Profile: Wireless Warehouse Solution Client: Interamerican Motor Corporation

As a high-volume auto parts distributor, IMC approached evolveIT (formerly eBusiness Solution Pros) for support in an effort to outfit their distribution centers with wireless data entry terminals. IMC wanted to use a hardware and software package that was native to their midrangeIBM AS/400 to take advantage of the stable platform. evolveIT recommended and deployed the only AS/400 centric wireless solution available, IBM’s Wireless Connect product.

The solution was deployed to IMC’s six geographically diverse distribution centers in California, Washington State and Pennsylvania. All of the wireless mobile devices were connecting to the main AS/400 server in Canoga Park, California over their wide area network. This solution has been very cost effective and has served well since its inception. As the IBM AS/400 evolved into the eServer iSeries line, the Wireless Connection package was discontinued by IBM and so, once again, IMC approached evolveIT for assistance. Having been deeply involved in warehouse automation and wireless solutions all along, evolveIT was well aware of the end-of-life status of IBM’s Wireless Connection product and had already done research to find a replacement solution for our customers.

Unfortunately, there was no single commercial package available, which provided the feature set required by customers who had been using the IBM’s Wireless Connection solution. These desirable features include the ability to run the software native on the iSeries, 5250 Session Keep-Alive capabilities, 5250 Device Naming and Centralized Device Management, just to name a few. The lack of a preexisting replacement solution for the Wireless Connection package encouraged evolveIT to develop a new product to fill the gap.

Capitalizing on its extensive experience in the wireless arena, evolveIT has developed a next-generation solution which provides not only the original required features, but also deploys many more cutting edge technologies to bring greater value to the customer. The new Stay-Linked Emulation Server was deployed into the IMC distribution centers concurrently with their existing Wireless Connection infrastructure and, over a short period of time, IMC was able to convert all of their wireless mobile devices to Stay-Linked. Upon completion of the deployment of the Stay-Linked solution, IMC was able to upgrade their iSeries to OS/400 V5R1 and deploy additional devices as their enterprise expanded.

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