Cigars have long been part of celebratory events, and many of them – such as a wedding or the birth of a child – herald the start of a transition. JR Cigars, a New Jersey–based worldwide distributor of fine tobacco products and accessories established in 1971, is well acquainted with these kinds of events.

Recently, however, JR Cigars need to make its own transition: migrating its on-premises server systems to the cloud. Thanks to its established partnership with Data Storage IP, JR Cigars made the leap to the cloud with less difficulty than what it takes to hand-roll a Culebra.

The company had been looking to migrate to the cloud for a while. It recognized not only the advantages of cloud computing, such as increased productivity and cost savings, but also the risks, from incomplete data migration to security threats. As an e-commerce site, jeopardizing customer data including credit card information would be catastrophic. The company’s security division needed to vet and approve any vendor involved in the process.

Fortunately, Data Storage IP’s relationship with JR Cigars dates back to when the cigar company was a brick-and-mortar vendor buying scanners and other hardware from them. The partnership grew over the next twenty-plus years on the development and support of the company’s on-premises environment, from their application software to their physical infrastructure.

One of the challenges unique to JR Cigars was that their headquarters are located in an area prone to technology problems, so their cloud migration was a two-step process. First, they contracted with a hosting facility for their equipment to get better throughput with their internet and enterprise assets. Data Storage IP facilitated the next step: migration to the cloud.

Data Storage IP’s biggest task was to move JR Cigars to the latest version of VAI – no small task – to keep pace with the company’s growth. At the same time, Data Solutions IP moved the equipment offsite to a secure environment that offers sustainability and continued support for their IBM i and x86 technology.

This complete cloud environment allows the company’s production to evolve with them, including with their day-to-day use server and their high availability (HA) server – and Data Storage IP will continue to support them and offer strategic, consultative advice, just as they had when the company had traditional systems such as the IBM 3196.

The benefits of this migration include:

  1. Convenience and cost savings from avoiding IBM service contracts – Data Storage IP offers all support and maintenance, just a phone call or email away
  2. Reducing on-site support due to the ability to outsource
  3. An improved user experience due to efficiencies of the POS system working with the power system provided by Data Storage IP
  4. Peace of mind knowing that proprietary and customer data is secure

With its successful cloud migration, JR Cigars is primed for continued growth – and their partnership with Data Storage IP ensures seamless support, whether it’s everyday maintenance or an embrace of the latest systems, software, or infrastructure.

Sounds like a good reason to light up a Lonsdale.