Microsoft, AIMS Bring a Truckload of Technology to Fashion District
Microsoft Corp. literally rolled into the Los Angeles Fashion District on June 1 with one of its 42-foot mobile showrooms, hoping to educate the apparel industry about the latest software products from the company and its partners.
About 150 customers and other interested parties visited the teched-up truck, which was outfitted with several design stations, an education center and an impressive sound system. The truck is part of a fleet of seven that travels across the country as part of the Microsoft Truck Across America Tour.
Microsoft technicians joined executives from Los Angeles–based AIMS software and Focal Technologies in The New Mart parking lot to highlight a new partnership between AIMS and Focal, which provides AIMS users with the ability to add new e-commerce and Web-design features as well as integrated finance programs such as Intuit’s QuickBooks. Focal Technologies is a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner, which means the company has achieved the highest level of expertise and gives the company an inside track to Microsoft technical support and new products.
AIMS supplies the apparel industry with a range of business software, which automates various steps in the production, sales, order processing, EDI and inventory-management stages. The recent alignment with Focal Technologies allows AIMS users to plug Focal’s Web design, integration and shopping-cart application into AIMS so they can create B2B and B2C Web pages for their customers.
“It was costing more to integrate [other applications] into AIMS, and this integrates easily with our back end, so it’s easy to administer and to use,” explained AIMS President Henry Cherner.
He added that users can employ Microsoft’s small-business server or use AIMS’ hosted system to support the systems.
Microsoft’s Dan Morgan said the event was a unique opportunity for the Los Angeles apparel industry to demo the systems and meet with technicians in person.
“This is the first time we’ve connected with the apparel industry in this way. Visitors here get exposed to technology. They can look, touch, feel and play with it. It’s not the same as when a salesman calls you up,” he said.
Among the visitors on hand was Jose Cerrillo, president of Chula Vista, Calif.–based Continental Leather.
“We’re a longtime AIMS customer, so we had to come up and see all the new products,” he said.
For more information, visit www.aimstsi.com.—Robert McAllister
