International Integrated Solutions, Ltd

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the network administrator at XSUNT Corp., a data reporting company. We provide professional services for the healthcare industry. In addition, we do reporting based on that data.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with International Integrated Solutions, Ltd?

We needed to upgrade and migrate our HP servers.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The project scope was to upgrade all HP servers and migrate the system to a new HP SimpliVity system. They moved it from a regular fan storage network setup to be hyperconverged with the SimpliVity system.  

What is the team composition?

I worked with two people on the technical side. There were at least three people on the project management side that I talked to on a regular basis.

How did you come to work with International Integrated Solutions, Ltd?

I set up a couple calls with four different companies and we chose them.

How much have you invested with them?

We invested $150,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in December 2019 and the project ended in March 2020.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

I’m happy with their work and will definitely work with them again to update the second data center. Everything they did was satisfactory

How did International Integrated Solutions, Ltd perform from a project management standpoint?

They were responsive and easy to reach. I would receive feedback and answers to questions right away. Whenever we scheduled to work together, everything was as we discussed previously. Everything was on time.

What did you find most impressive about them?

When one of the guys was onsite with me, it was easy to work and went really well. I enjoyed it.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t like to deal with salespeople but I know they have to do their job. It’s not really a negative though.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I’m glad that we chose to work with them. In particular, I was happy that I was able to work with the person that was assigned to this project.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the president and CEO of a company called M&C Associates. We specialize in supplying call center solutions and services to Fortune 500 companies as well as local, state, and national governments.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with International Integrated Solutions, Ltd?

Our client prepared a bid for submission to the national healthcare system. They needed to update their IVR (interactive voice response) with the latest technology. Our client wanted to move away from physical to virtual servers. We wanted to make sure that we were able to implement the system but also support and update it. When we looked around, the best solution for our client included HPE SimpliVity. We didn’t know much about the product at the time, so we needed a business partner to educate us, purchase the product, and then stage it in their environment.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

International Integrated Solutions, Ltd installed the system and helps to support it as needed. Their team helped us with building, ordering, staging, and installing the IVR.

Initially, their team helped us to create the design and build the materials for what we needed. Their team provided an extensive education around what was possible because they had more experience around HPE SimpliVity. The other part of the project was Red Hat Enterprise Linux that we ordered. We were familiar with enterprise linux in previous installations but purchasing all of the technologies under one shop made more sense to us.

Secondly, their team helped us to create materials and pricing the offer, which we turned around to create a quote for our customer. Inside the pricing, we agreed that they would order the equipment on our behalf as well as stage the system at their site. The staging part was important because we were going to load our software before installing it on the customer’s premises.

Then, International Integrated Solutions, Ltd helped us with the installation on our customer’s two sites. Their team completed the installations, but they still stand behind us as the application goes into production.

What is the team composition?

Our main point of contact was a sales executive who invited subject matter experts to the project depending on the nature of our calls. He also brought in senior management, especially around pricing issues, as well as technical support and installation support staff.

How did you come to work with International Integrated Solutions, Ltd?

We looked into the best solution to offer to our client who wanted a complete virtual server solution. We looked at what was available in the marketplace and HPE SimpliVity was relatively new and had a reputation of being good in that area. Once we decided on that solution, we looked into distributors of this solution and their proximity to our headquarters. As it turned out, International Integrated Solutions, Ltd was headquartered near us. We looked at their experience in this business and talked to some of their past clients. They ended up being a company that resembled us in size and communication style. We talked about the opportunity and then worked from that point to create the initial build of materials.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent around $500,000 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project started in February 2019 and their work’s ongoing. As of March 2020, we completed the installation on both sites, but their support remains until the customer puts the system into production

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

Their team was available to us on a priority basis when we needed information. Calls were set up on the same day as our request. Their knowledge of the subject matter and ability to answer technical questions are high. Their team’s knowledgeable and when they don't have an answer to a question, they find it. International Integrated Solutions, Ltd helped us through the whole process, from educating us and creating the right price points to handling technical discussions with our staff.

