Over the last several weeks I have come to appreciate how cool
Supply Chain Execution software can be. I am referring to Intek Integration Technologies and how they are using Etelos. Intek
has been around for 21 years and has an impressive list of clients such
as Petco, Boyds Coffee, Animal Supply, Shop Bop and Bargreen Ellingson
to name a few listed on their Web site.
Intek is utilizing the Etelos SaaS Application Platform, one of the four platforms in the Etelos SaaS Platform Suite, to move their application to Web-based distribution. With 21 years of thought leadership in their application, they didn't want to rewrite their entire system. Additionally their systems drive automation on the warehouse floor and users in the distribution center mostly use hand held devices to pick orders. The end-users aren't really using a browser -- but they are using Web-enabled devices.
In the example below admin users can access Intek Warehouse Librarian in a browser for administration while users on the warehouse floor can use the hand-held device to pick orders. These are WiFi devices so they access Intek's Warehouse Librarian over the Web.
That's just too cool. Imagine warehouse workers running around filling orders efficiently and those devices are talking over the web to servers in the cloud. Additionally, the admin solution can also be run using RDC (remote desktop connection) as shown in the screen below.
A Supply Chain Execution solution is more complicated still than your standard SaaS free-try-it-before-you-buy-it model: mostly because of the need to integrate operational data into the solution. However, by managing server deployments in the cloud, Intek can deploy servers already setup with the main applications and settings in far less time and spend the consulting hours on valuable integration, not setting up machines.
The server management interface from Etelos makes it easy to manage the inventory of deployed instances all online. Intek can provision virtual servers on demand as resources, developers can then install pre-configured Warehouse Librarian instances creating a base solution to be replicated. These new instances can then be packaged into templates and inventoried in the Etelos app repository. Intek can then deploy on demand for appropriate customer installations as users sign up. This solution enables Intek to signup and provision conventional client server installations, from the cloud, as a service on a subscription-type model.
The account management allows platform admin users the ability to label, track and manage their installations. The management interface for Virtual Environments allows users to start, stop, restart, check status and even "build" a template from that instance to save in their template library for re-provisioning to new sign ups.
Virtual Environment templates can then be inventoried and provisioned on demand for new users within minutes.
So to summarize this, Intek has taken their client server solution and moved it to a cloud based distribution model using the Etelos SaaS Application Platform. The process could be summed up in this way:
1) Get a development environment that meets your solution
(in this case, Windows Server 2008)
2) Install applications into that environment
3) Package it up as various templates and store in Etelos template library
4) Create store listings for selling applications
5) Start taking orders and installing apps...
7) Or even deploy installations from a wholesale app management system
Check out what Intek is up to on its Web site. Right now this solution is available for demonstration with their sales team. I call it a premier SaaS offering, meaning that its price tag is a bit more than $50 per month per user not to mention that its value is significantly greater than that as well.
Intek is utilizing the Etelos SaaS Application Platform, one of the four platforms in the Etelos SaaS Platform Suite, to move their application to Web-based distribution. With 21 years of thought leadership in their application, they didn't want to rewrite their entire system. Additionally their systems drive automation on the warehouse floor and users in the distribution center mostly use hand held devices to pick orders. The end-users aren't really using a browser -- but they are using Web-enabled devices.
In the example below admin users can access Intek Warehouse Librarian in a browser for administration while users on the warehouse floor can use the hand-held device to pick orders. These are WiFi devices so they access Intek's Warehouse Librarian over the Web.
That's just too cool. Imagine warehouse workers running around filling orders efficiently and those devices are talking over the web to servers in the cloud. Additionally, the admin solution can also be run using RDC (remote desktop connection) as shown in the screen below.
A Supply Chain Execution solution is more complicated still than your standard SaaS free-try-it-before-you-buy-it model: mostly because of the need to integrate operational data into the solution. However, by managing server deployments in the cloud, Intek can deploy servers already setup with the main applications and settings in far less time and spend the consulting hours on valuable integration, not setting up machines.
The server management interface from Etelos makes it easy to manage the inventory of deployed instances all online. Intek can provision virtual servers on demand as resources, developers can then install pre-configured Warehouse Librarian instances creating a base solution to be replicated. These new instances can then be packaged into templates and inventoried in the Etelos app repository. Intek can then deploy on demand for appropriate customer installations as users sign up. This solution enables Intek to signup and provision conventional client server installations, from the cloud, as a service on a subscription-type model.
The account management allows platform admin users the ability to label, track and manage their installations. The management interface for Virtual Environments allows users to start, stop, restart, check status and even "build" a template from that instance to save in their template library for re-provisioning to new sign ups.
Virtual Environment templates can then be inventoried and provisioned on demand for new users within minutes.
So to summarize this, Intek has taken their client server solution and moved it to a cloud based distribution model using the Etelos SaaS Application Platform. The process could be summed up in this way:
1) Get a development environment that meets your solution
(in this case, Windows Server 2008)
2) Install applications into that environment
3) Package it up as various templates and store in Etelos template library
4) Create store listings for selling applications
5) Start taking orders and installing apps...
7) Or even deploy installations from a wholesale app management system
Check out what Intek is up to on its Web site. Right now this solution is available for demonstration with their sales team. I call it a premier SaaS offering, meaning that its price tag is a bit more than $50 per month per user not to mention that its value is significantly greater than that as well.