Posted by Andrew Ostrom on Tue, Dec 06, 2011
TDS Plans and Executes Multi-Phase “Hybrid” Relocation to an Off-Site Location
HOPKINTON, Mass., December 06, 2011 – Transitional Data Services (TDS), the best-in-class provider of independent services for IT, including data center design, relocation, operational support, and Enterprise Open Source deployment, today announced that it has successfully completed a multi-phased data center relocation project for InterGen. This relocation effort concluded a six month long engagement between TDS and InterGen during which TDS provided assistance with data center site selection, application hosting platform selection, move strategy and planning, and application benchmarking. Additionally, TDS was responsible for the final execution of the move events.
InterGen recently made the decision to relocate the majority of its internal computing environment to an off-site location, and requested assistance in developing a “hybrid” data center approach. Ultimately, InterGen may want to move some applications into a cloud computing environment, but InterGen required assistance deciding which applications might move and with which providers to partner. For this exercise, TDS utilized its newly developed Cost2Compute™ tool to compare the costs of various computing platforms. The tool was created to accurately contrast all the costs associated with running an application in “the cloud” versus co-location facilities and in-house data centers. TDS then consulted with InterGen to consider a variety of other key criteria before choosing the optimal environment.
Craig Macfarlane, TDS Co-Founder, and architect of Cost2Compute, explained, “Obviously, ‘the cloud’ is at the forefront of most IT executives thinking today, but choosing the optimal computing environment for an application is a complex process. Cost2Compute helps sift through all the providers’ marketing material and internal politics and then assigns a real dollar value associated with the ‘cost to compute’ in various data center environments. Once the value is identified, other criteria critical to the decision making process can be weighed and companies can make educated, well researched decisions about their computing strategy instead of relying on industry trends or proposed savings.”
As part of the overall relocation project, TDS assisted InterGen with site selection for the new data center. Based on its time-proven site selection methodology, TDS worked with InterGen to create a detailed, requirements driven, RFP which was sent to potential data center providers. TDS then assisted InterGen with the analysis and scoring of the RFP responses, helping InterGen match data center capabilities to their requirements while avoiding the hidden costs buried in the proposals, leading to the selection of the best facility. TDS regularly assists customers across North America and Europe with data center site selection engagements of all sizes and scope.
TDS also helped InterGen with the development of strategy and planning for the data migration and physical move events. Key applications were benchmarked, using industry leading tools, to confirm each application’s ability to be successfully relocated to its new environment. Where necessary, remediation steps were identified and TDS’s project management team developed the run-books and managed the test-move and move/migration events.
Craig Shrimpton, InterGen’s IT Infrastructure Manager, said, “The holistic nature in which TDS approaches its data center relocation projects was the key reason we chose TDS. They’re the experts when it comes to data centers and their custom-built tools like Transition Manager and Cost2Compute demonstrate how well they understand these projects and how to avoid costly mistakes. TDS exceeded our expectations.”
About TDS
Transitional Data Services is a consulting and IT services company which has provisioned, transitioned and managed over 1 million square feet of IT space for companies including Kayak.com, The University of Texas, Boston Red Sox, Liberty Mutual, Cedars-Sinai, Devon Energy and many other companies of all sizes.
TDS works closely with clients through full deployment cycles – from design, implementation and ongoing operations. This experience brings a holistic, real world perspective when evaluating and transitioning to hybrid enterprise computing. With experience spanning all facets of enterprise computing including facilities, virtualization, cloud, SaaS, business applications and 24/7 operations, TDS provides unique perspective and insight for supporting migrations to these mixed environments. For more information visit: http://www.transitionaldata.com.
About InterGen
InterGen is a global power generation firm with twelve power plants representing a total generation capacity of 8,146 MW (6,312 net equity MW). InterGen’s plants are located in the UK, the Netherlands, Mexico, the Philippines and Australia and is jointly owned by the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan and China Huaneng Group.
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TDS, Transitional Data Systems the TDS logo and Cost2Compute are trademarks of Transitional Data Services, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective holders.
