Recipe for Success: Presidio Helps Food Industry Manufacturers Reduce Costs and Maintain a Competitive Edge

Reddy Ice and Johnsonville Sausages Retool With Robust Technologies and Flexible Equipment Leasing Solutions

Perhaps the most diverse segment of the manufacturing industry, the food and beverage sector faces remarkable complexities: juggling quality control and processing issues, competitive threats and ever-shifting consumer trends, all while balancing supply chain management requirements and strict regulatory compliance. The primary challenge, notes Presidio Networked Solutions, is to stay at the forefront of innovation and adaptation of new technology while still controlling costs.

As the leading provider of professional and managed services for IT lifecycle solutions, Presidio Networked Solutions, Inc. believes that the rapid adoption of new technologies and business-critical applications can help processors and manufacturers streamline internal processes and reduce operational costs -- all while keeping tight control over capital expenditures.

To demonstrate how the adoption of new network infrastructure can be achieved while significantly reducing up-front costs, Presidio cites the successes of two food manufacturing industry leaders: Reddy Ice and Johnsonville Sausages LLC.

Reddy Ice -- The largest manufacturer and distributor of packaged ice products in the U.S., Reddy Ice produces nearly 1.9 million tons of ice annually from its more than 100 manufacturing and distribution locations nationwide. When the company's technology infrastructure was approaching the end of its useful life and maintenance and leasing contracts were nearing expiration, Reddy Ice began planning an extensive overhaul of its technology infrastructure and the deployment of new, business-critical applications. The project involved a complete network refresh, including data services, ongoing network monitoring and maintenance, professional services, even equipment financing. To minimize complexity, Reddy Ice selected Presidio as its single-source vendor to support both the technology integration and the new leasing contracts, ensuring a smooth, cost-effective and expedient migration.

To support Reddy Ice's future growth plans and provide increased performance for its multiple internet-based and third-party hosted applications, Presidio replaced its existing routers and frame relay network using new Cisco Integrated Services Routers and carrier-grade infrastructure at each company location. The new infrastructure had an immediate impact, nearly tripling Reddy Ice's aggregate carrier bandwidth and increasing overall access to the Internet by 700 percent company-wide. With the new, highly scalable network and flexible equipment financing in place, Reddy Ice kept its up-front spending at a minimum and enjoys significant performance and feature enhancements, real cost savings, and the ability to easily deploy new applications and technologies in the future.

Johnsonville Sausages LLC -- Johnsonville Sausages, manufacturers of the leading national brand of sausages and bratwurst, was looking to spread the cost of its IT investment across the useful life of its equipment and to obtain acquisition and asset management assistance to better manage its annual and monthly expense budgets. Because of its strong commitment to quality and excellence, Johnsonville was searching for a like-minded partner to help with its technology acquisitions. After careful consideration, Johnsonville selected Presidio Networked Solutions. The two companies have now built a lasting business relationship based on mutual trust that has spanned more than 20 years.

By leveraging strategic relationships with preferred vendor partners such as Cisco and IBM, along with flexible financing options offered by Presidio Technology Capital, Presidio has been able to assist Johnsonville in finding and implementing the solutions it needs at a cost structure that makes good business sense. Presidio's solutions have allowed Johnsonville to realize greater operational efficiency and solid ROI. With leasing and quarterly takedowns, Johnsonville has the flexibility to make regular strategic modifications to its data center and network infrastructure, allowing the company to take advantage of new technologies and stay on the leading edge of the industry.

"We are seeing a definite move towards new-technology leasing from food processing and manufacturing clients. Flexible leasing options offer companies a range of affordable alternatives to make replacing legacy technology with new infrastructure solutions and industry-specific business applications obtainable," said Robert Necessary, President of Presidio Technology Capital, a division of Presidio Networked Solutions. "While the cost of purchasing and deploying new technologies and applications can seem prohibitive, Presidio offers both flexibility and support to make the adoption of new solutions both practical and affordable. Many of our customers have seen net savings well into double-digit percentages -- with an immediate ROI."

Presidio Technology Capital, LLC offers a range of information technology leasing and financing solutions including trade-in and trade-up technology adoption accelerators. Presidio Technology Capital has deep domain expertise and understanding of technology lifecycles, and offers midsize to large enterprises the advantages inherent in leasing IT equipment complemented by flexible financing options with its Business Technology Lifecycle and TechFlex programs. More information on Presidio and Presidio Technology Capital can be located at www.presidio.com.

About Presidio Networked Solutions, Inc.

Presidio Networked Solutions, Inc., the leading provider of advanced IT lifecycle solutions, addresses the complete technology lifecycle -- plan, design, integrate, operate and optimize -- for the enterprise, commercial and government markets. Presidio's comprehensive solutions portfolio comprises unified communications, wireless, security, storage, network infrastructure and managed services. Holding the highest networking industry certifications from vendor partners Cisco, IBM, Sun, EMC, NetApp, VMware and Microsoft, Presidio Networked Solutions is well-positioned to meet the growing needs of customers migrating to advanced technologies. Presidio also offers customers an extensive range of financing solutions, including leasing.

Presidio Networked Solutions is a trademark of Presidio, Inc. Other trade names used in this document are acknowledged to be the property of their respective owners.