Case Study Automotive Support Desk Enhancements

							     Case Study:
     Automotive Support Desk Enhancements
  case study
  Industry: Automotive

Services Featured            The business issue
                             A Canadian company transports new vehicles from a nearby automotive plant. Access to
• Host Link                  mainframe-based data is required to move the product to destinations outside the country.
                             Advanced communications with customs officials is essential to ensure products are delivered in
                             a timely manner. The business is located in a remote area, where high speed Internet lines are
• Disaster Recovery          too expensive to install. SNA is the primary method of mainframe communications. This
                             equipment is expensive and unreliable. Additionally, there can be delays of several days in
                             servicing equipment, due to 'hard-to-find‘ parts and the availability of technicians to this location.
• Desktop applications

• Mainframe                  Our approach                                             How it worked
                         •   EDS Host Link provides secure                      •   Provided access to business critical
                             mainframe access via the                               mainframe applications via an Internet
                             Internet from anywhere.                                connection and a desktop browser.

                         •   Host Link is a 24/7 application.                   •   Eliminated the need for expensive SNA
                             It is available every day of the                       equipment to serve as the backup.
                             year.
                                                                                •   The client reported 4 outages in 8
                         •   Host Link is a low cost                                months, including a 5 day window for
                             alternative to the use of SNA                          SNA equipment repairs. During this time,
                             equipment for mainframe                                Host Link allowed their product to move to
                             connectivity.
                                                                                    its destination.
                         •   Because of Host Link’s low cost,                   •   Host Link print capabilities were available
                             many clients use it as a backup
                             to their primary method of                             for clients to produce reports during SNA
                             mainframe communications.                              outages.

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