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Thursday, February 26th, 2009


COMPANY: Advanced Systems Group (the “Company” or “we”)
COMPANY LOCATION: 15265 Alton Parkway, Suite 300, Irvine, CA 92618, USA
JURISDICTION: State of California, USA
CONTACT US:
Address: 15265 Alton Parkway, Suite 300, Irvine, CA 92618, USA
Telephone: 1-949-777-0400
E-Mail: click here to email us

Last Updated: 17th July 2008
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OTHER

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Terms of Use

Thursday, February 26th, 2009

COMPANY: Advanced Systems Group (the “Company” or “we”)
COMPANY LOCATION: 15265 Alton Parkway, Suite 300, Irvine, CA 92618, USA
JURISDICTION: State of California, USA
CONTACT US:
Address: 15265 Alton Parkway, Suite 300, Irvine, CA 92618, USA
Telephone: 1-949-777-0400
E-Mail: click here to email us

CONDITIONAL USE OF THIS SITE. Your access to and use of this website and its contents (the “Site”) is subject to the terms and conditions of these Terms of Use (“Terms of Use” or “Terms”), and all applicable laws. By accessing and using this Site, you (the “User” or “you”) accept and agree to these without any limitation or qualification.

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You agree to use best efforts to cooperate with us in the defense of any such matter. We reserve the right, at your expense, to assume the exclusive defense and control of any matter subject to indemnification by you.

OTHER SITES. This Site may contain links to other web sites that we do not own or operate. We do not control, recommend or endorse and are not responsible for these sites or their content, products, services or privacy policies. Downloading material from certain sites may risk infringing intellectual property rights or introducing viruses into your system. You should note when you leave this Site and read the privacy policies and terms of these other sites. You should also independently assess the authenticity of any website which appears or claims that it is one of our sites (including those linked to through an email).

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY. We (or our associated or affiliated companies or third parties who have licensed its brands to Company or contributed to this Site) (“Content Owner”) own or license from third parties all Site Content. All Site Content remains the sole property of the applicable Content Owner and is protected under all relevant Copyright, Trademark and other applicable laws. Nothing on the Site should be construed as granting any license or rights to use or distribute any Site Content, without our express written agreement or of the other applicable Content Owner.

OTHER

JURISDICTION. We control and operate the Site from the above Company Location (regardless of where hosting servers are located). All matters relating to the Site are governed by the laws of the above Jurisdiction, without reference to conflict or choice of law principles. You agree that jurisdiction and venue for any legal proceeding relating to the Site shall be in appropriate courts located in the above Jurisdiction. We do not warrant or imply that the Site or materials on it are appropriate for use outside of the above Country. The information set forth in this Site concerning any products or services is applicable only in the Jurisdiction, and these products or services may not be available in all locations. If you are located outside of this Country, you are solely responsible for compliance with any applicable local laws.

SEVERABILITY. If for any reason, any provision herein is found void or unenforceable, it will be severed to the extent void or unenforceable and the remaining provisions will continue in full force and effect.

DEFINITIONS/INTERPRETATION. As used herein:

  • “Damages” means any and all direct, special, indirect, consequential or punitive loss or other damages of any kind (whether in contract, including fundamental breach, tort, including negligence, or otherwise).
  • “including” means “including, but not limited to”
  • “materials sent to the Site” (and “materials you send to the Site” and other like terms) means anything emailed, uploaded, posted or otherwise transmitted or sent to the Site (whether information, text, material, data or code or other) by you or another user.
  • “Related Parties” means all of our parent, subsidiary and affiliated companies, Site Developers and other promotional partners.
  • “Site Contents” means any and all information, text, images, audio, video, designs, names, logos, trademarks, data, code or other information, material or content on this Site.
  • “Site Developer” means any party involved in creating, producing, delivering or maintaining the Site.
  • “use of this Site” (and “using” and other like terms) means “any and all use of the Site of any kind whatsoever, including access to, browsing of, reviewing, posting of, transmitting, reviewing, downloading, and other using the Site or any material on the Site.”
  • “Warranties” means any warranties or representations, express or implied (including, without limitation, any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose, title, non-infringement or freedom from computer virus.

CHANGES. Please note, we may change information on this Site and/or these Terms, at any time without notice. You should regularly review these Terms for any changes. By continuing to use the Site, you agree to any changes, and by providing continued access to the Site we are providing you consideration for agreement to such changes.

CONTACT US. If you have any questions or comments regarding this Site, please contact us at the above “Contact” address, telephone number or e-mail.

Mitchell International

Thursday, February 26th, 2009


With an IBM p-Series solution designed by thinkASG, Mitchell International drives away with better performance in a compact form.

