“We Had Been Thinking About A Server Upgrade Since 2020. The IBM 8202 End Of Service Announcement Forced Our Hand To Upgrade To Newer Technology"
Background
Claxton Poultry Farms, Inc. produces, processes, and exports poultry products. The company offers broiler, fryer, and roaster chickens. Since its humble beginnings in 1949, Claxton Poultry has grown into a top-rated, full service producer, offering more than 200 products to retail grocers, distributors, restaurants and institutions throughout the Southeast and around the world.
Claxton Poultry Farms is one of the largest family-owned broiler production companies in the United States selling some 300 million pounds of chicken to 750 customers from mom-and-pop restaurants to national chains like Chick-fil-A. Located in Claxton, Georgia, Claxton Poultry runs three shifts daily and makes 30,000 boxes of product by 1,800 people per day.
130 Concurrent Users On IBM 8202-E4D, 64 GB Ram, 2.7TB SSD Storage, miSAN VTL
Since 2013, Claxton has relied on its IBM POWER7 8202-E4D to support its 130 concurrent users of 200 total user profiles. The 8202-E4D has 64 GB RAM memory, 2.7 TB SSD storage and a Cybernetics miSAN Virtual Tape Library for back up. Their application software is custom written, developed over 30 years. The 8202 is connected to three Dell servers. The Dell servers connect to networks throughout Claxton to collect shop-floor production information and track all packages.
Aging 8202-E4D Needs Refresh
MIS Director Butch Pippin explains, “Over the years, we have upgraded our 8202’s RAM from 8 GB to 64 GB and from 1.2 TB to 2.7 TB SSD for storage. With increased growth, we needed more capacity.
“We had been thinking about a server upgrade since 2020. The IBM 8202 End of Service announcement forced our hand to upgrade to newer technology.
“We have worked with Source Data Products over the years. As our IBM Business Partner, we have always enjoyed their responsiveness, pricing and technical expertise. It was only natural for us to reach out to them to help us with our next POWER server.”
“We Were Excited About IBM POWER10”
“Source Data provided us with information and pricing for a new POWER10 within days after IBM’s initial July 2022 announcement.
“We settled on a Power10 9105-41B with 64 GB RAM, 3.2 TB SSD NVMe storage mirrored.”
Source Data Helps Us Save Money And Plan For Easy Migration
“With suggestions from Source Data, we removed DB2 Web Query from our IBM software stack. We don’t use it so it did not make sense to pay SWMA support for it.
“We requested 5 years of IBM hardware and software support to protect Claxton from annual support price increases.
“We also wanted to make sure we had the correct attach feature and cable for our Cybernetics VTL. It is different than the one we used for our 8202-E4D.”
Early Order With Fast Delivery
“We wanted to have our new IBM POWER10 server active before year end. Once we had the details finalized, we ordered the new IBM 9105-41B within 6 weeks of the initial announcement.
“We were thrilled that our new IBM POWER10 server arrived in less than 3 weeks after we placed our order!”
Mark Breisacher, SDP Senior Technician – Amazing, Easy To Work With
“We worked with Source Data’s Senior Technician, Mark Breisacher. He is amazing. A wonderful guy.
“Easy to work with. Very knowledgeable. He could tell you more about the AS400 than you could ever know. He gave us lots of really good ideas. He took our calls whenever we needed him – even at home on a Sunday. He made himself available whenever I needed him.”
Guided Full System Save, Testing And Migration – Easy And Smooth
“Starting in early October, Mark guided us through a full system save to our VTL and restored to the 9105 for testing. We tested for about 3 weeks.
“We struggled to get PTFs downloaded. Even so, we were operational on our new POWER10 9105 in 3 weeks. Mark makes the migration easy and smooth.”
New System Blazing Fast
“We know that even though the 8202-E4D with 1 core is rated about 7100 CPW, we figure we were getting about 3500 CPW with SSDs.
“The new system is blazing fast. Some jobs run twice as fast. Our refresh from our shop floor and shipping collection systems that used to take 1-2 minutes is now less than 30 seconds.”
Staggering Performance Difference
“The performance difference is just staggering. Normally, people don’t come to you except to tell you when things are slow.
“I had 6 users rave about how fast this new IBM POWER i server is. They have asked me, ‘What have you done to this machine — it is amazing!’ I have had nothing but thanks and good compliments for spending the time and money to get our system upgraded.
“Even my management has complimented me about the noticeable performance improvement. They told me, ‘We don’t know what you have done. It’s awesome.’”
Butch Pippin Recommends Source Data Products
“I would recommend Source Data Products. I already have. I tell folks Source Data is great. I tell them, call Source Data – they will help you. If you want a smooth migration from IBM i experts and good pricing, call Source Data. They will give you recommendations you never thought of – and they fit your pocket book.
“Great to work with and wonderful people.”