Rock-Solid EDI

Well before the tropical storm system that hi the state in 2005, Beaver Street Fisheries was shoring up its Jacksonville, Fla.-based seafood distribution business with technology to keep its operations running in the event of a disaster.

As one of the nation's top importers of frozen seafood, Beaver Street imports nearly 1,000 containers of seafood and meat annually, trading with food service businesses in more than 50 countries worldwide and distributing to both small restaurants and major corporations.

With stock residing in warehouses all around the country -- including the main Jacksonville warehouses and a seafood-processing plant that occupies two city blocks -- Beaver Street takes pride in its strong customer relationships and its ability to provide quick, personal service, even in the event of an unusual or difficult situation. It also produces a complete line of retail items, including Tray Pack, Vac-Pac, Box and Bag Programs.

For the past five years, nuBridges Commerce Suite connectivity software has powered Beaver Street's eBusiness initiative, a critical process given the large amount of EDI transactions the importer receives. The software helps companies manage and configure the business relationships and processes necessary for its business-to-business transactions, while addressing critical privacy, integrity and reliability concerns.

"We choose and use technology as a competitive advantage," says Howard Stockdale, Beaver Street's CIO. "Our goal is to deliver more value and more service to our customers. And it all starts with reliable connectivity for every trading partner, every time."

Beaver Street's focus on reliability made nuBridges Commerce Suite a natural choice for the global seafood importer. nuBridges' connectivity software is fault-tolerant, so that if a critical problem occurs, applications remain up and running. Also, a session management capability ensures reliable data delivery, and it provides high-availability failover. Customer service is supported through automatic notification alerts of transfer completion.

STORMS AND STABILITY
Hurricanes present a potentially critical threat to Beaver Street's reliability and customer relationship goals. Jacksonville has received less hurricane damage than many East Coast cities, but data shows it is hit or brushed by tropical systems every three years, the last of which was Tropical Storm Tammy in October 2005. And with many experts claiming global warming trends may cause hurricanes to pack an extra punch, business reliability concerns are sure to grow in storm-prone areas.

Anyone who has been through even a weak tropical storm in a coastal region can attest to the threat it poses for business communications, but Stockdale says Beaver Street is prepared. "We might be in the heart of hurricane country," he says, "but we will miss no EDI traffic when the next one comes."

At an off-site data center secure enough to withstand an armed attack ("A bazooka-caliber gun can't penetrate the door," says Stockdale), an EDI server runs nuBridges Commerce Suite connectivity software around the clock. All Beaver Street AS2 traffic goes to this server, which forwards it to the corporate system. The store-and-forward process is designed to mitigate power outages and data-line problems that damage or eradicate EDI transactions.

"The best thing about Commerce Suite is its stability," says Stockdale. "It's rock-solid and doesn't need maintenance. The thing just sits there and runs and runs."

A BRIGHT FUTURE
Beaver Street Fisheries debuted in 1950 as a family fresh fish store on Jacksonville's West Beaver Street. By consistently investing in itself and building upon decades of experience in the seafood industry, the company has grown substantially to a financially strong company, rated 4A1 by Dun and Bradstreet. The company attributes its success to the disciplined exercise of a single principle: "Treat the customer as you would a friend and all else will follow."

Beaver Street is carrying the friendly relationship forward with its online customers through the adoption of technologies that support growth such as nuBridges Commerce Suite, which is designed to grow as the business grows. The connectivity software is able to rapidly build large trading communities and dynamically add or remove servers in real-time. It is also capable of maintaining service levels as partner loads increase.

With nuBridges Commerce Suite connectivity software, Beaver Street also has access to alerts, reports and monitoring capabilities that help the company react, intervene and improve business events as they happen to better serve customers. This is supported by a clearer picture of complex value chain processes and the ability to analyze business and technical data in real-time.