Case Study   Blue Hawaiian Helicopters   Location Headquartered in Maui, HI with two additional locations on the Big Island of Hawaii Needs Provide faster order transactions, retain marketshare, and achieve 100Mbps desktop connections Applications Reservation booking, FAA information tracking, billing and accounting, and flight monitoring Key 3Com Products 3Com® SuperStack® Switch 3300 switches, Fast EtherLink® network interface cards Overview Since its founding in 1985, Blue Hawaiian Helicopters' commitment to excellence has made it Hawaii's premiere and largest helicopter tour operator. Flying over 150,000 passengers annually, the company offers a full range of safe, scenic, high-flying tours over national parks, live volcanoes, waterfalls, and rain forests. Of its 145 employees, 32 are pilots; most of whom are decorated military veterans. Fueled by its stellar reputation, Blue Hawaiian has earned numerous film and television credits, providing the aerial filming of the blockbuster movie Jurassic Park as well as Lost World, Crimson Tide, Honeymoon in Vegas, Flight of the Intruder and Pearl Harbor. The company also is the first "activity provider" recipient of the American Academy of Restaurant and Hospitality Sciences' prestigious Five Star Diamond Award for service. The first choice of Hawaii's activity brokers and hotels, who provide a significant share of its business, Blue Hawaiian maintains three heliports: one at its Maui headquarters and two on the Big Island of Hawaii. Network Challenge As Blue Hawaiian's business grew, its reservation call centers on Maui and the Big Island of Hawaii began experiencing delays of up to 30 seconds when trying to extract tour availability data from networked servers-a wait that prevented them from rapidly booking telephone reservations. These delays were apparent to its activity broker and hotel concierge clientele, which constitute a large share of the company's sales. In Hawaii's highly competitive tourism industry, busy brokers and concierges depend on transaction volume to earn their booking commissions and demand instant service from providers. To speed up its call times and sustain its service excellence, Blue Hawaiian consulted with Maui-based Micros Integration Support, a value-added reseller (VAR), to obtain a new high-speed network architecture. Micros recommended and installed a Fast Ethernet system based on 3Com SuperStack switches in Blue Hawaiian's Maui office, where its servers reside. Using the network, Blue Hawaiian call center staff now complete reservation transactions in 20 seconds, enabling the company to maintain its market position by addressing the concerns of its key broker and hotel clientele. "Customer service is vital to our business, and our call reservation staff were keypunching data faster than our old network could process it, keeping our major broker and concierge customers waiting on the phone," recalled Thomas Revelle, Blue Hawaiian controller. "Using 3Com's SuperStack Fast Ethernet solution, we now have the reliable bandwidth we need to rapidly book phone orders, and our clients couldn't be happier." Network Applications Blue Hawaiian's new 3Com network is expediting virtually every aspect of the company's business, including customer service, FAA tracking, billing and accounting, flight monitoring, maintenance, marketing, and pilot training. The 3Com network swiftly delivers Database Designs' Activity Link Systems to Blue Hawaiian's call center staff, enabling them to close reservation transactions over the phone in 20 seconds. With its previous network architecture, data bottlenecks caused keystroke lags and server response delays that jeopardized the company's business with commission-driven brokers and busy hotel concierges responsible for a large share of its bookings. Blue Hawaiian easily stores and accesses information required by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) using the network-driven AORS application. AORS calculates each aircraft's weight and balance and logs maintenance records and component information, enabling Blue Hawaiian to satisfy FAA requirements and more effectively maintain its fleet. The helicopter tour operator further relies on its network to expedite its billing and accounting operations. Using AORS for tour accounting, Blue Hawaiian bills activity brokers twice per month. Using Sage's Mas90 network-based point-of sale software, the company rapidly logs all gift shop transactions, including credit card transactions. Blue Hawaiian's 3Com network additionally delivers the Altair Health Usage Monitoring System (HUMS), which monitors each flight to ensure that no in-flight system exceeds operating parameters. Blue Hawaiian now tracks employee time using infrared barcode cards and network-driven timekeeping software. The network delivers Blue Hawaiian's Novell GroupWise e-mail and Microsoft Office applications, including PowerPoint, which the company uses to create marketing and pilot training materials. Business Benefits Improved customer service-Blue Hawaiian's 3Com network expedites delivery of the company's tour availability database. Powered by the network, Blue Hawaiian's customer service staff now book reservations over the telephone from commission-driven activity brokers and busy hotel concierges in 20 seconds-a dramatic improvement over minutes-long calls the company experienced with its previous shared Ethernet architecture. Repeat business-With its newfound ability to process customer bookings, Blue Hawaiian has retained the loyalty of activity brokers