Press Contacts
Andy Ostrom, Transitional Data Services
press@transitionaldata.com
+1.508.625.3030
Posted by Eric Kraieski on Fri, Aug 26, 2011
Transition Manager instrumental in planning, real time communication and move day management
Hopkinton, MA – Transitional Data Services (TDS) announced today it has successfully completed a multi-phased data center relocation project for The University of Texas at Austin. This relocation effort included the complete de-installation, transport, and re-installation of all IT infrastructure components and departmental servers into the new, state-of-the-art University Data Center (UDC).
The UDC, which was completed in 2010, provides a secure, professionally managed data center to meet the growing information technology needs of academic and administrative units at the university. It consolidates previously decentralized departmental servers and also houses enterprise-wide academic and administrative services critical to students, faculty, and staff.
By utilizing expertise gained from over 1 million square feet of data center projects and leveraging the power of the Transition Manager relocation tool, TDS and the university were able to complete this multi-phase data center relocation on-time and with no unplanned outages.
Prior to the first move event, TDS worked with ITS staff (Information Technology Services) to conduct site walkthroughs, validate inventory and coordinate logistics. During the walkthroughs, TDS applied color-coded barcode tags to each device being moved, where each color represented a unique move event. You can learn more about the University of Texas at Austin data center relocation on their website.
Transition Manager is a purpose-built tool from TDS, designed specifically to manage complex data center relocation projects. Key components of Transition Manager used to assure on time, predictable performance and real-time communication include:
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Web based dashboard showing high-level, continuous, real-time status of all assets
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Supervisory console with dynamic labor management and redeployment capabilities
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Wireless barcode scanners to ensure accuracy and reduce overall downtime window
Transition Manager can also be used to facilitate application migrations when considering the overall hybrid environments of physical, virtual, cloud and SaaS based services.
About TDS
Transitional Data Services is a consulting and IT services company which has provisioned, transitioned and managed over 1 million square feet of IT space for companies including Kayak.com, John Hancock, Boston Red Sox, Liberty Mutual, Cedars-Sinai, Devon Energy and many other companies of all sizes.
TDS works closely with clients through full deployment cycles – from design, implementation and ongoing operations. This experience brings a holistic, real world perspective when evaluating and transitioning to hybrid enterprise computing. With experience spanning all facets of enterprise computing including facilities, virtualization, cloud, SaaS, business applications and 24/7 operations, TDS provides unique perspective and insight for supporting migrations to these mixed environments.
Posted by Patti Johnson on Fri, Mar 04, 2011
Learn more from the TDS Webinar Series and at the Markley Event in Boston
Hopkinton, MA - Transitional Data Services (TDS), the leader in 
complex data center relocations today announced the expansion of services to assist companies in evaluating and executing migrations to cloud and hybrid data center deployments.
The conventional view of a data center represented by physical space, critical infrastructure, servers, storage and networks is no longer an effective way to think about the enterprise computing environment. With the adoption of virtualization, SaaS and cloud computing, the data center is transforming into a hybrid computing model, in which organizations and end users access applications that run inside the conventional data center as well as in SaaS and cloud services. This hybrid model presents both opportunities and challenges to the IT organization.
“Given the cross-discipline perspective of TDS – spanning physical data centers, virtual and cloud application deployments and ongoing operations– our team understands the complexity and risk that can be introduced with these type of migrations,” said Michael Bullock, CEO of Transitional Data Services. “When transitioning to virtual, cloud and hybrid services, it is essential to consider how all the pieces will work together as a cohesive and maintainable system. With this approach, it will be easier to focus on those applications that can provide the quickest payback with the lowest risk.”
The TDS Cloud and Hybrid Data Center Migration Services include:
- TDS Cost-to-Compute – Comprehensive evaluation of the true cost of computing for physical, virtual and cloud deployments for specific IT requirements and resources
- TDS Application Benchmarking – Services to evaluate critical performance factors and to verify post migration performance against the pre-move baseline.
- TDS Platform Selection – Assistance in selecting the optimal mix of physical, colocation, SaaS and Cloud for your application and infrastructure environment
- TDS Environment Migrations – Execution of infrastructure migrations including all combinations of data, physical, virtual and cloud services (i.e. P2P, P2V, V2V, P2C, V2C, C2C)
- TDS Technical Operations – Ongoing assurance of end to end application availability in physical, virtual, cloud, SaaS and hybrid deployments.