How did International Integrated Solutions, Ltd perform from a project management standpoint?

The dates that we established with our client were met. In most cases, their role was to package and ship the equipment that we staged for our client. One of their staff members also helped with onsite installation at our request. We met all of the checkmarks that we submitted to our customer. They appointed a project manager who worked well with ours. We decided two months before the actual installation date to have weekly calls, which made sure that we were on track and identified any anomalies. We also had a project manager and the two teams at least weekly to work out the logistics.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The number one quality that distinguishes International Integrated Solutions, Ltd is their responsiveness. The number two quality is their ability and desire to go to bat for us against the supplier to make sure that we get the best-in-class pricing, which we needed to turn around for the client. They also have a high level of integrity. In one instance, the requirement that we laid out for them was misinterpreted. They acknowledged the error and absorbed its cost. That meant that we didn’t need to change the price for the customer, which would’ve been difficult.

Are there any areas they could improve?

In this project, I couldn’t have asked for a better partner. They reminded us of their other services and wanted us to see if there were other opportunities to apply them. We decided to include them on another project. Given their traits, we’re happy to work with them on future projects.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Transparency is key, so honest with them. When we created small challenges and changed the configuration around, they acknowledged that it had to come in at the budget number. When there was a misunderstanding, they understood that we couldn’t change the pricing. They help whenever they can and own up to any mistakes.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the senior systems administrator at Perfumania Holdings, Inc. I oversee all infrastructure related items from the backend to frontend user support.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with International Integrated Solutions, Ltd?

We wanted to transition our hardware. We needed to ensure our solution was substantial and built to handle our workload.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Most recently, we worked with them to bring in two, three-node clusters to get a new VMware environment to transition our existing environments from old hardware to new hardware. These were business-critical systems. We used HPE DL360 as servers with VMware ESX as the operating system.

There have been a number of projects that we’ve worked on together. Along with building those clusters, their team helped us design and implement an enterprise-class wireless network system for our warehouse.

What is the team composition?

We've worked with between 3–4 team members of different positions within International Integrated Solutions, Ltd from sales and system development to specific IT experts that helped us implement the system.

How did you come to work with International Integrated Solutions, Ltd?

Actually, a couple of my coworkers who were involved in this project had worked with International Integrated Solutions, Ltd. My colleagues had a great relationship with them and had worked with them on projects. Their team had a proven track record and came to the table with the best overall package. We were happy to have them come on board to work with us. It was an easy choice to go with their team.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent between $250,000–$500,000 over the course of our collaboration.

What is the status of this engagement?

We had our initial talks with International Integrated Solutions, Ltd in 2017. Between late 2017 and early 2018 is when we hit the ground running and started the project with them.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

The overall solutions that International Integrated Solutions, Ltd designed have been bulletproof and redundant when needed. To this day, if I have an issue with one of these systems, I can give them a call and they’ll have the right person on the phone to give me some guidance. Their team has stepped up and helped us resolve issues that didn’t have to do with them. Overall, they’ve put us in a good place for success with these new systems.

How did International Integrated Solutions, Ltd perform from a project management standpoint?

They delivered on time. International Integrated Solutions, Ltd has been a great partner for us. Anytime we’ve needed a quote, they’ve been quick to turn that around. When we’re ready to go, their team has gotten the equipment ordered, staged, and ready for us as soon as they could. They’ve gone above and beyond what we’ve needed them to do.

What did you find most impressive about them?

My account representative has always been accessible. He has a full workload, but anytime I’ve sent him a message he has responded immediately. If it’s not something he can handle, he’ll have a subject matter expert in the e-mail. International Integrated Solutions, Ltd has gone above and beyond with their communication and response time. They’ve been a great company to work with.

Are there any areas they could improve?

To be honest, not that I’ve seen. Every dealing I’ve had with them so far has been great. Whatever they’re doing, they need to keep doing. Their team’s doing something right.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the Senior VP of Business Development at Encompass Digital Media. We design and deploy solutions that capture and process video content from multiple sources. The content is then delivered to different destinations and devices.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with International Integrated Solutions?

