Integrate a magnetic ink check printer with older Unix-based distribution system.
Integrate a magnetic ink check printer with older Unix-based distribution system.
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"Throughout the Travel Reengineering effort, Allegro has provided top-notch [Progress] professionals to help us blaze the trail."

Keith P., Financial Management and Comptroller, 11th Wing, U.S. Air Force

Virginia Air, HVAC Distributor, Saves Space and Costs with Virtualization

Allegro Helps Firm Avoid the Heat with Virtualization and DR Plan


(Richmond, VA – July 8, 2009) Running even a small business without a disaster recovery plan can be extremely risky. Everything including PCs, servers, and vital business data is on the line. Without any preparation, a business’ entire operations could come to a screeching halt from any disaster. Operating 15 offices located across several states, Virginia Air knew it needed its I.T. systems to be robust and protected.

Virginia Air, an HVAC distributor headquartered in Midlothian, Va., began discussing options for replacing its hardware and implementing a disaster plan with Allegro, its long-term I.T. partner. John Cannon, Director of I.T. at Virginia Air, knew replacing all 10 HP and Dell servers could have been very expensive. However, being somewhat familiar with virtualization, Cannon discussed this as an option with Allegro, a long-term I.T. partner in Glen Allen, Va. Entering the virtualization world, Cannon realized, would allow Virginia Air to use fewer servers. Virtualizing each server meant that the organization could also "move" them as necessary. It would also allow Virginia Air to get more memory and storage in a smaller space, and best of all – store them in a nearby, secure, bunker-like data center called Peak 10.

"I knew what I wanted [for Virginia Air] from a very high-level, but Allegro brought things to the table such as how to replicate between the two VMware [utilities] and recommend the use of Double-Take [disaster recovery/VM synchronization]," Cannon said. "I brought to Jim [Allegro's support manager] this idea that I wanted conceptually. Allegro was able to grasp hold and get it done."

By implementing a strong DR plan and server virtualization, Virginia Air can now restore a server, operating system, or application in just a few hours instead of a few days as it previously did, according to Cannon.

"I can’t describe how monumental this conversion has been for Virginia Air. Not only has it simplified our infrastructure, but also has given us a superior business continuity plan," Cannon said.

"Allegro was cost-effective in the implementation and creating a good support plan for us," said Cannon. "The whole process of virtualization took just about one and a half weeks. It was phenomenal that no issues arose during conversion and we were operational in a virtual environment in a short amount of time."

He said Allegro’s strengths have been, "Their attention to detail, making sure that we didn’t have any app issues after the fact and their industry knowledge," allowing them to present the firm with several options.

To save Virginia Air on support costs and give them a great deal of flexibility, Allegro moved the company from 10 aging Hewlett-Packard and Dell servers to just three top of the line Dell servers.

Due to Peak 10 having more reliable internet and power, Virginia Air chose to host its live virtual servers there rather than at its own headquarters. In addition, the organization has been able to re-use some of its old servers, re-purposing them for testing or disaster recovery roles.

Going virtual has enabled Virginia Air to make use of previously unused and wasted space. “Before virtualization, the unused space totaled somewhere around 500 to 700 gigs of disk storage for all servers combined. Now we have the ability to re-size each server and add space as needed,” he said.

Additionally, Virginia Air’s support costs have essentially disappeared. “We [Virginia Air] don’t have to pay extra for the server costs that we were having to pay with HP because of the age of the servers and finding the parts for them. The support costs are built into the purchase of the equipment, so they went away. It was basically just the cost of the server,” said Cannon.

Overall, Cannon’s mindset is that of the Boy Scouts' motto, "Be Prepared," he said. “I feel we’re more prepared than most companies in our area for a major catastrophe and we can recover in a timely fashion."

Now with a solid disaster recovery plan and modern VMWare servers, Virginia Air can operate its 15 offices with a peace of mind.