and hotel concierges, enabling the company to sustain its profitability and reputation for service excellence. Enhanced flight safety-Because of the helicopter tour company's central network storage and efficient access to maintenance and flight monitoring data, Blue Hawaiian's mechanics at its three heliports have instant access to the information they need to keep the company's state-of-the-art helicopter fleet in top working order. Preeminent market position-With its customer service back on the same stellar level as its tour service and safety, Blue Hawaiian is retaining its position as the largest and best helicopter tour operator in Hawaii. "We launched our 3Com network to speed up our telephone reservations calls, and it's done a beautiful job," said Thomas Revelle, Blue Hawaiian controller. "Using 3Com systems, we have the networking power to quickly access our business critical tour data, and the scalability to drive our growth." Implementation Previously, Blue Hawaiian employed mixed-vendor shared Ethernet networks in its Maui and Big Island of Hawaii call centers, with each network based on three to four shared 10-megabit-per-second (Mbps) hubs. Using this architecture, the helicopter tour company experienced increasing congestion as its business grew, causing unacceptable delays in completing reservation transactions over the phone. With a major share of its bookings channeled through a small number of travel brokers and hotel concierges relying on speedy transactions for their own income, Blue Hawaiian needed to solve its network delays and reduce its call times to preserve its market position as Hawaii's leading helicopter tour company. To that end, the company consulted with Micros Integration and Support, a value-added reseller (VAR) in Maui, in search of a faster, more reliable network that would break its data logjam and enable it to speed its call times. Micros recommended a Fast Ethernet solution based on the 3Com SuperStack Switch 3300. Initially deployed by Micros at the helicopter tour company's Maui headquarters, the new network is significantly accelerating bookings at Maui and from the company's two additional offices on the Big Island of Hawaii. "We needed a way to speed up our bookings, and Micros and 3Com had the answer," said Thomas Revelle, Blue Hawaiian controller. "Installation was virtually plug-and-play, and it gave us immediate relief from the delayed response that plagued our network." Technical Solution Deployed this March at the company's Maui headquarters, Blue Hawaiian's 3Com-driven network is based on a 3Com SuperStack II Switch 3300 switch. The core switch feeds 100 megabits per second (Mbps) connections to a Netis server and two Dell servers, where the company's tour availability and key business systems reside. The SuperStack Switch 3300 also distributes a full 100 Mbps for the first time to 24 custom Netis PCs, three to six of them reservation staff locations, and all equipped with 3Com Fast EtherLink network interface cards (NICs). The switch additionally delivers 100 Mbps links to a router with Frame Relay connections from the headquarters to two Blue Hawaiian locations on the Big Island of Hawaii, where the company maintains two heliports, two gift shops, and a six-seat call center. Blue Hawaiian soon plans to upgrade its largest Big Island office with SuperStack switches. "3Com technology is providing us with the communications infrastructure we need," said Thomas Revelle, Blue Hawaiian controller. "The SuperStack switches give us the speed and rich connectivity we need to efficiently run our business. They also provide a smooth upgrade path to Gigabit Ethernet should we require additional bandwidth." Why 3Com Blue Hawaiian Helicopters needed to expedite call reservations to satisfy the needs of its key activity broker and hotel concierge customers. Having previously used a shared Ethernet network at its headquarters, the tour company sought a faster, more reliable architecture to retain the loyalty of these customers and sustain its record of service excellence. After consulting with its Maui, Hawaii-based reseller Micros Integration and Support, Blue Hawaiian chose a 3Com Fast Ethernet network based on a 3Com SuperStack Switch 3300 because of Micros' strong recommendation of 3Com as well as 3Com's affordability, scalability, and reliability. Blue Hawaiian was impressed with the SuperStack system's plug-and-play ease of installation. The helicopter tour operator also appreciated the system's support for IEEE 802.1p, which enables it to prioritize network traffic for time-driven telephone reservation staff. Blue Hawaiian further saw the value of the switch's adherence to IEEE 802.1Q, which allows it to establish virtual local area networks (VLANs) to isolate network traffic by application, department, or user profile. "Our network is so important to our business, we simply cannot function effectively without it," said Thomas Revelle, Blue Hawaiian controller. "Using the SuperStack switch, we've eliminated costly data congestion that slowed our productivity and service." "Our new 3Com SuperStack network ensures that our broker and concierge clients can continue to recommend us with full confidence that we'll give them good service and a quick bookings turnaround," Revelle continued. "Because of the added speed and reliability of our 3Com network, we're better able to satisfy our customers and are in a strong position to sustain our success and growth." For more information, visit the Blue Hawaiian Web site at www.bluehawaiian.com.