OIA GLOBAL
OIA Global: Logistics Solutions, Creatively Packaged
Another thing that made the business leaders nervous was the idea of moving data and systems from data centres controlled by OIA into the cloud. But Hemmady was able to convince the CEO that this would not jeopardise the company’s IP and information. “We moved into the cloud in a big way. We have not finished the journey,” he elaborates. “We still have equipment that has not fully depreciated that is still in our
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data centre. We are not reluctant to move everything to the cloud, but it makes economic sense to use both modes for now. We will think twice about buying new servers from here on in.” Going into the cloud is straightforward, he continues: “We signed up with the Microsoft Azure cloud, which provides all the tools and training you require. Though OptiLink is currently running in our data centre, it was migrated to the Azure cloud and proven out so we know it will works there. We haven’t decided yet whether or when we will make that the primary computing platform.” For now, the company continues to store its data at Atmosera, a co-location data centre at Beaverton, Oregon. “We have racks and equipment in there that we manage. Before the advent of the cloud, companies like Atmosera were the best way to make use of third party colocation centres.” On the distribution end of the supply chain, OIA has been using the Softeon warehouse management system (WMS). “It’s a sophisticated and advanced application package that allows us to run our ecommerce