###

About Allegro

Allegro delivers professional open-source and Progress software development and support to small and medium-sized businesses throughout North America, while it is headquartered in Glen Allen, Va. Its experienced Progress, Oracle, MySQL, and MS SQL database administrators, programmers, and trainers install, customize, and integrate mission-critical applications such as ERP/MRP/CRM and accounting. Allegro’s customers have included EURPAC, McKesson, J.M. Waller, U.S. Air Force, the Department of Defense, Cargill, WorldStrides, Virginia T’s and Northrop Grumman. Learn more about Allegro at http://www.AllegroConsultants.com/about-allegro-consultants.

 

About Virginia Air

Virginia Air, a distributor of HVAC equipment and supplies, has 15 branches in Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Ohio. Having grown from just 14 employees to more than a 160-member staff, Virginia Air is a leading HVAC distributor headquartered in Midlothian, Va. Since 1987, Virginia Air has taken pride in offering superior customer service with Dealer Service Guarantees. Some of the dealer service guarantees include a three-ring phone policy, next-day parts guarantee, and Virginia Air NATE certified technicians on staff for technical support. Find out more about Virginia Air at http://www.virginiaair.com.


Contact:

Laura Woodard
Marketing and Public Relations
Allegro
(804) 553-1130
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

 

Using EventBoard Makes Managing Your Conference Easier!

PUG Challenge has announced that they will be using EventBoard to help conference attendees manage their schedules better.  EventBoard is a free app that allows you to view and search for conference sessions by name, speaker, track, and time slot. Once a conference catalog is downloaded, the information is stored locally on your device, making it accessible even if you’re not. You can also plan sessions, rate sessions and mark favorite sessions.For more information on PUGChallenge's use of this app, visit PUGChallenge.org.

Spring 2012 PUG Presentations Now Available!

A big thank you to Progress Software for hosting the Spring 2012 VA and NC PUG meetings.  In case you missed it, this was a great opportunity to hear from Progress itself regarding all of the great new offerings in OpenEdge 11.  Progress presented on topics such as Progress Developer Studio, Developing Business Process Applications, Multi-Tenancy, and Cloud Security.  All of the presentations are available for download at PUGCentral.org.  To access these and other helpful documents, you will need to register first.  Go to "downloads" and select "presentations".  Visit PUGCentral.org today!

Date Change for the Spring 2012 NC PUG Meeting

Please note that the date for the Spring 2012 NC PUG meeting has changed.  The meeting, which will be part of the OpenEdge Release Tour, will be held on Tuesday, April 17th.  The location will be the Keystone Systems offices as usual.

Visit Allegro At Business After Hours!

On February 16th, Allegro will be exhibiting at one of Richmond's Premier Networking events; Business After Hours.  From 5:30 to 7:30pm you can enjoy refreshments and door prizes with your fellow Richmond businesses at the Torque Club!

Allegro will be on hand to show you how SugarCRM can make keeping in touch with your clients a breeze!  Also, if you are ready to expand your business and want to sell your products online, we can share  our expertise with Magento - a flexible yet, robust ecommerce solution.

We can't wait to meet you!

Upcoming conferences

Allegro Hopes to See You Soon!

There are many opportunities to explore the world of opensource and osCommerce this year.  Below are some great conferences aimed at helping you learn how to gain a web presence and start selling online!  Allegro can help you expand your business to the web!  Already have a website and ready to start selling your products online?  Contact Allegro today!

imagine eCommerce

April 23-25, 2012
Las Vegas, NV
Imagine is where merchants, partners, developers and Magento enthusiasts from around the world come together for three days in an engaging and exciting environment for collaboration, learning, networking, inspiration… and of course – Imagination!

DrupalCon

March 19-23, 2012
Denver, CO

DrupalCon Denver is the official conference of the Drupal community. DrupalCon is a biannual event presented to an ever-expanding international audience since Drupal became an open-source project in 2001. It's put on by a fabulous group of volunteers and organizers from across the globe.
The Colorado Convention Center will accommodate the largest and most active gathering of Drupal developers and users in the heart of downtown Denver, Colorado.
DrupalCon is a world-class conference with a world-wide audience. If you or your organization actively use Drupal, or even if you never have but want to learn, DrupalCon is your chance to engage the community, learn from others, and share your experiences. Training sessions will be available before the conference on March 19th and a code and contribution sprint on March 23rd (view full program).