We rely on International Integrated Solutions (IIS) for a number of services. Their core service is supporting our media workflows for digital video broadcast and delivery. IIS supports our seven data centers’ computing power. They serve as an integrator who works with third-party hardware to implement workflow scenarios.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They provide the open-stack implementation for monitoring and controlling various components of cloud storage. IIS has multiple partnerships with cloud-based and hardware companies, which enable them to configure virtual machines before monitoring and deploying them.

In our most recent interaction, they built out a hybrid-cloud infrastructure. Half of the system is located in our data centers, and the other half is located in a private cloud environment. IIS worked with us to strategize a viable business model and the capacity required to support it.

What is the team composition?

Over the course of the last year, we’ve worked with around six people.

How did you come to work with International Integrated Solutions?

Although I’ve only been at this company for two years, our relationship with IIS extends long before that. Although I’m not certain, I suspect that they were recommended by one of our mutual partners. I’m sure that they had a good reputation and all of the tools necessary to support our workflows.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent several million dollars with them over the course of the relationship.

What is the status of this engagement?

The engagement is ongoing, although we’re considering some options moving forward based on the economic and capacity challenges we’ve faced on our end.

The issues we’ve experienced are not specific to IIS but, instead, pertain to the cloud industry in general. We’ve worked to understand the cost-effectiveness of following an operational expense (OPEX)—as opposed to a more traditional capital expenditure (CAPEX)—model.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

IIS has guided our decision-making process. While we have multiple internal groups collaborating on how to make the new financial OPEX model work, our conversations with them have been extremely productive. They’ve helped us optimize our computational strategy in a programmatic fashion to best support our customers.

We’ve run several proofs of application concepts with them, and they’ve all been successful. After all testing, we came to the conclusion that a cloud model was both functional and efficient.

How did International Integrated Solutions perform from a project management standpoint?

In terms of strategic communications, they were excellent. They facilitated frequent communication and gave us clear, valid feedback when it was necessary. They also acted upon our requests immediately.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re very creative in their ability to take complex concepts into actionable, compartmentalized chunks. At times, when there isn’t a guiding precedent, they’re both innovative and structured in their approach to tackling the problem. They think outside the box while being diligent about meeting our expectations and objectives.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I can’t think of any at this time.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CTO of a digital media company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with International Integrated Solutions, Ltd.?

We were looking to see how we could handle our onsite data center before moving it to the next generation. Most of it was already moved off to a public cloud, but some of our needs required a hybrid cloud environment.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Their team brought in several HP technologies. They came in with tools that would be able to identify what our use profile was like. They’ve also looked at introducing a single layer called Ormuco that would give us a much better handle on resource utilization and scaling.

What is the team composition?

There were three people I worked with directly.

How did you come to work with International Integrated Solutions, Ltd.?

They seemed to have a good understanding of how to work with companies on our side. Along with having the right skill set, the team at International Integrated Solutions, Ltd. could work with the speed of our process. We have fast retrieval speeds with larger files being pushed back and forth.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our engagement with International Integrated Solutions, Ltd. started in June 2019.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

It’s still a work in progress. Once it’s completed, the data center will hopefully not be on site. We may have a small presence purely for network connectivity and caching, but most of it will be off of the premises at a private cloud near our offices.

This will give our team more flexibility in terms of moving staff and offices. More of our team can work remotely as a result.

How did International Integrated Solutions, Ltd. perform from a project management standpoint?

Communication has been steady. One of their client partners works with us and mediates conversations between our side and HP.  

What did you find most impressive about them?

The team at International Integrated Solutions, Ltd. understands storage needs. Most other storage companies are tuned into random access and high transaction loads, but not what it takes to pull large files on a steady basis with a sustained output.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there’s nothing I’d have them improve.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am a Senior Manager of IT Infrastructure at a major retailer. We have a significant on-premises and cloud infrastructure presence to serve our global customer base.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire International Integrated Solutions, Ltd?

Our IT infrastructure is critical to the success of our business. Our server footprint grew over the years and has become fairly complex.

