Success Stories

Reale Mutua Assurances Improves Connectivity and Fail-Over Options with Visara SCON Console Concentrators

Real Mutual Assurances is the largest insurance agency in Italy and controls 9 other companies in Italy and Europe. Real Mutual Assurances has over 350 Agencies in Italy, while the Mutual Real Group includes approximately 850 agencies worldwide.

After analysis of its existing information systems, Reale Mutua Assurances decided to consolidate all of their subsidiaries and individual companies on a single platform. To complete their migration from a legacy to a TCP/IP environment, Reale Mutua Assurances safeguarded its existing investments and significantly reduced operations expenses by choosing a console consolidation solution. READ MORE

A Glamorous Company Chooses Visara Thin Client Solutions
A world leader in cosmetics, skin care and personal care recently selected Visara thin clients to provide increased hardware flexibility for their current and future needs.

Although the customer had been using thin client technology for some time, their peripheral needs were not able to be met by other competitors, so they turned to Visara. They were also looking to improve their levels of support, responsiveness and service from their thin client provider.

Using the two key Visara strengths of engineering and commitment, the Visara team demonstrated in a just a few days that they could support the specific keyboard needs of the customer. They also provided the customer with a 4-port USB connector for future expansion.

Visara International Provides New Operating System for IBM Thin Clients
A state court system recently selected a Thin Client Solution from Visara International as their Network Computing standard. The existing installed base of IBM NetStations was upgraded to Visara’s open systems Linux based operating system with a robust emulation suite. This solution enabled them to enhance and increase the functionality of existing terminals that originally cost over $300,000, giving them significant cost savings.

Visara demonstrated the ability to solve longstanding technical issues with mainframe connectivity via TN3270e and ASCII printer support. In addition, Visara supplied innovative automation solutions, which have improved productivity and customer service.

O'Reilly Automotive Selects Thin Client Solution from Visara International
Missouri based O'Reilly Automotive Inc., one of the largest specialty automotive retailers in the United States, has selected a Thin Client Solution from Visara International, as their Network Computing standard. O'Reilly, will begin by installing Visara eManager network management software and deploying the Visara 1883 Network Computing Terminal in over 1000 existing O'Reilly Auto Parts store locations and 10 Distribution Centers throughout the United States.

The Visara 1883 is a Thin Client solution for Network Computing. Included in the O'Reilly solution is Visara International's robust emulation suite including TN3720E and TN5250. In addition, each Visara 1883 will be shipped with an image of customer-specific software factory installed. The Visara eManager network management platform provides a wide range of administrative tools designed to centrally maximize network efficiencies and offers exceptional functionality to network administrators and help support technicians.

Major Paint Company Replaces Old Mainframes
A prominent painting company recently faced the challenge of replacing their old mainframe with a new Z900 series system. Due to the lack of standard bus and tag support offered with this system, they were required to replace their older 3174 and 3274 console controllers as well. Although they initially considered replacing these devices with an IBM 2074, they soon realized several issues with the 2074:

• Lack of coax support for their STK LMU’s
• Limited session support
• Obsolete operating system
• Requirement to immediately replace all console workstations with PC’s to provide
console connectivity because of missing coax support

The customer began to look at other solutions, and discovered the Visara SCON-22L Console Concentrator. This solution offered the customer the connectivity and options they needed, without the requirements of a LMU redesign. Soon, the Visara System’s Engineers were working closely with the customer'’s staff to configure and install Visara SCON-22L’s.

After the initial install was complete, the customer began bringing their disaster recovery system back in house, while at the same time, console operations were being relocated in their corporate office. Fortunately, they had already installed the Visara SCON-22L systems. This meant the future planning completed on their part allowed easy migration from traditional dumb consoles to newer IP consoles.

As for the disaster recovery operations, a new SCON-22L was acquired to install at the off-site location for disaster recovery. By utilizing TN3270 and the cristalblu500LX thin client, their disaster recovery site can be remotely managed, allowing for a “lights out” operation. Security was accomplished by restricting access to the system only to assigned devices. Hot sessions were also used to give remote staff immediate access to a console without having someone vary on the device each time they needed access.

This customer is typical of the challenges experienced by many IBM mainframe users who are forced to migrate to ESCON attached console communication servers. The Visara solution provides:

- a smooth transition from their current system without having to replace console devices immediately
- ability to attach current LMU systems
- migration path for advanced IP attached consoles and TSO terminals
- remote management, configuration and monitoring
- Flexible design to meet current and future needs.

