Appliance Deployment Featured Article

UNICOM (News - Alert) Engineering, formerly NEI, is a provider of purpose-built application platforms, appliances and lifecycle development services for software developers and OEMs in the worldwide storage, security and communications markets. The company, a wholly owned subsidiary of UNICOM Global, is best known for its solution design technologies, integration expertise and unique deployment capabilities.

Recently, UNICOM Engineering offered a look behind the scenes at its operations, providing key insight into its methods and success.

First and foremost, companies looking to partner with UNICOM Engineering are given an initial engagement with the company's field engineers and business development experts. This team leverages its knowledge of both the market and the latest technology to create a solution that optimizes the potential partner's application. An evaluation unit is then developed from this solution, ensuring that the team has correctly identified the potential partner's requirements, while also allowing that partner to test the performance of the application.

If no problems are encountered, the solution is prepared for full-scale production. At this point, UNICOM Engineering manages the workflow processes and tasks necessary for on-time, error-free project completion. Furthermore, the system's exact design and manufacturing requirements are recorded into the company's product lifecycle management system, ensuring the critical elements — hardware configuration, firmware, image and BIOS — of the partner's solution are completely locked down.

Meanwhile, UNICOM Engineering's support team works to align its efforts with the partner's support requirements, including field replacement units, international depots and inventory management.

This level of focus is mirrored by the company's integration and manufacturing processes. Labs are split into cells, each focusing on specific technologies and integrator expertise such as appliances, advanced TCA, frame builds, -48 volt DC and 380 volt DC. Additionally, manufacturing, control software and hardware ensure that each step of the manufacturing process meets the exact build requirements. After manufacturing is complete, the product is handed over to the packout and logistics teams who prepare it for transit.

Throughout this process, UNICOM Engineering's sales, supply chain, production and scheduling teams work closely to manage existing orders and prepare for upcoming demand. Finally, post-sales support programs ensure support even after the product has been shipped.

Recently, UNICOM Engineering showcased its latest innovations at the 2013 RSA Conference, highlighting the very same global manufacturing and support capabilities outlined here. This level of transparency is also a major factor in the company's success.