In conjunction with this announcement, TDS will be hosting several webinars, offered free to those businesses facing challenges with cloud and hybrid migrations. Attendance is limited – please register online at www.TransitionalData.com/webinars .
TDS is also sponsoring the Markey Data Center Networking Event in Boston on April 28, 2011 and will be available in-person conferences to discuss your data center, application migration and hybrid computing challenges.
About TDS
Transitional Data Services is a consulting and IT services company that has provisioned, transitioned and managed over 1 million square feet of IT space for companies including Kayak.com, John Hancock, Boston Red Sox, Liberty Mutual, Pioneer Electronics and many other companies of all sizes.
TDS works hand in hand with clients through full deployment cycles – from design, implementation and through ongoing operations, and this experience brings a holistic, real world perspective in evaluating hybrid enterprise computing. With experience spanning all facets of enterprise computing including facilities, virtualization, cloud, SaaS, business applications and 24/7 operations, TDS provides unique perspective and insight for supporting these mixed environments.
Posted by Patti Johnson on Fri, Mar 04, 2011
Launches Webinar series to introduce Openbravo 3 – Agile ERP
Hopkinton, MA – Transitional Data Services (TDS) was
recently recognized as the premier provider of Openbravo open source ERP solutions in Canada. By attaining Openbravo Gold partner status in Canada, TDS has earned the Openbravo “seal of approval”, demonstrating excellence in delivering services and solutions to Openbravo customers.
This follows several related announcements by Openbravo and TDS. With recent recognition as Partner of the Year for Openbravo, TDS has established itself as the leading supplier of Openbravo implementations, deployments and integrations with legacy, SaaS and custom-built enterprise systems.
And while Openbravo ERP has been recognized numerous times by InfoWorld “Best of Open Source Software”, LinuxWorld and Red Herring for innovation and leadership, the recent release of Openbravo 3 has proven to be a game changer for rapid and agile deployments of new ERP solutions.
“With the release of Openbravo 3, businesses can now deploy agile ERP solutions that conform to their established business processes, not the other way around,” said Michael Bullock, CEO of Transitional Data Services. “I encourage business owners, CFOs, accountants and others to take a look and see how Openbravo can help you or your clients.”
In conjunction with this announcement, TDS will be hosting several free webinars and web demonstrations of the new Openbravo 3, Agile ERP. You are welcome to participate by registering online at www.TransitionalData.com/webinars .
About TDS
TDS provides a flexible range of services that help companies focus on their core mission while leveraging our expertise for IT assessments, ERP deployment, application software development, compliance remediation, managed operations and outsourced IT services.
TDS leverages open source and “best for need” software and tools where feasible to deliver solutions that are affordable, flexible, maintainable and commercial grade. TDS clients include Kayak.com, Boston Red Sox, SAIC, Liberty Mutual and many others who rely on TDS to operate transparently in their best interest.
About Openbravo
Openbravo is the leading provider of commercial grade open source ERP, having been downloaded over 1 million times and used in over 50 countries. Openbravo delivers ERP solutions through a network of implementation partners across the globe. The Openbravo platform is highly customizable and extensible using a plug-in / modular architecture. This plug-in architecture allows customers to customize Openbravo to support unique business requirements and take advantage of pre-integrated third party extensions available from the Openbravo Exchange.
Posted by Patti Johnson on Mon, Jan 31, 2011
Transitional Data is Awarded “Partner of the Year - North America”
Hopkinton, MA – Transitional Data Services (TDS) announced today that it was recognized by Openbravo as the Partner of the Year for North America. Openbravo is the leading web-based, open source ERP platform allowing companies to quickly deploy solutions with greater flexibility and affordability than conventional approaches from vendors such as Oracle, SAP and Microsoft.
“I am proud to recognize TDS as Openbravo Partner of the Year for North America,” said Paolo Juvara, CEO of Openbravo. “This achievement is the result of continued excellence by TDS in delivering valuable solutions to our customers not only in the U.S. and Canada but around the globe.”
Juvara continued, “TDS success as a top Openbravo partner is due to outstanding skills of the TDS team as well their investment in the Openbravo platform and ecosystem, as demonstrated by their development of new modules to support emerging requirements in supply chain management, manufacturing, sales, distribution and ecommerce. Congratulations to the TDS team for this well-deserved award!”
