Smooth Sailing for Virginia International Terminals
When VIT decided it was time to migrate from the HP e3000 platform, it enlisted Speedware’s expertise.
"Only one vendor stood out for its migration knowledge, experience, and exceptional service: Speedware. We are very pleased with our results to date and look forward to a continued partnership."
Clark Farabaugh, Jr.
Assistant Director of IT, Virginia International Terminals
Also available in pdf format 
Virginia International Terminals, Inc. (VIT) is a marine terminal management company chartered by the Virginia Port Authority to operate the state-owned port terminal facilities. It serves four major Virginian terminals and ranks among the most sophisticated terminals in the world. Over one million containers are handled each year by VIT and it expects to double its capacity within the next 10 to 15 years.
As a 24-hour operation, VIT depends on a variety of mission-critical applications to manage its operations. These applications, designed to track shipments, manage equipment, enable electronic data interchange and coordinate labor and other resources, were custom-developed in both Speedware/4GL and in Cobol. Furthermore, key information is stored within TurboImage databases, a database management system proprietary to the HP e3000 platform. Virginia International Terminals was eager to undertake a migration process toward a more open computing environment. By doing this, VIT felt that it could protect the value of the investments it made in developing these custom applications and safeguard them against the future.
VIT’s interest in moving toward an open computing system coincided nicely with Hewlett-Packard’s recent announcement of end-of-sale and end-of-support dates of its popular HP e3000 computing platform. VIT was determined to get a head start over other companies that would be facing the challenge of migrating their applications and databases over the next months. It was looking for a migration solution that was both cost-effective and minimized any system downtime - after all, cargo shipments entering its ports could not be asked to wait should system downtime occur.
VIT also wanted to benefit from the migration incentive programs offered by HP, namely the server loan program.
Throughout the past 15 years, VIT has developed over 35 custom applications using Speedware’s fourth-generation programming language, known as Speedware/4GL. Over the years, VIT has always been impressed with the quality and robustness of Speedware’s tools, as well as by its exceptional customer service.
VIT was looking for help to:
- Migrate toward HP-UX, a more open, UNIX-based computing environment
- Transition mission-critical Speedware/4GL and Cobol applications without sacrificing functionality
- Convert TurboImage databases to Oracle 9i and train IT staff to manage this new RDBMS
- Improve the graphical user interface of their applications and extend their use to the web
When it came time to partner with an experienced migration solution provider, the choice was clear. In fact, VIT felt that no other vendor has demonstrated the experience and expertise in the field of HP e3000 migration than Speedware. Speedware therefore worked with VIT to develop a custom program to allow it to easily migrate its applications and databases to a new, open environment.
Speedware created a "jump start" migration program for VIT. First, Speedware’s professional migration services team performed a detailed assessment of the resources required to migrate VIT’s applications and databases. A consultant from the group then went onsite to VIT’s offices and migrated one of their key applications while at the same time training VIT’s technical staff on the process. Speedware also left behind a host of innovative application and database migration software tools. VIT is now empowered to migrate their remaining applications and databases themselves - saving considerable money and allowing them to maintain complete control over the entire process.
Virginia International Terminals conducted a great deal of research on the topic of HP e3000 migration as well as on the different vendors who offer software and consulting services in this field. VIT’s choice was clear - Speedware had the experience and know-how to help them through the process. For VIT, the best choice was to enlist the help of Speedware during the initial phases of the process and then let its own in-house IT staff complete the project on its own, using Speedware’s software tools. In the next phases of this project, VIT is looking forward to using the Speedware Autobahn II application web-enablement tool to extend the functionality of their key applications and enhance their user graphical interface.
Virginia International Terminals, Inc. is one of the most sophisticated marine terminal operating companies in the world. It manages all of the state-owned port terminal facilities for the state of Virginia. Over 400 permanent VIT management staff and a variable work force of several thousand International Longshoremen’s Assoc. (ILA) laborers work around the clock to operate this state-of-the-art facility that generates $150 million annually.
Also available in pdf format
|