A year ago we embarked on a major refresh cycle to optimize our compute. We hired IIS to provide expert guidance for the software, firmware and hardware updates.

What were your goals for this project?

We needed to decommission a number of old blades and install new more powerful blades in their place. We also wanted to reduce the total number of blades in use and save money on software licenses.

We also wanted to replace some old switches in the blade enclosures with interconnect modules to simplify blade provisioning and management. Finally we wanted to update all of the blade firmware and management software.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We've worked with IIS on several projects over the past nine years. We knew their team and their capabilities well. We knew they could be trusted to complete the project on time and with the required flexibility and expertise.

Describe the project in detail.

I worked on similar project with IIS three years earlier. My role then was a system engineer. I knew both the project manager and the engineer. Now that I manage the Infrastructure team I introduced them to my server engineer who was going to work on the project with them.

We defined the major tasks that had to be performed, who was going to perform them and when. We agreed on weekly touch-point calls. IIS was in charge of defining firmware and software requirements and per-requisites, and putting together compatibility matrices.

They were going to perform initial software and firmware upgrades and provide KT. My engineer would complete the remaining upgrades. IIS engineer would also travel to two of our data centers to perform the switch removals and interconnect module installations and configurations.

What was the team composition?

We were assigned a project manager and senior blade engineer. They were the main points of contact throughout the project.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Within three months most of the work was completed. Old blades were removed and new ones installed and configured. Management software was upgraded. New firmware was deployed and drivers were upgraded.

All of this was completed without any unexpected downtimes or outages. Everything was run smoothly and we were happy with the outcome. Then we've hit a snag. We were not able to decommission one old application that relied on a few old blades, which relied on the old switches and so couldn't install the new interconnects.

IIS was very understanding and allowed us to put the project on hold and resume it eight months later when we could finally decomm and upgrade. We received the same PM and the engineer and they were able to complete the project quickly and at the same cost as we agreed upon almost a year prior.

I and the senior IT management are happy with the outcome and appreciate IIS's expertise, commitment and flexibility to extend and complete the project in the face of our unexpected delay.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The workflow was very effective. Staffed by consummate professionals on both sides, the project progressed on-time (when within our and IIS control) and on-budget. Communications were handled effectively over email, phone calls, some meetings and weekly status emails.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

I was most impressed with IIS's willingness to put the interconnect replacement part of the project on hold for so long and to return to it when we were ready. The project resumed quickly, the same engineer was made available, travel booked quickly, etc...

The datacenter work was completed efficiently and professionally. There were no disruptions to the rest of the production environment. We weren't billed a penny more for an eight-month hiatus.

Are there any areas for improvement?

I can't think of any. However I can commend the IIS team for improving their process from where it was three years earlier.

All these years of running coomplex, hands-on projects, have made them a well-organized, expertly-staffed, customer-focused organization. Kudos!

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the senior director of IT Infrastructure for an aerospace company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with International Integrated Solutions, Ltd?

They’ve been working on several things for us for a number of years. Typically, this includes IT consulting. They’re a reliable partner.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Among other things, they consult for our virtual machine (VM) environment, provide tech health checks, and work on architecture design. They also resell computer products that we use for system storage and assist system moves.

What is the team composition?

I’ve worked with roughly 15 different people for various projects.

How did you come to work with International Integrated Solutions, Ltd?

We followed a salesman from a different organization when he began working at International Integrated Solutions, Ltd. We were pleasantly surprised by the service and support they were able to offer us.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together about 15 years ago.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

We receive great value out of everything we do with them, and we trust them implicitly. They always looking out for our best interests. Even when negotiating with HP, they always provide great deals, and whenever they run into an issue, they have no problem involving their executives. They definitely prioritize our relationship. They always go above and beyond manage challenges.  

How did International Integrated Solutions, Ltd perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re always efficient and deliver everything on time. They always keep us updated and we never have any communication issues.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their team’s technical knowledge really is their strength. They have many well-trained experts that are always on top of new product changes. They provide great guidance.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Nothing comes to mind. They’re a great partner.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a director of an electronic trading company. I manage a global end-user team.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with International Integrated Solutions, Ltd?