Open source ERP continues to gain traction, especially with innovative and growing companies that want business agility and life cycle value. For these types of businesses, Openbravo offers:
- Commercial grade solution with a bug-fix guarantee by Openbravo
- Open and accessible. Openbravo is delivered on a fully open web architecture with source code
- Flexible deployment options – Linux, Windows, Virtual, cloud and appliance
- A modular architecture that enables innovation and customization
“Our continued success with Openbravo clearly demonstrates that open source ERP is ready for prime time,” said Eric Kraieski, VP of Enterprise Applications for TDS. “Our clients have been looking for agile, cost effective and adaptable solutions which are easy to deploy and integrate into their organization – Openbravo fits the bill.”
About TDS
TDS provides a flexible range of services that help companies focus on their core mission while leveraging our expertise for IT assessments, ERP deployment, application software development, compliance remediation, managed operations and outsourced IT services.
TDS leverages open source and “best for need” software and tools where feasible to deliver solutions that are affordable, flexible, maintainable and commercial grade. TDS clients include Kayak.com, Boston Red Sox, SAIC, Liberty Mutual and many others who rely on TDS to operate transparently in their best interest.
About Openbravo
Openbravo is the leader provider of commercial grade open source ERP, having been downloaded over 1 million times and used in over 50 countries. Openbravo delivers ERP solutions through a network of implementation partners across the globe. The Openbravo platform is highly customizable and extensible using a plug-in / modular architecture. This plug-in architecture allows customers to customize Openbravo to support unique business requirements and take advantage of pre-integrated third party extensions available from the Openbravo Exchange.
Posted by Eric Kraieski on Tue, Dec 14, 2010
Improve data center efficiency and recover IT capacity
Hopkinton, MA – December 10, 2010 - Transitional Data Services (TDS), a leading provider of IT and green data center consulting services, has partnered with the U.S. Department of Energy (Save Energy Now program) with the common goal of improving the energy efficiency of data centers in the U.S.
Despite the tremendous efficiency improvements from virtualization and high density server, storage and network systems over the last few years, the average data center continues to be a major source of energy waste for most companies. Typically for each dollar spent on powering IT gear, another $1 is being consumed by inefficiencies in the data center facility. Besides costing money, this is also robbing data centers of power capacity available for future growth.
The DOE Data Center Certified Energy Practitioner program (DC-CEP) has been designed to raise the standards of those involved in the energy assessment of data centers. The program is driven by the principle that significant knowledge, training and skills are required to perform data center energy assessments and to implement the most cost-effective options for energy savings.
In addition to joining forces with DOE, TDS has also announced that Karl Robohm, VP Data Center Services has attained the highest level certification available from the DC-CEP program covering all data center disciplines - electrical, air management, cooling and IT-equipment. Karl joins an exclusive group of just 50 data center engineers in the U.S. to have completed this level of DOE training and certification.
About Transitional Data Services
Transitional Data Services provides unbiased assessments, recommendations and improvements for IT including data center efficiency, data center migrations/relocations, technical operations and open source applications. Since we do not operate as a vendor or VAR, we are not limited by a specific product portfolio and are able to offer the best practical solution that meets the technical, business and budget requirements. For more, please read "Avoid Hidden Cost of Bias and Preference in IT".
Transitional Data Services clients are successful organizations of all sizes and industries including John Hancock, Kayak.com, Boston Red Sox, Cedars Sinai, Liberty Mutual and many others. These organizations rely on TDS to operate transparently in their best interest
Posted by Eric Kraieski on Thu, Sep 30, 2010
Solution provides rapid path to ERP backend services for open ecommerce businesses
Hopkinton, MA - Sept 30, 2010 - Transitional Data Services announced today that it has released a connector module that integrates Magento eCommerce with Openbravo ERP. The connector is available immediately to Openbravo Professional subscribers and integration partners.
Magento is the leading open source eCommerce system to manage online shopping websites. Magento includes full user facing shopping cart management through checkout, payment processor integration and robust features for merchandising and product management. While providing an excellent platform to steamline eCommerce, Magento was not designed to address the inventory control, manufacturing, supply chain and financial management services required by these businesses.