Case Study: Consolidating For Growth

Mitchell International, Inc. is a leading provider of data, software and e-business solutions for the automotive collision industry. Mitchell’s clientele include automotive insurance, collision repair, medical claims and glass replacement businesses.

THE PROBLEM

Over the past several years, Mitchell has expanded rapidly. Today, they handle several million transactions with over 16,000 partners each month.

While business has been booming, however, Mitchell’s IT infrastructure has faced serious challenges in keeping pace with the company’s growth. Problems included:

* Inability to accommodate new services and delivery methods.
* A patchwork of aging servers that required multiple operating systems and staff cross training.
* Costs and environmental concerns associated with excess space and energy consumption.
* Cumbersome infrastructure requiring constant maintenance.
* Steady high operating costs not reflective of Mitchell’s fluctuating processing demands.

For John Pantarolo, Senior Director, Server Systems and Communications at Mitchell, the bottom line is: “Our servers have to be up and stay up, and they have to deliver top performance at all times.”

THE SOLUTION

thinkASG architected and implemented a server consolidation solution for Mitchell that put its performance into overdrive, while curbing costs through a much simpler IT infrastructure.

The experts at thinkASG migrated Mitchell’s entire UNIX processing system into just three IBM pSeries servers. These 18-way 590’s now run the entire business, hosting application, development, production, integration and testing environments.

“Mitchell really had no choice but to consolidate both physically and virtually if their business continued to grow at the same pace,” says Dave Henn, Senior Account Executive at thinkASG, “This set the foundation for the decision to move to the IBM Blade Center architecture, with all the benefits of virtualization.”

“What really gave thinkASG and IBM the edge was how well they supported our entire evaluation process and the depth of their knowledge and expertise,” Mr. Pontarolo explains. “thinkASG demonstrated to us how we could immediately take advantage of IBM’s virtual micro-partitioning technology – which would give us the flexibility and ease of management we were seeking.”

THE RESULT

Today, Mitchell’s operations are more flexible, powerful and efficient than ever before. As a result, they have cut costs, improved customer service and prepared for future growth.

Customer Service

Mitchell’s customer service offering has improved as a result of the server implementation:

* Information, once provided only in book form, is now delivered electronically.
* Clients now draw on a suite of applications that streamline the claims process.
* New applications deliver sophisticated estimation, communication and analysis of claims information.
* The new e-business portal eliminates costs and inefficiencies from the claims management process, while boosting customer satisfaction.

Economy

The new infrastructure has improved cost efficiency in several ways:

* Partitioning enables resource sharing for horsepower optimization.
* Consolidated servers eliminate redundant maintenance and employee cross-training.
* Consolidation reduces software licensing costs.
* The new system occupies ¼ of the previous space.
* The new system has significantly reduced cooling costs.

Scalability On Demand

Perhaps the biggest benefit to a growing, innovating business like Mitchell is the On Demand Operating Environment the solution has created.

“The spare processing power is all there; Mitchell simply has to turn it on as needed,” notes Mr. Henn. “With this solution, they have constant scalability, and the option of pay-as-you-go capacity – something that fits perfectly with the on demand nature of Mitchell’s business.”

Mr. Pontarolo adds, “If I have to support a new product from one of our business divisions, or scale to meet customer volume, I know I can do it, quickly and easily. I can add a CPU, I can change the partition and not affect my shrinking maintenance window.”

Partnering for the Future

“This has been a good experience for us,” says Mr. Pontarolo. “thinkASG has been very helpful and knowledgeable, and brought in the right experts at the right time. We’re now looking at how we can apply similar benefits of consolidation to our entire inventory of Intel based machines.”

Mazda Racing

Thursday, February 26th, 2009


Being able to manage and display critical information can be the difference between winning and losing.

Case Study: Strategy Made the Difference

Mazda North American Operations provides racing support in North America through MAZDASPEED MOTORSPORTS DEVELOPMENT. Headquartered in Irvine, Calif., Mazda North American Operations oversees the sales, marketing, parts and customer service support of Mazda vehicles in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. thinkASG has provided Enterprise Business Solutions to Mazda for several years and has supported the Mazda Motorsports racing teams for the past 3 years.

The Problem

Mazda Motorsports fields cars in both the American Le Mans and Grand American Road Racing ROLEX GT race series, and while they have always won on the track, their computer automotive diagnostics were limited, and the team’s real-time racing strategy was informed by manual data gathering during pit stops, or by radio communication from the driver.

“While the quality of our cars and team members has always been first rate, our monitoring and racing diagnostic capabilities were really in the stone age,” said John Doonan, manager of Mazda Motorsports North America. “They were holding back our team.”

The Solution

Working with Mazda and other technology partners like Bosch Diagnostics and Motec, thinkASG architected an IT solution that enabled the Mazda team to track real-time telemtery and diagnostic information during the race, while meeting the team’s grueling performance, travel and stability requirements.