DrupalCon Denver's theme, "Collaborative Publishing for Every Device," is a study on the shift of web access from traditional desktops to mobile devices, phones or tablets, and with it the greater combination of platforms Drupal leverages and integrates. The overall conference theme will be integrated into eight different categories: check out the Session Tracks page to read more about the subjects that will be covered at DrupalCon Denver or dive into the ~100 sessions on the schedule thus far!

 

Joomla! World Conference

November 16-18, 2012
San Jose, CA
The Joomla! Project is pleased to announce that the first Joomla World Conference will occur in November 2012 in San Jose, CA.  More details are to come, save the date!

Mike Lonski Attends Business Briefing in Washington D.C.

Mike Lonski, President of Allegro, was one of 25 people from the Richmond business community to travel to Washington D.C. to be part of a business leader briefing session at the White House.  The group met with Obama administration officials on Thursday, November 17th to discuss a variety of topics that affect business owners including; economic growth and health care reform.  The meetings are an effort to bring business leaders into the policy making process.

Tom Bascom to Speak at the VA and NC PUG Meetings

Tom Bascom, of White Star Software, is well-known in the Progress Community for his consulting expertise and experience with OpenEdge. He is a frequent speaker at Progress Exchange and Progress User Groups. His widely acclaimed and freely downloadable Progress tool set is used by Progress DBA's around the world.

 

Tom's Talk Overview:

Database Management Worst Practices

========================

Calling widespread bad habits in database administration "Worst Practices" may seem extreme. However, when you consider the critical nature of
most data, and just how damaging data loss or corruption can be - it seems pretty dead-on.

Although these behaviors are distressingly common among DBAs, they are curable with some shrewd management intervention. What follows is a
guide to the habits we consider to be the worst along with some ideas on how to successfully eliminate them.


Using the Progress Profiler

================

The most confounding performance problems are often application coding issues. These problems can be far more difficult (and expensive) to
diagnose and cure than hardware or database & operating system tuning problems. A very powerful, yet little known tool that helps you take the
guesswork out of the equation in order to target real problems rather than chasing phantoms and produce dependable results is the Profiler. The
Profiler can be used in all versions and on all platforms of Progress from v8.2 forward.

This talk will cover practical usage of the profiler and includes demo code that you can put to work immediately.

 

Both meetings will be held from 1-5pm with a networking lunch from 12- 1pm.  Please contact Amy at (804) 553-1130 or email agray@allegroconsultants.com by 10/7 if you would like to register for the upcoming meeting.

 

Virginia PUG Meeting:

Tuesday, October 11th
Allegro’s Office
9800 J.E.B. Stuart Parkway, Suite 106
Glen Allen, VA 23059
(804) 553-1130
Directions: http://www.allegroconsultants.com/allegro-consultants-office-directions

North Carolina PUG Meeting:

Wednesday, October 12th
Keystone Systems
8016 Glenwood Avenue
Suite 200
Raleigh, NC 27612
(919) 782-1143
You can use MapQuest or Google Maps. To see it on GoogleMaps: http://tinyurl.com/3chuzu

Fall 2011 PUG Meetings Announced

Mark your calendars now to attend the next PUG meetings.  Allegro was unable to hold the Spring series and now there is so much to catch up on! We will hold the VAPUG meeting on Tuesday, October 11th in the Allegro offices in Glen Allen.  The NCPUG meeting will be held on Wednesday, October 12th at the Keystone offices, as usual.  Both meetings are scheduled 12PM - 5PM.  Enjoy networking with fellow Progress users and partners while learning about the latest Progress technologies. Catch up with your peers during our free catered lunch at noon! The presentations will begin around 1 p.m. and end around 5 p.m. The meetings are free of charge!

Please contact me, Amy Gray at (804) 553-1130 or agray@allegroconsultants.com to confirm your attendance and update your contact information. This will ensure you are notified of the final meeting details and future events. I also need to know if you will be joining us for lunch so that I can include you in the meal planning.

Speakers and topics will be posted shortly. We look forward to seeing all of you soon!