Immedion

Rogers & Brown Saves Big With Outsourced Data Center

January 18, 2010

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Rogers & Brown
Founded in 1968, Rogers & Brown is a Charleston, SC based company. From a humble one-room operation they have evolved into a truly international logistics company providing a full range of transportation services. Their mission is to ensure their customers’ goods are transported in the most efficient, cost effective method possible while keeping their customers, consignees, and related service providers advised throughout the process. Their dedicated people and advanced information systems play a key role in ensuring the seamless flow of goods and information throughout the supply chain.

The Right Opportunity at the Right Time
In 2008 Rogers & Brown saw an opportunity to save money and a considerable amount of time by moving their data center services off site. At the time, they had all of their Information Technology Systems equipment in Charleston, SC with a small composite in their Greer, SC office. This setup had been working well for them, but with the opportunity to invest in new server equipment it made more sense to install everything off site and take advantage of multiple fiber and Internet providers in one location and multiple backup generators without having to invest in the upfront costs of multiple networks and a secure power infrastructure. By moving their new equipment into an off site location upon purchase, Rogers & Brown was able to avoid the hassle of moving their hardware.

Choosing the Best Fit
After visiting and interviewing area providers, Rogers & Brown chose Immedion LLC, South Carolina’s first fully dedicated data center services provider for managed data center services. “We felt Immedion was the best fit for us” shares Rogers & Brown’s Director of Information Services, Sherry Lawrence. “Immedion and their competition offered the same services, but Immedion offered better customer service. We didn’t want to be a number in some data base. To some of the bigger data center operations we would have just been another account number. They weren’t going to know our business or care about us the way Immedion has shown to. When I call Immedion, the staff knows us and exactly where our equipment is.” Rogers & Brown takes a lot of comfort in knowing their information is well cared for.

From Rogers & Brown’s perspective, Immedion offered all of the collocation and enterprise class systems as their competitors, but they provided something their competitors didn’t, they showed a genuine interest in the future of Rogers & Brown and delivered on their promises. “Immedion does an excellent job. It’s so rare to find a business that stands behind what they say and delivers exactly what they promise” shares Lawrence. “They are level headed and impress us with the way they do business.”

A Matter of Cost
By partnering with Immedion, Rogers & Brown was able to take advantage of all of the benefits of a fully dedicated data center without the hassle of running their own and without the cost of having to build one. They split their network to have it completely redundant between themselves and Immedion. By outsourcing their data center they were also able to avoid inevitable future costs. According to Lawrence “we saved a lot of money by not having to house two different data replication sites. From equipment, time, and infrastructure we saved a considerable amount of money all around,” she says.

In the end, a lot of burden was taken off Rogers & Brown’s IT staff. Lawrence was able to take a vacation during Hurricane season, which before outsourcing to Immedion had been unheard of. With Immedion, “response time is great and we have never experienced any downtime,” reflects Lawrence.