American Truck Business (ATBS) knew full well several of their aging servers were on the road to an upgrade. The unknown was the vast array of updated equipment they could leverage as a solution, not to mention what the cost associated with the upgrade, or even who could help them navigate and evaluate their options.
Matt Amen, the Vice President of ATBS, the United States’ largest owner-operator financial services provider, said having the right technology in place is not only great for the Company’s 125 employees, but the efficiency allows them to better serve their 150,000+ customers.
“Was there a better way to do what we were doing?” said Matt. “Our company works to meet the accounting needs for independent contractors in the trucking industry, and we knew we needed equipment that was more efficient, more stable, that could keep us on track to help our clients.”
Matt Amen joined ATBS in 2002 with a background in trucking, business development and information technology. Previously he was Co-President of the trucking company Trans-Western Express, LTD (TWX) and later ran his own business, ICCE Technologies. Today, Matt works closely with many of ATBS’ partner fleets and manufacturers in the trucking industry, and he oversees the information technology strategy of the company.
ABTS knew it was integral for their own operations but for their customers that they needed to be effective with managing risk; network connections; software and dealing with day-to-day issues of servers. Matt said, “We needed to know the equipment was running, and we had to be able to walk away from it.”
Seeking the best tools to stay current to support their clients, ATBS knew they needed an answer engineered to suit their company’s and customer’s needs, without slowing down their business. Much of their existing equipment was aging and nearing it’s end of life was becoming pieced together ad hoc. IT was working to make improvements all while trying to stay as efficient as possible. However, the storage limitations continued to be a barrier in saving time and in team partnership.
“Of course, our goal is always to be running; and everyone understands that things happen, but the expectation is: ‘all systems go’,” said Matt. “Back in the day when we were piecing things together, it could be difficult, sometimes taking hours instead of minutes to get things back up and running.”
After researching prices and equipment, ATBS chose to invest in Dell Technologies to solve their recent pain points. To help ABTS meet the needs of their clients, Dell Technologies portfolio offered the best solutions and Davenport Group provided additional service and support for the technology offered.
Early on, Davenport Group communicated with ATBS about how Dell Compellent SCv2020 Storage System and VMware could manage their resources. “From specs to purchasing, we got an entire education on how and why things work and what costs what,” said Matt. “Davenport Group translated the process for us, in constant collaboration along the way. Davenport Group didn’t just sell to us, they worked to teach us the ‘how-and-why’.”
ATBS chose Dell Compellent SCv2020 Storage System and VMware. Davenport Group recommended the correct Windows software and what requirements to successfully support VMware. With 430 Dell servers for VMware hosts, Davenport Group offered multiple levels of operating systems with different hardware configurations, knowing everything had to run on VMware. Additionally, ATBS switched to rapid recovery with physical backup servers off-site.
“Our clients expect high quality, systematic approach from us to suit their needs,” said Matt. “And we expected the same out of our software and equipment, engineered to fit our needs.”
Applications swiftly deploy and downtime is minimized. With less hardware to manage, run, or replace, ATBS has seen costs of operation decrease and processes become simplified. As their business continues to grow, ATBS does not expect to spend more and more time and money maintaining their equipment. Since applying VMware and Compellent solution, they’ve seen software transformed – including the CPU, RAM, hard disks, and network controllers – to create a functional, virtual machine, “that runs well so that we can walk away from it,” said Matt.
It takes planning, defined objectives, and reliable execution to realize the benefits. Today ABTS runs 19 servers on VMware, SSD running disks, Compellent, with no slowdowns and the “infrastructure sprawl” that can occur from not knowing best practices for purchasing. They credit Davenport Group with helping them create a plan for ongoing operational process integration and success.
“Davenport Group translated the process for us, in constant collaboration along the way. They didn’t just sell to use, they worked to each us the ‘how and why’.”
– Matt Amen, Vice President, American Trucking Business Services
At Davenport Group, we promise to be a committed partner for the full lifecycle of your IT investment. We know that IT decisions can be stressful, so we promise you the IT solutions and services you need when you need them.