We had a need to find a hosted desktop solution that could meet the needs of both the standard users and some of our higher-tiered users like our brokers.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We’ve been working with them to build out our end-user solution on the HP Moonshot platform with Citrix. We’ve done some custom stuff with them, but we also do VMWare, Microsoft technologies, and HP hardware.

What is the team composition?

There’s a sales team there, a practice manager, some engineers, as well as some support staff.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together about 1 ½ years and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

There’s a lot of value-add to them. They have a really great relationship with HP which has helped us as a small company kind of navigate getting really good service from HP. I don’t think we could have done that on our own. They have a deep technical bench of people and that’s helped us too. We’ve had a lot of legacy things here and they’ve really been able to provide that technical support to work through all the issues that I’m not sure our staff could have done without them.

How did International Integrated Solutions, Ltd perform from a project management standpoint?

I’m happy with the entire support team from the sales and management down to the project management. One of the benefits to them is I can pick up the phone and always get a hold of somebody. I have a dedicated staff that as soon as I pick up the phone, they’re familiar with our environments and what we’ve been doing. I don’t have to go through several people to get to somebody. We use ServiceNow and they have their own different tools. They also have come in and used a lot of our tools here. When they work on a project, they’ll drop people in, and we’ll use things like Asana and Microsoft Teams.

What did you find most impressive about them?

One of the best things about them is they have a deep technical bench of talent that’s been able to help us out with a lot of different projects that we have. They’ve been able to keep up with our needs which is somewhat challenging for a lot of vendors. We have some new staff that really focus on our cloud strategy and they’ve been able to plug right into that, as well as on the Linux/Unix side of things. Whenever I introduce them to another team, they’ve done well and were able to engage with them.

Are there any areas they could improve?

All my experiences with them have been positive. I’m happy with their service.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We're a large, publicly-traded group of data centers that focuses on reliable solutions around the globe. I'm the senior manager of our managed services department. We provision, manage and maintain network, storage, and server hardware for our customers.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with International Integrated Solutions, Ltd?

We wanted a partner to provide hardware solutions from Hewlett Packard.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We leverage them for some of their services, and a team of their engineers assist us with installations and complex configurations. The specific solutions they provide are within Hewlett Packard, Nimble Storage, and Nutanix.

What is the team composition?

They provide as many resources as I need. I work directly with their sales team, and another individual before that. On a daily basis, I speak with an account representative and an inside sales representative. If we ever have questions about the products or proper configurations, they bring in one to ten people on a call to assist us with anything we need.

How did you come to work with International Integrated Solutions, Ltd?

I found them many years ago when we were looking for a backup solution for our customers. Our contact at HP introduced us, and we immediately had a good rapport with them. We started on that solution with them, and that was the start of our relationship.

How much have you invested with them?

As of now, we spend about $4 million a year.

What is the status of this engagement?

The collaboration is ongoing, and we have several open projects with them.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

Ultimately, our goal is customer service. They make our installations and transitions much easier, and our customers have a much higher level of satisfaction and comfort. We know the platforms we offer will be configured and maintained correctly.

How did International Integrated Solutions, Ltd perform from a project management standpoint?

IIS responds within an hour whenever I need to speak with them about anything. They're much faster than any other vendor we work with. They go all in, and we frequently engage with their CEO. Whenever we face a difficult issue or a hardware failure, their CEO calls us directly to make sure we get everything we need. It's a great relationship across the board.

We engage with them for multiple projects each year. We get a full analysis before each project, and they build a great estimate upfront through a PDF that breaks down the entire process. We often engage them last minute for projects, but they rarely have any difficulty completing our requests.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The sales team is outstanding. If I need anything delivered quickly, they send a courier within hours. They often come to bail us out in situations, and they go out of their way to collect and deliver the hardware we need. Their service and attentiveness are better than any other vendor.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They offer a fairly limited set of products, and it would be great if they carried more. I would prefer to go to one point of contact for all our hardware needs, and I wish I could give them more business.