Hermes UK upgrades IT system to cope with future growth

Courier and parcel delivery company Hermes UK has moved to a new upgraded IT network, with its major applications now run from the Hermes Group data centre in Hamburg, Germany. The move away from using in-house mainframes to run its software applications to an open system should streamline the company’s IT operations.

It should also bring “significantly” improved cost per transaction rates, according to mainframe migration provider Clerity Solutions.

The US-based IT company said Hermes UK was looking to consolidate its IT processes within European data centres to help better cope with future market growth, allowing the scale-up of operations and introduction of new functionality like new access for mobile devices.

The 18-month project completed ahead of last year’s festive season saw the mainframe-based COBOL and IBM CICS applications moved intact using Clerity’s UniKix Mainframe rehosting software as well as DMExpress data integration software from another software firm, Syncsort.

The data centre-based system now runs applications on UNIX-based servers, to manage client, courier, hub and depot information.

Choice

A spokesperson for Chicago-based Clerity explained to Post&Parcel that the new open system meant Hermes is not tied to a proprietary software from a single company, as in mainframe systems, giving a much greater choice of software applications.

Using an open system will mean “significant” cost savings for running the company’s IT systems, she added.

“It helps most companies save from 30-70% of the annual operating costs they would have paid with a mainframe. Much of the savings are due to lower costs for software licensing on open systems compared with mainframes.”

Hermes selected Clerity to migrate its IT system using the UniKix software after an extended proof of concept (POC) process.

Mike Leyland, the Hermes UK IT director, said: “UniKix software’s advanced functionality and strong mainframe compatibility was key in our decision to work with Clerity.

“This was a significant and complex initiative for Hermes, but thanks to the teamwork and dedication between our IT staff, Clerity, and Syncsort, the new system went live ahead of our peak period and has already handled record-level business volumes,” added Leyland.

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