Server Virtualisation the next step for Fuelsoft
Fuelsoft Ltd, leading specialists in software applications for fuel distributors and fuel card agents, have over their 25 year history taken their IT systems through a number of significant advances. In 2007 they brought Newbury-based hosted and managed solutions specialist Perceptive Online on board, to host their market-leading Fuelsoft Cardmaster application.
Cardmaster is a fully automated solution for the importing, processing, invoicing and management of fuel card drawings, complete with integrated ledgers, pricing and administration modules. A web front end is available, enabling users to access account, card and drawings information.
Pay As You Go
Having marketed Cardmaster highly successfully for many years on the traditional licence fee model - some 60% of fuel card agents in the UK and Ireland use it - Fuelsoft decided in 2008 to also offer the solution under the increasingly popular 'Pay As You Go' model. They asked Perceptive Online to host the solution for them.
"Hosting the solution with Perceptive Online was absolutely key to our strategy," said David Kingsman, Managing Director at Fuelsoft. "The Pay As You Go approach is extremely attractive to many companies, with its drastically reduced start-up costs, inherent flexibility and favourable tax position. Thanks to Perceptive we've been able to open up completely new market opportunities with an excellent value proposition ideally suited to an increasingly tough economic climate."
Server Virtualisation the next step
Fuelsoft will be making full use of the benefits afforded by Server virtualisation technology. David noted: "Server virtualisation will be the next step in the development of our hosted offering." Installed on machines hosted and managed by Perceptive Online, this technology will allow the workloads of a number of servers to be consolidated onto a smaller number of more fully-utilised machines.
This will mean reductions in hardware, energy and management overheads, allowing costs to be controlled, while also allowing for improved capacity planning, higher availability and smarter resource sharing. "Demand for Hosted Cardmaster is escalating dramatically," observed David. "Perceptive's exploitation of Virtualisation Server technology will allow us to stay one step ahead, and service this rapidly expanding sector to the high standards our existing customer base has come to expect from us."
For more information on Server Virtualisation and how Perceptive Online is using it to help businesses like Fuelsoft, call 01635 234100 or read our Virtualisation page for more details.
January 2009