Success Story

This company sells industrial equipment and parts and provides repair and maintenance services. It's a multi‑branch operation with widely‑separated locations.

Adopted in the the late 1990s and continuously customized through the 2000s, the company relied on a PC based accounting, billing, and inventory control system. At the head office and in each branch a suite of character mode applications were installed on individual PCs connected in local area networks. The PCs worked in client‑server mode with local database files which were updated and synchronized nightly with head office over the internet. So checking orders, invoices and stock levels for another branch required a phone call, instant message or email query to that branch.

The system had worked well but the company was growing. New branches and users meant new system installations and new database servers. Moreover, the problem of timely data synchronization was only expected to get worse. The company had looked at replacing the current system with other products, both PC based and host based, but they faced some major issues, quite apart from the cost. One big problem was extracting, transforming and migrating all their data to new schemas and formats. But most challenging of all was the prospect of re‑creating the many important custom features of the existing system into any new system from scratch.

We needed to find a way to deal with growth while hopefully holding on to a system that our people knew well and was doing a good job for us.

Xview Solutions was asked to investigate the possibility of retaining the existing system while also accommodating new and future demands.

After a thorough analysis, we proposed hosting the existing PC based system under emulation within a virtualized computing environment and making it securely accessible over the internet to all users. This required no changes to the application software and had several important additional benefits, including:

The happy result is that the existing system has been preserved, consolidated and enhanced. Maintenance and administration have been simplified, and the company enjoys significant ongoing cost savings.

We were very pleased with the way the project worked out. There ended up being a few differences in how our people worked with the system after the changeover, but we also got some unexpected benefits, too. So all in all it was really positive.

Xview Solutions Inc.

Success Story

This company had been relying on a unified communications system running on a dedicated hardware appliance. The system provided a full suite of realtime business communication features including telephone, VoIP, automated call answer, call routing and forwarding, conferencing, voicemail and instant messaging.

The appliance had given dependable service for a number of years, but the platform was aging and unfortunately the product line had been orphaned when the vendor went out of business.

Obviously, realtime business communication is essential so the company was concerned about having a replacement before the hardware eventually and inevitably failed. They considered moving to a hosted communications service or purchasing a new appliance from another vendor.

However, in both cases there would be significant upfront costs including setup and migration, along with loss of some features and potential service interruptions during any changeover.

The original supplier was no longer around and the system was getting on in age. So we had to decide what to do before we experienced an actual breakdown, which we might not be able to fix.

Because the unified communications suite ran under a version of the Linux operating system, the company asked Xview Solutions to investigate the feasibility of moving the existing installation from dedicated hardware to a virtualized environment.

As it turned out, the system was an ideal candidate for just such a solution. The appliance had an Intel x86‑64 processor and was built with mostly standard PC components. We were able to identify the functions of those components and confirm that they would be supported in a virtualized environment.

Consequently, we were able to “clone” the appliance's entire local filesystem. We successfully installed, started and ran the cloned image in the virtual environment, also making modifications and configuration changes to accommodate the virtual hardware platform. Testing verified all features working as expected and switching over to the virtualized system was uneventful.

Beyond achieving the key objective of protecting the unified communications system from hardware failure, our solution also freed it from the limitations of the original appliance, extending the life of the system even further:

The great thing is we get to keep our existing system without having to worry about its sudden demise. The project was a success and we're happy with the result.

Xview Solutions Inc.

Success Story

This labor organization provides skilled workers for regular, temporary and on‑call employment. The organization's members are engaged as employees and independent contractors by diverse clients at multiple locations.

The organization had for many years relied on a complex and unique payroll, membership and financial management system. It consisted of a custom software “stack” with a web browser based user interface, all tightly integrated with a legacy version of Microsoft Windows running on a dedicated server.

However, both the operating system and server hardware were long past EOL. Simply replacing the server was not an option as some of the custom software components were unavailable for newer versions of Windows and the legacy version would not work with current hardware. The organization considered outsourcing the payroll and finance functions, as well as re‑creating the existing system on a new platform. For reasons of risk and cost both those options were rejected.

Getting any kind of support for our server was no go because of its age. But we absolutely need the things it does for us, so we had to look at alternatives.

Xview Solutions was asked to examine the possibility of moving the entire existing system to a virtual environment. After a thorough analysis we developed a proposal to “clone” the Windows server as a virtual machine and host it in a dedicated virtual environment in our data center. Our proposal was ultimately accepted.

For users the experience was seamless when the system moved from on‑premise to data center, which was the ideal outcome. And the organization also gained significant new benefits:

We've been able to keep on doing what we need to do, the way we need to do it. From that point of view it was a good decision and the project was definitely a success.

Xview Solutions Inc.

Virtualized Computing

Our virtualization infrastructure is built on standard x86‑64 servers configured as hostnodes. The technology is open source so there's no vendor lock‑in and no license fees. A hostnode can be located anywhere… on your premises, in a data center, or at a public hosting site. That means real flexibility and huge cost savings over cloud providers like AWS, Azure and Google.

We create virtual environments by partitioning a hostnode into portable private operating domains (pods). Each pod is an independent computing environment with its own processing, storage and network resources and its own GNU/Linux operating system. A pod is 100% software that can be readily moved between hostnodes or even “de‑virtualized” into a stand‑alone installation runnning on its own physical server.