In May 2008, the Mazda SpeedSource RX8 won the Grand-Am GT race at Limerock and beat the numerous Porsches. This was the first time in 18 years that a Porsche had not won this race at Limerock.

“The great solutions that thinkASG provided us helped us manage the information to make great pit calls for the races. At the track we make split second decisions, and being able to manage and display critical information can make the difference between winning and losing. thinkASG has made a real impact in the performance of our team.”

– Sylvain Tremblay, Team Owner and Driver – Winner of the 2008 Rolex GT Race at Limrock, SpeedSource Race Engineering

“On any given weekend, there are more Mazdas racing than any other brand of vehicle.” said Rich de Michele, Senior Account Executive at thinkASG. “It is this commitment to racing that enables Mazda to compete against other car manufacturers with much larger race budgets. The Mazda SpeedSource and BK Motorsports Racing Teams utilize our solutions to gather real time race telemetry to make in-race decisions that the difference between winning and losing.”

The Result

This solution has shown immediate results: with 4 wins already this season compared to 3 last season. And the season is only half over.

“We have the same cars, the same crew: it’s the ability to develop and modify strategy in real time that has made the difference,” noted Doonan.

For example, during a recent race this summer, the decision was made on the first pit stop to skip a tire change: the system showed the tires had enough life to finish the race. In the end, the Mazda team came out ahead by nearly 20 seconds under green flag conditions.

“That decision won the race,” said Doonan.

thinkASG technology solutions have also helped the team bring its custom parts fabrication in-house, allowing greater quality control and cost savings for the division.

Looking Ahead

“Being able to manage and display critical information can be the difference between winning and losing. thinkASG made a real impact on the performance of our professional teams,” said Doonan. “They understand Motorsports, and I look forward to continuing our relationship.”

Lantronix Inc

Thursday, February 26th, 2009


A virtualization solution from thinkASG increased efficiency and cost effectiveness for Lantronix Inc.

Lantronix, Inc. is a global leader of secure communication technologies that simplify remote access, management, and control of virtually any electronic device.

THE CHALLENGE

Lantronix Inc. required the partnership of a hardware firm to expand rack space, refresh several Windows servers and create a more energy efficient and robust pathway for provisioning Windows servers.

THE SOLUTION

thinkASG delivered implementation of fibre attached DS3400 SAN storage and implementation of two high powered x3950 with VMware ESX.

“By using an alternative to conventional physical servers, we were able to create an option of virtual servers that met the customer’s needs,” said Patrick Selzer, Account Executive for thinkASG .

THE RESULT

thinkASG’s successful 5 week implementation process, built on a robust, proven foundation, led to increased efficiency of the virtualization software for Lantronix Inc. and exceeded expectations in that:

* The total solution with VMware, Storage, Training and servers was less than $80k, which proved that virtualization could be accomplished within budget
* Initially, 9 servers consolidated to 2 or only 78% of the initial reduction model. Now, more servers are scheduled in the total consolidation plan that will increase this by approximately 90%

Guild Mortgage

Thursday, February 26th, 2009


They needed a disaster recovery plan, and now thinkASG’s business continuity solutions keep Guild Mortgage up and running.

Southern California-based mortgage lender, Guild Mortgage, turned to their trusted technology partner, thinkASG, to help them select a robust business continuity solution. thinkASG is an IBM Premier Business Partner and IBM Beacon Award Winner in 2007.

thinkASG provides consulting and infrastructure services that address high-level business and technology challenges for small and midsize businesses in all industries.

THE CHALLENGE

Guild Mortgage had a need for an in depth company wide disaster recovery plan in the event of a business disaster. They relied on the business assessment of thinkASG to identify the best market offering to meet their business needs.

THE SOLUTION

The key ingredient in any business continuity solution is confidence in the provider. thinkASG engaged the IBM Global Services team to present the detailed Business Continuity portfolio. Guild Mortgage was impressed with the breadth of the IBM offerings and chose the IBM disaster recover hot site service. They signed a three-year contract and the sales cycle took less than 60 days.

THE RESULT

thinkASG and IBM delivered a solution that ensures Guild Mortgage can continue business operations in the event of an unplanned outage; safeguard company data and ensure e-mail continuity; and address data center, workplace and network recovery.

The IBM Business Continuity Solution provides Guild Mortgage with:

* Customized services for re-establishing their network following a disaster
* It helps safeguard company data continuity during disasters and unexpected business disruptions
* Provides recovery specialists to assist with the recovery process
* The IBM Recovery Center provides a broader scope of Services when compared to other competitive offerings

Active – Skating to Success

Thursday, February 26th, 2009


Skateboard and apparel retailer ollies high with scalable IT solution featuring IBM System X servers from thinkASG.

