Amerijet Adds End-to-End Dell Data Center Solution

May 9, 2013
Amerijet International's new modern data center has helped cut facility costs by 60 percent through energy efficiency and reduced the time to print a manifest and close flights by 96 percent, expediting freight transportation, meeting more customs cut-off times and improving customer satisfaction.

Amerijet International, Inc., a Florida-based cargo shipping company, now can better support organic business growth with an end-to-end Dell data center solution comprised of infrastructure, software and services. The company’s new modern data center has helped cut facility costs by 60 percent through energy efficiency and reduced the time to print a manifest and close flights by 96 percent, expediting freight transportation, meeting more customs cut-off times and improving customer satisfaction.

Taking the company to the next level and expediting shipment services required a fundamental shift that turned IT into a business enabler. A three-year plan for change included moving to a new data center facility and replacing the company’s mixed-vendor environment with an end-to-end Dell infrastructure that includes hardware, software and services. The new data center provides maximum availability and performance for Amerijet’s critical business applications and cargo systems.

Working closely with Dell as a strategic end-to-end IT provider enabled Amerijet to build a reliable, scalable and flexible enterprise datacenter. The company built its new virtualized data center based onDell blade servers, storage, switches, desktops, printers, firewalls and back-up software, as well as services.

With assistance from Dell Services, Amerijet’s IT team migrated its entire data center in 10 hours. The modern virtualized IT infrastructure enables the company to run cargo inventory reports in seconds instead of the previous 40 minutes and avoid unplanned downtime. The IT team is able to shift their focus from tactical execution to strategic thinking.

Amerijet carries more than 200 million pounds of freight annually to more than 550 destinations worldwide. With a leading presence in its primary service regions of Latin America and the Caribbean, Amerijet is experiencing continued global growth—but the company’s existing systems were not able to support that growth.

“Our worldwide cargo transportation services depend on a reliable IT infrastructure,” says Jennifer S. Torlone, senior director, technology and information services at Amerijet Holdings, Inc., Amerijet’s parent company. “We can get planes in the air faster and meet more customs cutoff times for freight clearance with our new Dell infrastructure. That means people don’t have to wait an extra day to receive their shipments. For us, it means more customer service successes.”

Dell technologies are all working together to help deliver desired business results for Amerijet. The new data center is 100 percent virtual, reducing server footprint by over 66 percent. More than 120 virtual servers are running on just 14 Dell blades.

“With more efficient data center equipment, we get more for our money,” says Torlone. “Based on power consumption and footprint, I was able to negotiate a much better deal on our new data center—a 60 percent reduction in data center facilities costs. And we still have space to grow.”

A scalable, high-performance storage and networking infrastructure was necessary to support the new virtual server environment. Amerijet chose to deploy Dell Compellent storage with Dell AppAssure back-up software and upgraded its 1 Gigabit network to 10 Gigabit Ethernet with Dell Networking to enable an infrastructure that can easily scale into the future. To secure its network and improve visibility into application-based threats, Amerijet replaced its existing VPN solution with Dell SonicWALL next-generation firewalls at its headquarters and each of its 84 sites around the world. The company’s IT team leveraged migration and education services from Dell to help make this major infrastructure shift a smooth one.