Openbravo, the award-winning developer of Openbravo ERP, provides web-based commercial grade open source ERP solutions for SMB's - the industry's first real alternative to proprietary enterprise software. The company's Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and Point of Sale (POS) solutions, the most popular in their market, have been downloaded more than 1.5 million times and are used in over 50 countries.
TDS has developed this integration module to leverage the respective strengths of Openbravo and Magento to provide independent management of the Magento eStore and Openbravo ERP environments. On-line customers and products are managed with Magento and the relevant product, customer and order information is synchronized to Openbravo ERP for order fulfillment, consolidated reporting and inventory management. The synchronization process can be tuned based on time and frequency to fit a broad range of operational requirements.
Manuel Sarasa, CEO for Openbravo said: "We are pleased that Transitional Data is investing in the Openbravo Exchange component of our ecosystem and shares our vision for rapid, assemble-to-fit deployment of ERP. This Magento / Openbravo release by TDS illustrates the power of modularity, the enabling value of the Openbravo Exchange and the future of affordable ERP for eCommerce."
The module is available to Openbravo commercial customers for a fixed priced of $1,950 and can be purchased with optional services for integration, support or turnkey integration. Full project information and download instructions are available from the Openbravo Exchange and can be purchased from the Transitional Data eStore. TDS also offers hosting, 24/7 monitoring and cloud deployment services for Openbravo, Magento and other enterprise applications.
About TDS
Transitional Data Services (TDS) provides unbiased assessments, recommendations and improvements for IT including green data centers, data center migration, technical operations and open source enterprise solutions.
Since TDS does not operate as a vendor or VAR, the company is not limited by a specific product portfolio and is able to offer the best practical solution that meets the client's technical, business and budget requirements.
Transitional Data Services clients are successful organizations for all sizes and industries, including John Hancock, Kayak.com, Boston Red Sox, Cedars Sinai, Liberty Mutual and many others. These organizations rely on TDS to operate transparently in their best interest.
Posted by Eric Kraieski on Thu, Aug 26, 2010
- Turnkey deployments starting around $20K, live in 45 days -
Hopkinton, Massachusetts – August 23th, 2010 – Transitional Data Services today announced the availability of its QuickStart Plus Package for affordable ERP deployments in 45 days.
The TDS offering includes Openbravo QuickStart 2 from Openbravo - the leading web-based open source ERP company. QuickStart 2 provides a dozen core business process flows including Order to Cash, Procure to Pay, and Bank Statement to Bank Reconciliation. Subscription-based pricing and Cloud deployment give SMBs easy access to the core benefits of ERP--automation and optimization of accounting, sales order processing, inventory, and procurement processes--without the high cost and implementation time lines of legacy systems.
Manel Sarasa, CEO for Openbravo said: "In today's economy, businesses need to be fast and financially well-informed. Openbravo QuickStart 2 gives small and mid-sized businesses a solution that is quickly implemented and straightforward to adapt, operate and upgrade. This new offering for American businesses puts cash flow, the lifeblood of any business, at the center, with ready-made financial structures and content to ensure companies have all the critical business information they need at their fingertips."
Openbravo offers a no-compromises approach to ERP, enabling rapid standard implementations with no limits to extensibility and adaptability.
Eric Kraieski, Vice President for ERP Solutions at Openbravo Gold partner Transitional Data Services (TDS) said: “Openbravo has clearly established itself as the leading provider of web-based open ERP software that is flexible, extensible and adaptable to customer business processes, rather than the other way around. Our clients have been impressed with how quickly Openbravo ERP can be deployed in conventional and cloud environments. Smaller businesses like the all-inclusive aspect and our larger clients really appreciate how easily it integrates with other enterprise applications – both legacy and emerging requirements."
With QuickStart Plus - TDS now offers entry turnkey ERP solutions starting at $21,450 all inclusive of implementation and first year subscpription service (visit QuickStart Plus for more details).
Posted by Eric Kraieski on Thu, Jul 01, 2010
Hopkinton, MA - July 1, 2010 – Transitional Data Services (TDS) announced today that it has successfully completed an end-to-end data center relocation project for Pioneer Electronics (USA), Inc.
This relocation effort included the complete de-installation, moving and re-installation of all IT infrastructure components from one Southern California data center location to another.
