Marine Resources Group

Story Details

As one of the largest marine transport service companies in the world, Marine Resources Group (MRG) was having trouble getting a clear picture of operations across its six operating companies. To manage aggressive growth, MRG needed fast access to information that was integrated and standardized across all business units. But the company’s legacy IT systems included customized applications and standalone packages that were not interoperable, often making critical data inaccessible. Craig Wheeler, director of systems development and information services at MRG, initiated the search for a new ERP system. “The goal of this initiative was to deploy a consolidated, scalable ERP system for our company,” says Wheeler. “We needed to reduce complexity and increase efficiencies. Our most important goal was for management to have timely access to actionable information.”

Wheeler wanted an off-the-shelf software solution that required no customization. He also wanted a solution that was flexible enough so that MRG could roll out the new system on its own time schedule. After reviewing proposals from four software vendors, MRG chose SAP’s All-in-One (SAP ERP ECC 6.0), a set of separate but connected modules. A big advantage of this package was that it could be implemented as a hosted solution, which relieved MRG of the burden of implementing an in-house solution. That meant MRG could devote its internal resources to renovating the enterprise. To that end, it established an enterprise transformation management team to set a strategy and manage tactical implementation of new business processes and information technology.

To host the solution, MRG chose iStreet Solutions. Needing a high-availability solution with optimum security and backup features, iStreet Solutions chose an architecture consisting of Sun Microsystems' AMD Opteron based systems. “Sun’s technology is extraordinary. It provides the latest in Opteron technology for multiprocessing, yet offers energy-efficient, high-density servers that cost less to operate,” says Mark Richter[r1] [DW2] of iStreet Solutions. “In addition to offering state-of-the-art technology, Sun’s support as a partner is first-rate. Our ability to work closely with the hardware vendor enables us to provide extraordinary service to midsized companies. We have direct access to the hardware experts.”

The hosting solution includes Sun Fire X4100 M2 and X4600 M2 servers, and Sun StorageTek 5320 arrays running the Windows Server operating system and Microsoft SQL Server database. The Sun Fire X4500 server running the Solaris 10 Operating System provides secondary storage, archiving, backup, cloning, and replication services. “These are critical support activities that require a more robust operating system,” says Richter. “Both iStreet Solutions and Sun understand that protecting the availability and integrity of a customer’s data is the most important aspect of a hosting service.”

Because Sun and iStreet Solutions were able to deploy the hosting infrastructure quickly, development of SAP’s All-in-One application started on schedule. MRG has begun to roll out its secure, integrated, high availability system enterprisewide, making consistent data readily available to management. And with iStreet Solutions’ flexible contract periods, MRG was able to minimize initial costs by paying for hosting services as they were brought online.