Since the 1980s, Friedman Corporation has been a leader in ERP software designed specifically for make-to-order and just-in-time manufacturing. Its flagship product—Frontier ERP—helps manufacturers build highly configurable products like windows, doors, kitchen cabinets, and building materials with precision and speed. As manufacturing complexity increased and buyers demanded real-time pricing and delivery estimates, Frontier became a mission-critical system for hundreds of manufacturers across North America.
Friedman’s customers build custom, highly configurable products—not standard SKUs sitting on a shelf. Every order requires precise specifications, accurate pricing, and real-time production scheduling.
Frontier ERP handles this complexity beautifully. But supporting that performance on-premises came with challenges:
For Friedman, winning new business meant delivering a cloud-based Frontier experience without sacrificing the speed, reliability, or computational power manufacturers depend on.
“Speed really matters,” explains Craig Skonieczny, Friedman’s President. “We have one client that doesn’t sell through a traditional dealer network— they have contractors driving up to their building and asking for quotes directly. So, there’s no curtain to hide behind—if the system is slow or unreliable, it has a direct impact on their sales and their customer relationships.
“That’s why we’ve always built our software on the powerful, scalable, and reliable IBM i platform. It’s also why we’ve built a long-term partnership with Meridian IT—because they have the expertise to help our clients get the best out of the IBM hardware.”
The combination of powerful PCM software and fast, reliable systems gives Friedman a clear competitive advantage. To take its business to the next level, Friedman wanted to free clients from the burden of system administration and infrastructure management by offering Frontier as a fully managed, cloud-based service.
To meet customer expectations for cloud deployment, Friedman partnered with Meridian IT to design a fully managed version of Frontier powered by the Meridian Power Cloud—one of the world's largest IBM Power-based cloud infrastructures.
The goal wasn’t just hosting—it was building a fast, scalable, secure environment tailor-made for high-performance IBM i workloads.
Working side-by-side, Friedman and Meridian created a cloud architecture that delivers:
With Meridian managing the infrastructure, Friedman can focus entirely on product innovation and client success—not server maintenance.
“It’s a funny story,” recalls Craig Skonieczny. “In the early 2000s, when one of our clients first asked if we could provide a cloud version of Frontier, we decided to buy an IBM Power server and host it ourselves. It turned out to be so much harder than we thought! All the system administration work was a huge burden and a distraction for our team.
“So, we know from personal experience that it’s better to outsource all the intricacies of infrastructure management to the experts at Meridian IT. And that’s why we now recommend all our new clients take the cloud option, instead of putting themselves through the pain and expense of purchasing, installing, configuring, managing, and replacing servers themselves.”
Today, when Friedman’s clients choose to run Frontier in the cloud, they gain a number of key advantages.
First, they avoid the need to invest significant capital in new hardware, and they don’t need to wait for servers to be delivered and installed. As a result, Friedman can get them up and running on Frontier in weeks, not months.
Second, Meridian IT’s IBM i expertise and experience running Frontier for multiple clients means that they can accurately benchmark the amount of processor, memory, and storage resources that a new Friedman client will need—ensuring a right-sized environment that is optimally tuned for performance and availability.
Third, Meridian IT’s cloud architecture enables seamless scalability, so the Frontier application can access additional resources on demand as user numbers and data volumes increase.
The cloud platform also makes it easy to support fluctuations in demand by scaling up or down as needed—ensuring cost-efficiency for manufacturers whose businesses experience seasonal peaks and valleys.
“If your business is manufacturing windows, you’re probably not going to get as many orders in January as you are in July, especially in states that have very cold winters,” explains Craig Skonieczny. “The ability to flex system capacity to fit your demand can really help to optimize costs.”
Finally, by freeing manufacturers’ IT teams from routine system administration, security management, data protection, maintenance, and upgrade work, the decision to run Frontier in the cloud can contribute to direct operational cost savings.
“You probably need at least one full-time employee to manage an IBM i server on-premises and finding good people with the right skills can be expensive,” concludes Craig Skonieczny. “It’s easier and more cost-effective to let Meridian IT take care of the hardware, so you can focus on getting the most out of Frontier’s industry-leading functionality.”
Friedman’s partnership with Meridian IT transformed Frontier ERP into a fully managed cloud service that improves agility, reduces cost, and gives manufacturers the performance they need to compete.
Results at a glance:
Friedman can now deliver a modern cloud ERP experience—without sacrificing the high performance and reliability its customers depend on.
For 40+ years, Meridian IT has been helping medium and enterprise businesses solve their complex technical IT problems. Through a unique strategic perspective, deep expertise, and a personalized proactive approach, Meridian IT is the top IT solutions provider in the industry.
Offering best-in-class cloud, hybrid, and on-premises data storage solutions, backup and recovery solutions, security solutions, hyperconverged infrastructure, contact center solutions, flexible pricing models and award-winning managed services, Meridian IT works with each client to create a customized plan to help solve their IT obstacles.
Meridian IT is part of Meridian Group International. Meridian Group International is a privately held organization headquartered in Deerfield, IL. Operating since 1979, Meridian Group International is a leading IT service provider and equipment leasing and finance company across 4 continents.