In 2010, DAF trucks needed to find a new terminal emulator. With the ever increasing assortment of access devices and operating systems available, DAF knew they needed a browser based emulator that had no client side software. Client side software was presenting them with a maintenance burden they could do without. It was placing a large demand on their IT department and restricting their IT roadmap. DAF wanted a solution that could be installed and maintained once it was on the server. This would provide them with a low cost, more flexible and more secure method of achieving their terminal emulation goals.
They did some research and Flynet Viewer appeared to meet all of their criteria. Viewer is a high performance, light, server side solution. It produces quality terminal emulations that work with all browsers and devices without the need for plugins. This gives DAF both the flexibility and security that they require. Their IT Consultant, Edwin Rietbergen, approached Flynet to be included in their product comparison. They were provided with a fully supported 30 day evaluation package. The support they received during their evaluation was outstanding. Flynet took the time to understand their project and objectives and offered them advice on how the Viewer solution could help them achieve success. The support they were given was tailored to their specific project and included best practice advice that proved invaluable. Once they had completed the evaluation they became confident that Flynet could provide them with a significant return on investment. It was the only enterprise standard terminal emulator that they felt would truly fulfil their goal of ridding DAF of client side emulation software.
Once they’d made the decision to move to the Flynet Viewer solution, the procurement process was extremely straightforward. Flynet offered them a 500 concurrent user licence model. That meant they could maximise value without penalising their occasional mainframe users. The rapid procurement process allowed them to capitalise and build on the successful evaluation/proof of concept. They have now been using Flynet Viewer for three years. In that time they continue to be impressed with the levels of support and service offered. Flynet’s continuous improvement system means the Viewer emulator is consistently leading the market in terms of innovation, leaving DAF poised to take advantage of the latest technologies and opportunities.
Following the success of Flynet in Eindhoven and Budapest, DAF decided to consolidate and move all European dealers to a single system. Harmonising the Flynet system and the UK system was always going to be challenging. In the UK, dealers were using a very different BAAN dealer management system with a Windows GUI. The UK system had a modern user interface, but lacked the server side, browser based simplicity and enhanced functionality that had proven so effective for DAF. The challenge for DAF was unifying the systems without it appearing a backwards step for the UK users, who were not used to seeing green-screen systems. They decided the best way to achieve this would be to modernise the green screen interface of the mainframe application to smooth the transition and guarantee user acceptance.
