Qvale
Automotive Group, licensee of the new DeTomaso
Mangusta sports car, has selected Strategic Business
Systems to provide outsourced data center facilities
and operations support in addition to core motor
vehicle systems solutions. Mangusta distributors
in the United States and Europe, as well as the
Italy-based manufacturer will access Strategic's
AS/400 in New Jersey over the Web. The Mangusta
is a high line Italian sports car with an image
of quality, good looks and high performance. Qvale
wanted to provide the same high quality in supporting
its dealers to launch this new car. Strategic
was selected for its excellent reputation in the
motor vehicle industry for quality support, extensive
software applications and LANSA based e-business
solutions.
John Wolbertus, Vice President for DeTomaso, says
"We wanted to be one of the forerunners for dealer
support and inventory processes. We wanted to
use a Web-based system because of its ease of
use and ease of connection. Strategic, with their
established software solution and LANSA Web tools
offered a far superior solution than the others
that we have looked at.
"We will outsource the total solution to Strategic
Business Systems. Our European and US distributors
and service points, our own offices and our Italian
based subsidiary that builds the car, will all
use the Internet to access Strategic's system.
Distributors can enter an order and look into
the inventory of parts through the distributor
section of the Web site. We can process an order
and manage operations using our internal section
of the web site. The fact that Strategic's solution
is AS/400-based made a difference in our decision.
This machine has the reliability and 24 hour availability
that we need to support our operations over two
continents."
Michael Herlihy, Motor Vehicle System Product
Manager at Strategic, agrees that the strength
of the AS/400 makes a difference "The AS/400 will
manage the entire e-business and back-office solution,
including vehicle distribution, parts management,
warranty administration and the dealer e-business
communication.
"As a startup working with a clean slate, Qvale
will use the Internet as the backbone of its operations.
The Dealer Communications Web site, where US and
European dealers and service points can conduct
their business, is built with LANSA for the Web
and has a multilingual browser interface. Qvale's
offices in San Francisco and DeTomaso's office
in Modena, Italy will use NewLook's emulation
interface to connect to the back-office modules
through TCP/IP.
"The Internet removes the concept of distance.
It no longer matters where the server is located
in order to support an organization. With a limited
startup budget, Strategic and LANSA provide Qvale
with a fully supported quality AS/400 e-business
application plus support, thus lowering barriers
to entry into the market."
DeTomaso Automobiles, Ltd. is part of the San
Francisco-based Qvale Automotive Group, which
has a licensing agreement with DeTomaso Modena
S.p.A. (in Italy) to develop, manufacture, distribute,
and market all current and future vehicles. DeTomaso
Automobiles, Ltd. will be responsible for marketing,
distribution, sales and service, while Qvale Automotive
Group will handle design and manufacturing. DeTomaso
is recognized worldwide for its proficiency as
a small-volume sports car manufacturer. For more
information visit http://www.DeTomaso.com.
|