By utilizing expertise gained from over 1 million square feet of data center projects and hundreds of unique vendors of IT and data center gear, and leveraging the power of the Transition Manager relocation tool, TDS was able to complete this data center move ahead of schedule and with zero equipment failures.
Transition Manager, a purpose-built tool from TDS designed specifically to manage complex data center relocation projects, assured efficient workforce management and communication throughout the move.
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TDS Transition Manager streamlined the relocation process for Pioneer Electronics. The web dashboard provided continous, real time status of all assets and labor. The supervisory console provided graphical views of labor allowing for dynamic redeployment as appropriate. And the barcode handheld devices streamlined the management of the move team while simplifying data entry throughout the move process.
“Transition Manager’s real-time dashboard provided us with on-line access through-out the move planning, physical relocation and post move activities,” stated Tim Schutt, TDS Principal and VP of Data Center Relocations. “By utilizing TranMan’s barcode scan driven process we were able to assure complete restoral of services for Pioneer Electronics in just two-thirds of the allocated project time.”
Prior to the move, TDS conducted site surveys, inventory and application dependency analysis and delivered a move run book (providing "to the minute" resource planning) to ensure an efficient data center relocation. By pre-staging the target data center prior to the actual move, TDS did not waste precious move-day time on cabling, cabinet installation and network engineering tasks.
During the move, TDS provided on-site project management, de-installation of all equipment including servers, routers and fiber and electric connections, management of the transportation of equipment including insurance, full installation of all components and OEM vendor management of over 10 vendors including HP, IBM, Dell, Sun, Brocade, EMC and Cisco.
About TDS
TDS provides unbiased assessments, recommendations and improvements for IT including data center efficiency, data center migrations/relocations, technical operations and open source applications. Since we do not operate as a vendor or VAR, we are not limited by a specific product portfolio and are able to offer the best practical solution that meets the technical, business and budget requirements. For insight in improving your data center migration, please download our complimentary data center relocation white paper.
Transitional Data Services clients are successful organizations of all sizes and industries including John Hancock, Kayak.com, Boston Red Sox, Cedars Sinai, Liberty Mutual and many others. These organizations rely on TDS to operate transparently in their best interest.
Posted by Eric Kraieski on Tue, Jun 29, 2010
Demonstrated Excellence in Hybrid Data Center Deployments
Hopkinton, MA - June 26, 2010 - TDS, a leading provider of IT and data center consulting services, is now recognized by VMware as an Enterprise Level Solution Provider. By exceeding the requirements to design, plan and deploy sophisticated virtual infrastructures, VMware recognizes TDS as a go-to partner for virtualization solution expertise.
"This relationship with VMware expands our partnership with EMC for data center optimizations, migrations and relocations," stated Michael Bullock, CEO of TDS.
"Our support for VMware goes well beyond the design to deployment phases," added Chris Gillis, TDS VP of Technical Operations. "As companies leverage virtual, SaaS and cloud services for application delivery, there is increased complexity and business risk that comes along with the cost savings. The TDS unified monitoring solution mitigates this risk by providing 24/7 monitoring in this hybrid environment."
Traditional resource monitoring and management is inadequate for virtualized and hybrid environments with mulitple critical applications competing for shared resources. TDS Unified Monitoring for hybrid environments provides an automated, consolidated view of all internal and external services, including virtualized, cloud and SaaS. Utilizing state of the art monitoring tools and best practices, TDS can assure both peformance and availability of complex enterprise deployments.
About VMware
Vmware, Inc (NYSE: VMW) is the global leader in virtual infrastructure software for industry-standard systems. The world's largest companies use VMware solutions to simplify their IT, fully leverage their existing computing investments and respond faster to changing business demands. VMware is based in Palo Alto, CA. For more information, visit www.vmware.com.
About TDS
TDS provides unbiased assessments, recommendations and improvements for IT including data center efficiency, data center migrations/relocations, technical operations and open source applications. Since we do not operate as a vendor or VAR, we are not limited by a specific product portfolio and are able to offer the best practical solution that meets the technical, business adn budget requirements. For more, please read "Avoid Hidden Cost of Bias and Preference in IT".
Transitional Data Services clients are successful organizations of all sizes and industries including John Hancock, Kayak.com, Boston Red Sox, Cedars Sinai, Liberty Mutual and many others. These organizations rely on TDS to operate transparently in their best interest.