Critical Issue
For Southwestern Motor Transport (SMT), the product is service. Fortune 50
customers demand real-time information about their shipments, and SMT delivers
via email and web portals. Hosting the email server, the web site, and receiving live
data from driver's Java-based phones, SMT's IBM®System i™solution is critical to
providing 24/7 service. To satisfy its premier customers and compete successfully
for new business, SMT must have a solution that protects against planned and
unplanned downtime.
Results
• Achieved ROI in only 30 days.
• Eliminated threat of unplanned downtime to essential logistics, communications
and customer service applications.
• Ensured continuous live communication with truckers on the road.
• Eliminated planned system downtime for routine maintenance and upgrades.
• Ensured 24/7 continuity of business processes including web site and delivery of
real-time information to customers.
• Increased business and retained premier customers by delivering optimum uptime.
Technologies
• MIMIX®ha1™
• LTL/400 transportation management software from Ayers Rock Software, LLC
• Cheetah Software Systems™Cheetah Tracks™dispatch and optimization software
on an Application Service Provider (ASP) basis
• QUALCOMM®OmniTRACS®satellite mobile communications system for long-
haul trucks
• Nextel®Java- and GPS-enabled phone system for local pickup/delivery drivers
• IBM®Lotus®Domino®email server
• Two IBM®System i™520 servers
Business Challenge
Manufacturers turn to Southwestern Motor Transport (SMT) to carry freight
including raw materials, parts and finished goods. No small packages, these are
commercial motor freight shipments weighing up to 40,000 pounds—critical
elements of the supply chain for SMT's customers.
At SMT, the company product is actually service, according to SMT's director of
technology, Robert Bernal. Customers want visibility into the process, from
loading through delivery. "We're a lot like an airport—simultaneous carriers,
multiple routes, arrival times and schedules. An enormous amount of information
is being conveyed to customers at any given time, and it's essential to the
business," said Bernal.
BUSINESS PROFILE
Company name:
Southwestern Motor Transport Inc.
Headquarters:
San Antonio, Texas USA
Industry:
Transportation
Employees:
Approximately 1,000
Business Environment:
• 75-year old regional trucking firm
serves the eastern portion of the
U.S. and offers service to
Canada and Mexico
• Approximately 500 trucks, 3,000
trailers and 40 terminal locations
• Provides long-haul and less-
than-truckload (LTL) services
• Delivers real-time shipment
information as a vital element of
customer service for Fortune 50
and other premier customers
• 24/7 freight environment calls for
high availability of systems
Implementation Team:
MIMIX®Solution Services
MIMIX Products:
MIMIX®ha1™
MIMIXSUCCESS STORY
LakeviewTech.com
"
Our MIMIX solution has helped us bring in more business and retain
our biggest customers with minimal increases in IT staff. In fact, MIMIX
paid for itself in only 30 days.
"
— Robert Bernal, Director of Technology, Southwestern Motor Transport
A long-time IBM customer, SMT relies on live communication with drivers on the
road and real-time information about shipments to compete effectively for
Fortune 50 customers. "We need to push information out to customers almost
instantaneously, whether on the web or by email, and we need uptime all the
time to make that happen," said Bernal. "We were looking for zero fault
tolerance, where if there were any issues, we would be back up within minutes.
There would be an enormous cost for us to lose the computer," added Bernal.
Solution
"When I'm asked about our long history with IBM, '14 years no downtime' pretty
much says it all," said Bernal. "Since 1992, when RAID drives came into play,
our unscheduled downtime has been zero—and we're a 24/7 shop," he
explained.
SMT started with the IBM System/3™in the early 1970's, and the IBM midrange—
from the System/34™to the System/36™to the AS/400®—has been vital to SMT as
the company has grown. Today the company has two System i™520's with two
way-replication at the center of a hub-and-spoke Ethernet system.
Bernal emphasizes that when SMT implemented MIMIX ha1, the IT team chose
two-way replication to balance performance. "When we're doing SQL reporting,
for example, I don't query the live production data, I read the replicated
production data, and there's no bottleneck issue," he said.
"System i and MIMIX work together to provide the uptime, reliability and
simplicity we need—and help us respond to our customers' requirements for
fast, accurate information any time of the day or night," Bernal stated. "At any
given time on our System i, there are about 300 drivers via satellite, 250 Java
phones, as many as 700 internal users, and a high volume of customers on the
web checking arrival times and current locations of shipments. Our network is
replicated, our hosts are replicated, our software is replicated and our VoIP
phone system is replicated," he added.
"We calculated cost per hour for downtime, and MIMIX paid for itself in a month.
We've done some tests, and it worked flawlessly," said Bernal. "We used to go
down about two to six hours a night to back up the system, and now we're down
maybe 15 or 20 minutes for an IPL every two weeks, and that's all," he noted.
Lakeview's advanced technology and 'set it and forget it' maintenance were key
to choosing MIMIX, according to Bernal. "We didn't want to baby-sit it or tweak
it, so MIMIX was what we were looking for. And Lakeview was doing things that
no one else could do. When others told us something couldn't be done,
Lakeview had it developed and running," said Bernal.
"IBM and Lakeview have made it possible for SMT to bring in more business
and retain premier customers over the years with minimal increases in IT staff.
By helping us achieve continuous uptime and enabling us to give customers
real-time data, IBM and MIMIX help us compete with multi-billion-dollar
carriers," Bernal said.
For more information on MIMIX solutions, visit www.MIMIX.com
MIMIXSUCCESS STORY
© Copyright 2006 Lakeview Technology Inc. All Rights Reserved. MIMIX®is a trademark of Lakeview Technology. All other trademarks and registered
trademarks are property of their respective holders. M-SP-Southwestern-0606
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