Western Cape-based Capespan, a major player in the international fruit export market, has launched a R3 million universal database project which is geared to boost its competitive advantage in the global market.
According to Stef Rigotti, Group IS Manager at Capespan, the project was aimed at providing faster electronic access to sales, marketing, technical and other relevant information for employees at Capespan`s head office, branch offices countrywide, farmers and growers.
"It will enable them to work more cost-effectively and time-efficiently," he says.
Value-added reseller and solutions provider, First Technology, designed and implemented the end-to-end hardware solution. This included migrating operations to the same platform so that information contained in company databases can be accessible to all.
"Historically, some Capespan applications ran on IBM Netfinity xSeries servers and others on a Unisys 2200 mainframe. This made the environment complex and difficult to maintain, and it was virtually impossible to present information in formats which all employees could utilise," explains Ludwig Dedekind, IBM Product Manager at First Technology.
"It`s imperative for Capespan`s business process that all users have access to the same data all the time. Two populated IBM 8500R servers replaced the mainframe. This increased service to users, and allows for scalability to accommodate future growth."
The servers now run in a two-node cluster, using Windows 2000 Advanced Server and Oracle8i as the database of choice. To present the data to remote users, two IBM xSeries 350 servers were implemented as the platform for Citrix which gives systems the ability to run any application on any device over any connection."
Rigotti says First Technology`s solution has exceeded Capespan`s expectations, particularly with regard to pricing, service levels and the innovation of the overall solution.
"This project has strengthened our relationship with First Technology and we look forward to building on our partnership into the future," he concludes.
Share
Editorial contacts