The Teltron group of companies has implemented the Linux-based Synchrony solution from Obsidian Systems in order to effectively manage software and data synchronisation across southern Africa.
Teltron owns a number of companies in the retail photography business, including the popular FotoFirst brand. The infrastructure encompasses over eighty branches around SA as well as remote branches in Namibia and Botswana, all communicating on a daily basis with the head office in Johannesburg.
Systems manager at Teltron, Francois van der Merwe, says each branch runs a Linux-based automated point of sale system which returns daily transactional information back to the head office`s financial system.
"Our previous system was manual," he says. "Drivers would have to visit branches and bring back physical records which were then captured at head office. When we decided to automate this process we were concerned with the challenges of keeping all our branches in sync - running the same versions of our software, receiving the same price updates from us and executing the same scripts."
Faced with this task, Teltron turned to Synchrony, an effective, reliable and low cost solution for deploying and maintaining large numbers of turnkey systems, from local Linux specialist Obsidian Systems. Synchrony can handle point-of-sale systems, stock-control systems or any other large systems that require distributed nodes to manipulate one or more central databases.
Sales manager at Obsidian, Charles Leaver, says the system ensures that all nodes are running the newest version of the client software, and all local databases are in sync with centrally shared databases. "This means that all software issues are resolved from a central point, as changes are spawned to every branch," he says. "This ensures total synchronicity throughout the organisation. Teltron`s software and scripts can be updated or changed remotely on a completely automated basis, ensuring they have complete control over each branch`s software from a central location."
Van der Merwe says that using the system has led to a much lower total cost of ownership for the company. "Each branch`s system runs on a tamper-proof customised server. We have no licence fees to worry about as the system runs on Linux. There is very little scope for error since update processes are controlled by us and no staff are required on the client side to perform updates manually. As anyone who runs a business with branches all over the sub-continent knows, it can be a nightmare to manage crashing systems and incompatibility between sites. But the Synchrony system is incredibly stable, requires very few server resources and allows all sites to run the same version of the software at all times."
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