Case Study: High Performance ERP

From humble beginnings as a single store in Chino, California in 1989, Active Ride Shop is a business riding hard and fast. By offering great customer service and superior inventory, Active now operates 20 locations and a booming website.

THE PROBLEM

With growth comes challenge—especially from an IT standpoint.

“Our reputation for great service depends on having what that customer wants in stock, when and where they want it,” explains Todd Melinn, VP of IT and Operations at Active Ride Shop. With hundreds of brands and thousands of products, Active Ride Shop’s inventory requires careful and constant management.

That task was inhibited by IT systems that couldn’t keep up with the retailer’s growth.

“Until recently, we were opening store after store without much regard for the impact on our IT systems,” says Mr. Melinn. The company realized its future depended on a scalable ERP system that would provide visibility into inventory as well as customer information and product trends.

“With limited space and IT resources, Active Ride Shop needed reliable servers that would perform at a higher level, be more energy efficient than their existing DELL equipment and be able to scale easily to their growth demands,” says Tim Nguyen, of thinkASG.

THE SOLUTION

With store openings outpacing its IT infrastructure, Active Ride Shop decided partner with thinkASG and implement a robust, scalable ERP system that would help manage inventory, enhance customer service and provide greater insight into purchasing behavior. But what hardware would deliver that functionality reliably, while supporting and scaling to aggressive growth plans?

“We looked at DELL and HP, but thinkASG architected an IBM solution that addressed all our requirements, and presented it in a clear and compelling way,” says Mr. Melinn. “They really seemed to understand our needs.”

thinkASG implemented an ERP system based on IBM’s X-Architecture® technology with Quad-Core Intel® processors. The solution was powerful, streamlined and scalable. It also featured power-management tools to provide vital information about consumption and temperature.

THE RESULT

Active now has an ERP system powerful enough to handle all its business functions, yet flexible enough to handle future expansion projects.

The new infrastructure, “gives us the flexibility of adding more processors, memory and hardware without affecting our business applications and processes,” explains Mr. Melinn.

He also appreciates, “The ability to do server load balancing on our servers, [which] helps us maximize our server investment and in turn gives us better performance output, with less risk to the business.”

Plus, Active Ride Shop is operating a green, energy-efficient data center that reduces energy consumption and saves money.

PARTNERING FOR THE FUTURE

thinkASG has been very responsive to our needs and easy to work with,” says Mr. Melinn, “We are pleased with the results… We can scale this solution as we add stores, and not worry about any interruptions to our business.”

What is a Teraflop?

Tuesday, February 24th, 2009

A teraflop is one trillion floating point operations per second (FLOPS). It is a description used by computer companies to describe how many multiplications can be performed within one second.

To give you an idea of how fast a teraflop microchip operates, compare it to a simple desk calculator. It has an average speed of about 10 FLOPS. When we perform operations on these calculators, it appears the operations are instant. For a calculator to operate at 1 Teraflop, the calculation would have to perform at 10 to the 12th power.

To give a perspective of a trillion, a trillion seconds ago is 31,688 years.

Intel has introduced a prototype of a future processor with 80 cores capable, they say, of performing a trillion operations per second (1 Teraflop), at a power consumption of 62 watts at a clock frequency of 3.12GHz on a chip the size of your fingernail. Of course this is a future looking statement, so all bets are off until it is actually introduced at a reasonable cost to the market as a whole.

Apparently Moore’s Law still holds true – computing power will double every 18 months or so.

teraflop-chip

Every Disaster is an Opportunity

Tuesday, February 10th, 2009

Part 1:

Every disaster is a reminder that businesses rely too heavily on data and IT systems that are not adequately protected.  Disasters occurring somewhere else in the world, provides an opportunity for businesses to re-assess their vulnerability.

lion-hunting1Similarly, disasters that occur to a business present an opportunity for natural selection to weed out the unprepared.  If you are an IT manager or CIO with an inadequate business continuity (BC) infrastructure and recovery plan, your survival is as likely as the lame gazelle at the back of the herd.  Disaster will run up from behind you and take you out.

Sound cruel?  Maybe, but since I personally experienced the lioness ripping flesh from my frame, I have a leg to stand on (hmmm, bad analogy and idiom mix) when I tell you that an IT disaster is going to happen and you best be prepared.

You won’t see it coming.  At best, you’ll see the disaster coming from your peripheral.  At worst, you’ll know that the disaster occurred when the Blackberry buzzes itself off the nightstand at 2AM in the morning.  Regardless of whether you see it coming or not, it’s too late.  You’ve been hunted down and your continued existence now depends on how well you’ve prepared.

Call a thinkASG Account Executive for the full 5 page editorial of “Every Disaster is an Opportunity”.

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