Local Federal Government
A local federal government office wanted a second ESCON Channel to be able to communicate with two (2) mainframes from the same console. They could only attach to one mainframe at a time because the IBM 3174 did not support dual ESCON channels. Their current consoles were running off of IBM 3174’s. They had 8 LPARS which mean’s they had 16 IBM 3174’s, 8 for their primary consoles and 8 for their alternate consoles. They also wanted to reduce the floor space and needed coax connectivity for their consoles.

They contacted Visara and inquired about the 22L. They were convinced right from the start they wanted the 22L SCON Solution. The Visara solution provided them with 2 Visara SCON 22L Concentrators in place of the 16 IBM 3174’s. First, it gave them the additional ESCON channel they wanted to communicate with two (2) mainframes from the same console. Second, it freed up valuable floor space the 16 IBM 3174’s were taking up. Third, it gave them plenty of coax connectivity for their consoles. Last it gave them the ability to add additional LPARS without having to add physical units.

Visara in the Sky
An aerospace company in Texas had eight out-dated IBM 3174 controllers managing LPARs on two Mainframes. They were hesitant to turn them off, worried they might not turn back on. Support was diminishing due to the age of the controllers.

Visara presented the 1174-25S enterprise controller to the technical staff and Management. Visara's ability to place 2 escon cards in each controller gave them the 100% redundancy required by policy and also the ability to pass SNA traffic through the same card. After two more meetings , the customer agreed Visara had the best solution,winning over the competitors offerings with superior flexibility.

Installed by a Visara System Engineer, the 2 1174-25S contollers were tested thoroughly before being brought on-line. The customer was pleased with the ease of configuration and space requirement of the Visara devices . They were also impressed with the support of Visara System Engineering, who quickly identified and corrected a problem with a legacy graphics terminal. They have removed the large controllers and gained additional floor space in the computer room.

Read All About It
The world’s largest wholesale distributor of books and book products needed to update their information systems network in their distribution centers. The customer previously used MTX 1481 coax terminals and MTX twinax terminals as their desktop devices. Their shipping and receiving lines, in many locations, had both type devices at the user location. Symbol scanners and Zebra bar code printers were directly attached to these terminals.

As their workflow increased, the customer was challenged with redesigning their shipping and receiving operations to meet increasing demand. As part of their new design, Ethernet drops were installed. This provided the infrastructure and required installing IP attached workstations.

Due to the limited support staff and increasing workload, PC’s were not considered an attractive solution. Numerous, high density remote locations demanded that all devices installed could be remotely managed and monitored. The ability to lock down the devices to prevent user setup modifications was also a major requirement.

The 1883 Thin Client Terminal provided all the necessary communications protocols, security and connectivity required for all their locations. TN3270, TN5250, TN5250EP, and in some locations, 1490 Twinax connectivity provided the host connectivity required.

Instead of running new 3270 coax and twinax cables as their new line was being built, Ethernet drops were added at all floor posts to easily allow flexible design and growth. Work areas that had both type devices were replaced with a single 1883 thin client terminal.

The pilot project went extremely smooth. At the company’s corporate facilities in Tennessee, the shipping line was the target of the pilot. TN3270 and TN5250 sessions were established on all clients. Being able to switch between 3270 and AS/400 systems on a single device gave line operators access to both systems. The number of hand scanners was reduced since multiple devices were eliminated. Zebra bar code printers were attached to the AS/400 utilizing the 1883’s TN5250ep AS/400 printer emulation.

Being able to lock down configuration settings allowed the 1883 terminals to be secure from unauthorized user configuration changes. Remote configuration and monitoring was accomplished utilizing Visara’s eManager program at their support staff location.

Due to the number of devices being installed and geographically dispersed, Visara proposed to pre-configure the units at the factory. This allowed install teams to just hook-up and attach the device to the network. With 95% of the configuration done, one support staff person utilized eManager to change configuration items unique to that workstation remotely. This allowed rapid deployment of 1883’s, allowing the install team to focus on more demanding system’s installs (PC’s running line flow applications, work flow scanners, scales, etc).

The project was a total success. As the customer updates the receiving line this year, the 1883 will be utilized to replace coax and twinax terminals. Some locations already have the twinax attached 1883’s in place. These were used in locations that required replacement devices. Investing in the 1883 at that time allowed this book wholesale distributor to migrate these devices to the IP network when the project gets started.

To place an order for a Visara product,
fax 919-882-0158 or e-mail
orders@visara.com