Workloads may be deployed directly within a pod or further isolated in containers (Docker or Podman) and virtual machines (KVM and QEMU). Containers run GNU/Linux workloads. Virtual machines run workloads that need specialized or obsolete operating environments or non‑x86 hardware. Migrating workloads to pods, containers and virtual machines makes them enduringly reliable, available and maintainable.

Virtual environment (pod) setup

From 1,200 USD. Contact us for a detailed proposal and quote.

Full hostnode setup

From 3,600 USD. Contact us for a detailed proposal and quote.

Xview Solutions Inc.

Project Services

We provide end‑to‑end project management for the design, build and delivery of virtualized computing solutions. Each project is different but in every case we follow a well‑defined four stage methodology.

Initiation

In the first stage we conduct a basic inquiry and formulate a problem statement. That gives us a focus for discussing your goals and objectives, available resources, desired timeline and the technical feasibility. At the end we'll present you with an estimated investment and the option of receiving a formal proposal.

Let's talk about your project. Contact us today.

Planning

In this stage we collaborate with your stakeholders to develop a detailed project plan setting out:

The result is a statement of work specifying the scope, terms and deliverables of the project, which we present for your approval.

Implementation

In this stage we work with your stakeholders to carry out the project plan. The earliest tasks typically involve setting up the virtual computing environment that will host your existing application or system. As the project proceeds we review the ongoing work with your stakeholders who sign off on each deliverable or request revisions which are processed as change orders. Throughout the process we document and monitor activities to keep the project on track and on schedule.

Completion

In this stage we typically perform a preflight check before the official handover to your stakeholders. In every case we provide you with a final report and we later conduct a post‑project follow‑up. Optionally you may ask us to prepare a post‑project “lessons learned” report.

Complete virtualization projects start at 6,000 USD. Contact us for a detailed proposal and quote.

Xview Solutions Inc.

Active Support

You need skilled proactive support to ensure your essential technology assets are reliable, available and secure. We offer subscription plans to monitor, manage and maintain select workloads running in our virtualized computing environments. Our focus and key objective is preventing downtime.

Typically for our virtual environment solutions a daily snapshot of the portable private operating domain (pod) filesystem is saved to backup. However, in a recovery from backup all changes to data, programs and settings since the most recent successful snapshot will be lost. Moreover, there is no guarantee that running workloads will be recovered intact. In particular, workloads running as virtual machine (KVM/QEMU) images within a pod are not backed up.

For more frequent or fine‑grained backup with more assured recovery and rollback options (including backup and recovery of virtual machines) you need an Active Support plan.

Active Support plans typically provide:

Plan development

Before we can offer you an Active Support plan for workloads deployed in our virtual environments we must perform a preliminary no‑charge assessment. If the assessment is positive we'll present you with an offer to develop and price a plan specifically for your environment. If you accept our offer we'll perform the following process…

We examine the virtual environment as we find it. We investigate its configuration and catalog the components: applications, services and data sets. We identify the components we will be able to monitor, update, patch, back up and recover.

Based on the results of discovery we develop, document and price an Active Support plan for your existing environment. We list the specific activities and procedures we will perform, and their objectives. The plan defines the scope and limits of the offer and the subscription fee.

Upon your acceptance of the specification we set up the administrative, technical and reporting procedures for your custom plan within our internal systems. You may be asked to take some actions to complete the enrollment. Finally, you must pay the subscription fee.

We set up and configure any software, services or other components required by the Active Support plan and the subscription begins.

Contact us today for your preliminary no‑charge assessment.

Plan features

Active Support plans generally offer in‑scope coverage for backup, recovery, updates, monitoring, reports and help. Additional out‑of‑scope services are also available.

Specified filetrees and data sets are copied to archives for subsequent recovery in case of error, accident, failure or malicious action. Data backup support includes…

Data backup archives are retrieved from storage and restored as required. Data recovery support includes…

Vendor updates and patches are, as available, reviewed and applied to specific software in your virtual environment, depending on the Active Support plan. The covered software is verified working after update or patching. Failed updates and patches are rolled back.

Updates and patches typically fix software bugs, add features, enhance performance and resolve security issues. Applying updates and patches helps maintain the reliability, availability and security of business‑critical software.

The availability and performance of specific systems, services and applications in the virtual environment are actively monitored. If a problem or failure is detected an alert is generated, triggering an investigation, followed by remedial intervention as necessary.

Status monitoring tools deployed in the virtual environment observe, analyze and report on the components covered by the Active Support plan. Our engagement tools receive and act upon the reported information. These interactions are mostly automated and manual interventions are uncommon.

Monitoring provides information necessary to understand how the covered systems, services and applications are performing momentarily and over time. This determines any remedial or preemptive actions required to avoid or minimize downtime, which is our key objective.

All maintenance activities, notes, comments and recommendations are documented and recorded. Incident reports are prepared and provided to you when interventions occur or investigations are resolved.

Our trouble ticketing and telephone callback services are available 24/7 to handle in‑scope service requests and inquiries. Callback service is only available to Active Support subscribers.

Your monthly subscription fee covers the activities, procedures and services listed in your Active Support plan. On request and as available, out‑of‑scope services are billable at preferential rates.

Pricing

Subscriptions start from 420 USD monthly when prepaid annually. Pricing depends on the specific details of your Active Support plan.

Contact us today for your preliminary no‑charge assessment.

Xview Solutions Inc.