"The UniVision platform running Linux saved us OVER $370,000 in annual communication and support costs, ended lengthy POS waits for on-line information as customers fumed, strengthened our technology investment and placed smiles on everyones' faces in our stores."

Dave Stickney, Director, Information Technology, Trak Auto
20 Years Experience in MultiValue Applications

Located in the mid-Atlantic region of the USA, Trak Auto has made a name for itself as a retailer of high quality, low cost auto parts that it sells to both repair professionals and do-it-yourself community.

Ordering, pricing and inventorying those parts are the backbone of Trak Auto's business. The company used three disparate system platforms to run the business: A SCO based system for parts lookup on two to four CRTs per store; a DOS-based POS system running another two to four POS registers; and three AS400 mid-range servers at corporate headquarters. Pricing and parts data was periodically updated to the SCO systems using a dialup connection to the remote AS400 DBMS. The POS system downloaded its pricing and uploaded its sales data on a daily basis, also to the AS400 systems. Parts activity and general business transactions resided on two incompatible hardware configurations.

New Thinking Using a MultiValue Platform

New management, new thinking, and an acquisition two and a half years ago set the stage for radical changes in systems. Trak's new ownership felt that this mix of technology was inefficient and costly to maintain. A well-known MultiValue (MV) solution was thrown into the technology mix when Trak acquired a small parts house. Eager to reduce costs and streamline their IT operation, Trak's management was convinced that the highly scalable MV solution could dramatically lower costs and consolidate business applications into one platform.

The plans were laid to convert all POS and parts lookup functionality to the MV solution on a large central server running AIX. Each remote store would connect via dial-up Internet connection to the corporate RS6000 system. The search began for someone who could implement the changes. Dave Stickney accepted the challenge head-on.

Dave virtually began his high tech career in the then named Pick database sector, and throughout the 80's and 90's, he developed a variety of successful solutions based on MV platforms, so he was aware first hand of MV's usefulness developing and running applications that formed the core of Trak Auto's business.
New hardware at checkout with products from nationally known vendors significantly reduced Total Cost of Ownership and improved Trak's technology performance. Each store's POS System features ink-jet receipt printers from Ithaca, cash drawers from Indiana cash register, credit card, check readers, and hand-held scanners from Welch-Allyn. All these products seamlessly integrated with the MV application.

Problem Solving Begins

With the new MV platform up and running, Stickney began to encounter problems. It was slower than everyone wanted. Using the public Internet, data security was an issue, and encryption was needed - especially when handling credit card data. The store's data transfer was susceptible to unreliable dial-up connections that disconnected too frequently. This didn't make anyone happy; the customer, store operations, the front office, even IT! But one plus in the new deal was the MV Auto Shims package, a proven solution.

Stickney thought a switch to DSL technology might make the MV system work better, but his research showed this method of getting connected was available to be installed in only a small percentage of Trak Auto's locations. An alternative was frame relay technology, but the price tag for this form of communication was far too great to be viable in all locations. The dial-up approach was augmented for the highest volume locations with a hybrid network of DSL (where it was available) and frame. This added up to nearly $17,000 in monthly communication costs.

As the new installation continued, Stickney also spotted problems that could occur at POS. The centralized MV system was in danger of going down if there was a failure at a register, or, for that matter, in other parts of the system, and if the problem was severe enough all Trak Auto stores would be affected. There were major internet failures: switching centers, fiber cuts, disappearing ISP's, even train fires in tunnels hundreds of miles away! Facing this set of realities, Stickney saw he could not be compromised by the technology and that the reliability of his entire operation would impact the bottom line in a business with razor thin margins.

So, Dave began rethinking the entire installation strategy. And he made another change.

UniVision Fits The Bill

His new approach focused on ending the centralized computer solution, and replacing it with a distributed model. He would still use an MV platform, but this time he chose UniVision from Via Systems.

Last summer, Stickney began the company's migration process to UniVision, choosing Via's Intel-based Linux Red Hat platform. Relying on his nearly 20 years of MV experience, Dave wrote four major queuing programs to be used to exchange data between the host and remote systems. And, as the new install unfolded, Stickney discovered something that delighted him very much. "Conventional wisdom had Auto Shims perceived as a single set of centralized programs that couldn't be migrated or distributed. Well, we migrated it to Via's Linux platform, and it's running on 80 machines," explains Stickney. Via Systems President Bob Catalano, who worked closely with Dave throughout this entire process, adds, "Trak Auto was able to take its SCO-based catalogue, and let it live in Red Hat, side by side with the POS application. The UniVision database allows the application to exchange data seamlessly with the catalogue application in Linux and with the AS400 applications".

Another benefit to adopting a distributed solution with UniVision was Stickney's ability to end on-line connections. He changed to a direct access dial-up phone link, which is one-third the cost that Trak Auto would be paying for dialing an ISP-based solution.

Stickney has completed the last of 80 conversions to UniVision's Intel-based Linux platform.

"Trak Auto is far better off now running under Intel and this UniVision platform," states Stickney. "The proof is right in front of every store manager every day. Lightning fast, reliable look-ups; no waiting in line; and the front office realized over $370,000 annual savings in communication and support costs. That's why there are smiles on everyones' faces.