and printers that were connected via remote workstation controllers using SDLC to our regional billing centers over frame relay.

"Reliability was an issue," he continues. "The SDLC solution was complex and inefficient from a communications standpoint, and placed high overhead on the routers. Serial Tunneling (STUN) also limited our access to new technologies like VoIP. Moreover, router hardware limitations would not allow 400+ STUN connections to one corporate router, which was essential in our new centralized architecture. We knew we had to move to Ethernet-attached controllers or replace all 6,000+ green-screen terminals with Ethernet computing devices.

"After extensive lab evaluations, we chose the BOScom e-Twin@x Controller to connect these twinax terminals and printers to the i890s. Other solutions were either too costly, difficult to manage, or unreliable. The decision was finalized late in 2000, and we deployed the first units in Q1'01. Management has been extremely pleased.

"Thanks to the BOScom e-Twin@x Controller's Web-based remote configuration and management, we have the ability to ship units straight to the branch offices and then set them up remotely from corporate. We have been very happy with the ease of configuration, ease of management, and overall performance," Slack says.

"BOScom tech support is very fluid and incredibly responsive. For example, BOScom was able to add two-session functionality for our Memorex Telex terminals within weeks of our request. BOScom has been especially impressive in their ability to issue firmware and patches very rapidly to address minor issues as well."

Dealers Auto Auction of Oklahoma City Employed e-Twin@x Controllers to Migrate Twinax Devices in Under a Minute

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"When we got our new iSeries Model 810, I migrated our systems over a weekend," recalls Rick Duvall, Systems Manager. "It was late Saturday when I got everything done except moving over our remote users. I dreaded it, fearing another few hours of work, but decided to go ahead and get it over with.

"I opened up the browser interface, found a link for systems, saw all the information on our old AS/400, and plugged in the new iSeries serial number and IP address. Then, the Controller took over and did everything except say 'excuse me' as it brushed me aside. It printed out about two pages of text on my browser as it proceeded from one step to the next. It even checked for PTFs. I was amazed--the units were coming online as I watched. The whole process took less than a minute!"

One of the largest independents, Dealers Auto Auction of Oklahoma (DAA) offers 2,500 cars a week to auto dealers who attend the auction in person or over the Internet. The company prides itself on providing excellent customer service, combining a personal touch with state of the art technology. Homegrown software runs everything from accounting to customer data to vehicle maintenance to inventory control. DAA recently upgraded from an AS/400 Model 620 to an iSeries 810 to support its 500 employees.

"I had already experienced how user-friendly the BOScom e-Twin@x Controller was when I first installed it two years ago to connect our remote twinax users via the Internet. We had been trying for weeks to set up a Perle 594E and never could complete the long and cumbersome configuration. It was very different with the BOScom e-Twin@x Controller. I got a trial unit from Jack Easley, my BOScom partner, set it up at the remote site, plugged in the twinax cables, and turned on the unit. Then, I went back to my office at headquarters and used my Web browser to configure it. The e-Twin@x Controller just did it all.

"Before, I was resetting our IBM 5494 remote controller three to four times a day because it was SNA over TCP/IP, and whenever the ISDN phone lines were down, it needed to be reset. Once we installed the e-Twin@x Controller, the users stopped complaining immediately. It never went down. It took me a couple of weeks to notice that I wasn't running over there all the time! If you need a remote controller, this is definitely the way to go: It's self-setup and self-healing, and for two years, I've had no headaches. You can't ask for more."

Martin Pladgeman is President of BOSaNOVA Inc., the U.S. Master Distributor of the BOScom e-Twin@x Controller.

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Distributor
BOSaNOVA, Inc.
BOScom Master Distributor
2021 W. Rose Garden
Phoenix, AZ 85027
Tel: 866-865-5250
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Web: www.bosweb.com

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