Ethan Allen Turns to IBM’s Premier “All in One” System i

Furniture World Magazine

STORIS Management Systems, a leading supplier of Technology Solutions and Services for Big Ticket retailers, announced that Ethan Allen, a ‘Top 100’ STORIS client running on the IBM U2 platform, has converted to IBM’s “all-in-one” System i business computing platform to simplify its IT environment while improving its ability to quickly and more efficiently serve the needs of Ethan Allen customers. "In the on demand world of retailing, where downtime is unacceptable and performance is critical, U2 is helping STORIS offer excellent system reliability and customer service," stated Janet Oswald, Senior Manager, U2 Product Marketing & Strategy for IBM. With over 300 retail stores and 11 manufacturing facilities of quality home furnishings nationwide, Ethan Allen required a more powerful platform to better facilitate and improve the company’s processing. Mike Bacon, Director Retail Systems of Ethan Allen, states “The key reason Ethan Allen converted to the IBM System i is for its tremendous power, to which we have achieved significant increases in capacity, efficiency and speed for streamlining our business processes.” The reliable, highly secure System i platform comes complete with the built-in security, virus-resistance, database, storage and easy systems management technology customers need to run programs across their entire business. “The results have been outstanding. With the new premier System i570 we are experiencing a 67% increase in performance freeing our IT staff to work on projects central to the success of our business,” states Mike Bacon. IBM provides STORIS clients with next generation technology platforms developed for ‘real-time’ and integrated enterprise, web based, and service oriented architecture implementations. STORIS Management Systems, an IBM Business partner, provides software solutions and services to Big Ticket retailers. Small and large retailers worldwide rely on STORIS to integrate operations, streamline processes and outperform the competition.