MIES International Limited

Established in 1977, MIES International offers a comprehensive range of multi-modal transport services, incorporating customs clearance, warehousing, cargo handling, export packing and an extensive range of value added services. They operate from 4 locations throughout the UK. Albacore have been providing IT services to MIES since 2012 and have supported them through site moves and a significant expansion programme which culminated in the construction and opening of their purpose-built warehouse in Ashby-de-la-Zouch late in 2016.

MIES understand that the smooth running of their IT is central to providing the independent and exciting approach to freight management services and international trade solutions that they are known for. When the time came to refresh their back-end server platform, Albacore provided consultancy and options at various price levels with the goal of providing a ground-up rethink of the server solution.

The chosen solution incorporated hardware resilience at the primary site and reusing hardware at a secondary site, as well as ensuring the investment already made in Microsoft licencing was preserved where possible. The virtual server solution Albacore implemented can tolerate the failure of multiple hardware components on each of the 2 host servers as well as a total failure of 1 of the servers. User data and critical network information is also continually replicated offsite and all aspects of the system is pro-actively monitored by Albacore. All these steps provide MIES with faster recovery times in the event of hardware failure or other potential outages at the primary site.

Albacore managed and handled the server procurement and build and test aspects of the new hardware at our office. We carefully planned the migration and implementation of the solution and worked with MIES and the suppliers of the various business critical systems for Accounts, Job management, Estimating and Design and Customs Clearance to migrate all platforms to the new system.

The migration to the ASM Sequoia product was also undertaken as part of the project. All the migrations were scheduled with MIES management and key members of each team within the business and any downtime was minimised. The old servers were carefully decommissioned and powered down.

Philip Eaton, the Group Managing Director of MIES commented “The server renewal project was a very significant one for the group in terms of the scale of the project and the potential impact to the business. Albacore laid everything out clearly and offered me options to tailor the solution to my budget. Once agreed, the delivery of the server project was staged well and the whole thing went very smoothly. Having made the investment in modern servers, I’m confident that my systems are ready for future expansion and any regulatory changes that may come along. Albacore continue to provide responsive support and take full ownership of any IT issues throughout the group and I have no doubt in recommending their services.”
Phillip Eaton
MIES International Limited