Manufacturing & Distributon Case Study:
Pervasive & Genband

Manufacturing & Distribution Case Study: Pervasive & Genband

Customer Challenge

 

Business Need

A recent acquisition of a division of Nortel left Genband, a major electronics manufacturer, in a position that required a new IT infrastructure. The acquisition was monumental for Genband and increased their annual revenue by over 500%. One of the first challenges was the transition of 8-10 major trading partners in a very
short time frame. The business that these partners brought in accounted for 40% of the new acquisition business. Trading partners were divided into a tiered structure that called for different IT requirements. Genband needed to determine a way to quickly migrate all of these new trading partners onto a new infrastructure within the time frames they had set with Nortel. Failure to meet this deadline would mean significant costs to the business for every day they remained on the transition services from Nortel. Knowing that this division providing the transition services would go away once the migrations were complete, Genband wanted to ensure they were not the last vendor using these services before the division dissolved. It was a matter of risk management and fiscal responsibility.

IT Issue

Previously, Genband had implemented an Oracle solutions rollout. They had also used Pervasive Data Integrator^TM software to manage their point-to-point communications. They had not however, supported AS2, which was a basic requirement of all of the trading partners they had just acquired. Genband needed a single methodology for their point-to-point communications that supported an expandable business model. They needed a simplified system architecture that would bring order management, supply chain management and finance, which were all on one platform, in synch with Salesforce.com, which managed all of their opportunities, quotes and customer configurations. Integration between these two platforms was needed. There were over 700 business applications being used prior to the acquisition. They considered development vs. purchase. Either way, Genband was forced to take their EDI to the next level.

 

Cleo Solution

A partnership with Pervasive Software provided the perfect opportunity to implement Cleo’s Managed File Transfer solution, VLTrader, coupled with the Pervasive Data Integrator already in place. VLTrader gave Genband the support for XML and AS2 that they required – through a multiprotocol solution. Now, their IT infrastructure was a single point-to-point methodology that facilitated the integration between the formerly fragmented platforms. The number of business applications in use has been significantly reduced. Plans to migrate the 8-10 major trading partners are in place and will meet the migration schedules, allowing Genband to manage their risks without incurring heavy costs and realize their increased revenue from the acquisition much more quickly.

 

Success Snapshot

Size: Operations in 50 Countries with 600 Customer Networks Spanning 80 Countries
Profile: Market-Leading Hi-Tech Manufacturer in IP Infrastructure & Application Solutions
Software and Services: Pervasive Data Integrator^TM & Cleo VLTrader
Vertical Industries: Manufacturing & Distribution: Electronics
Country/Region: United States
Business Need: Transition of Business from an Acquisition
IT Issue: Inefficient Communications, Problematic Devices & Disconnected Systems
Solution Results: Multiprotocol Support & Simplified IT Infrastructure