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John George
Executive VP, Marketing
Pinnacle Air
Pinnacle Air LLC is an executive jet charter company. started in 2002 with one airplane with the idea of using that airplane just for the owners and maybe chartering it to help pay for it. It grew to three airplanes in two years, and in 2005 we grew to 10 airplane, 10 jet airplanes.
In 2006, our plans are to be at least double that. So things are really growing here from the hardware side. And the thing we had to worry about next was keeping up on the software and hardware networking side.
In 2004, we were looking for some way to integrate all our systems together: all of our computers, our servers and everything. We didn't know where we were headed with that, we just knew that we needed networking. We knew we needed a new software system that would be better than the off the shelf system that had purchased in 2002.
We were at the convention in Las Vegas for Air Charter, and we had gone to many vendors' booths. We were just about ready to give up, very tired of going through all the hassle of checking out all the vendors.
But I looked up and I saw the logo for the IBM Business Partner. And I thought, I've seen this before. This is something I need to check out. And that happened to be the Wellington Royce booth and we're very thankful that we did make that stop.
We can't be down. We're 24 hours a day, seven days a week on our air charter and our FBO and our airplane maintenance. When an airplane lands and they need something fixed, they don't need it fixed tomorrow.
Usually they need it fixed within the first hour that they've landed so they can take off again. So time is critical and our systems are critical, and the iSeries has proved to be the thing we need to make it work.
Wellington Royce is a very robust and integrated system for the air charter and FBO industry. We have been very, very satisfied with what it does today and what it can do for us tomorrow. Our expansion capabilities are limitless.
As a small business owner, as a small business manager, the IBM system in the iSeries is perfect from beginning to end. It can take you from the beginning, it can take you through the growth cycle and it can get you all the way to the top.
I think that the only reason that our company would get rid of the current iSeries that we have would be when IBM creates the next generation that's going to be faster and better and more capable than anything that's out there today.
We know that in the future the demands from our customers and the public will be stronger and bigger. And it will have to have bigger and better things to take care of it.
But the iSeries as it is today, we'll never run out of the ability to use that. I think that it's a workhorse and it will continue to be. And I think the next generation will be too, because it's IBM.