Terres du Sud makes the most of its IBMi environment with Armonie-Notos

About Terres du Sud

The Terres du Sud group is the leading cooperative in Lot-et-Garonne. A major player in agriculture and food in the South-West of France, it is made up of different divisions: Plant, Animal and Distribution.

Terres du Sud supports the development of local agricultural chains, so that the majority of the added value goes back to the producer. It helps animate local life, maintain rural know-how and create local jobs and activities. Finally, it guarantees the traceability and quality of our products, while respecting biodiversity and animal welfare.

Olivier Picard, in charge of IT infrastructure, and Nathalie Laplaine, who has been in charge of IT studies for over 20 years.

https://www.groupe-terresdusud.fr/

Background:
The launch of a new platform dedicated to farmers

Initially, TDS decided to modernize its information system in PHP, in particular to meet the Web services requirements of their new platform dedicated to farmers.

On the other hand, TDS is in the habit of renewing its machine (Power i) every four years, migrating to the latest version of the OS and changing storage bays. At the time of the last renewal, TDS contacted its long-standing service provider and other suppliers.

Nathalie Laplaine, who had already worked with Notos on web services issues, also turned to Notos for this need.

The solution:
make the most of IBM i’s capabilities

Notos has come up with an answer that stands out from the other proposals received: rather than replacing power, as TDS is used to doing, Notos proposes to modernize it in order to take full advantage of all the functionalities that their machines enable, much to the surprise of TDS, which is discovering what teams can do with their environment.

To this end, Notos is adding newer, higher-performance components to achieve its objectives: increased memory, replacement of only the disk bays to enhance security, and upgrading of the OS version. If you’re going to spend money, spend it wisely…

On the other hand, the request is made at the height of COVID, and Notos is on hand to analyze the existing system in order to improve performance, modernize the infrastructure by virtualizing all components, and ensure continuity of service with the minimum possible loss of data.

“By analyzing and understanding our needs, Notos was able to provide us with real added value: It took into account the existing situation, provided the solution best suited to our situation, while dividing the costs.

What’s more, NOTOS-iD INFO has proved to be a force to be reckoned with on several points (e.g. supervision).”

Olivier Picard, IT Infrastructure Manager

Results :
unhoped-for resources

Today, TDS can exploit the full capabilities of its iBM i server at a lower cost than if it had changed machines as it did in the past.

What’s more, since the acquisition of PHL Soft by the Armonie group, TDS continues to call on the group for new business needs: PHL Soft, Spool, Web, Query. TDS is now able to manage its static and dynamic data with PHL Spool.

“We really appreciated working with the NOTOS-iD INFO team, for their availability, trust and professionalism. At every stage of the project, we felt that they were very committed and, above all, very passionate.

What we appreciated most was the flexibility of the team: we could contact them at any time, and there was always someone available.

Throughout the project, we felt supported, and that’s what we lacked before.”

Nathalie Laplaine, Terres du Sud