About AIB, Inc.
AIB, Inc. is an innovator of integrated technology systems for the Texas automotive industry. The company develops software and Web-based applications that streamline daily business operations for its clients, which include franchised automotive dealers, independent dealers, repossession services, title services, financial institutions and other related businesses.
Situation
AIB is involved in communicating financial information, vehicle identification numbers and other sensitive data.
Transmitting these records electronically to state agencies, financial institutions and other locations requires a high level of security and highly reliable Web connectivity. The T1 lines AIB had used to connect to the
Internet did not supply adequate bandwidth as its business grew. AIB owners needed a way to support the increased Web traffic their clients required. The company also wanted speedier transport to support backups between its servers in Dallas and company headquarters in Hurst, Texas.
Solution
AIB replaced its T1 access lines with AT&T Managed
Internet Service (MIS) with Ethernet access which was easily available through the AT&T Fiber to the Building program*. The solution enables AIB to take advantage of highly secure, network-based access to business communications, information and applications. Highly scalable, the company can add bandwidth as its business grows.
Streamlined title and registration operations
Since 1995 AIB, Inc. has developed solutions that simplify operations for automobile dealers and others in the automotive industry. The business, started by the
Dunham family to give auto dealers easy access to
Department of Motor Vehicle (DMV) information, operates just outside Ft. Worth. “We provide services for tax, title and license and registration processing from the dealership to the local tax assessor collector and then on
Integrated Automotive Services to the state Department of Motor Vehicles,” said AIB
President Cindi Dunham.
Ms. Dunham and her husband started AIB in the mid-90s.
In an age before businesses all used computers and few
Americans had even heard of the Internet, AIB developed a way for auto dealers to determine a vehicle’s history and verify that a person who wanted to trade it in actually owned it. AIB technology not only gave dealers access to more information than they’d ever had before, but made it possible for dealers to make corrections to the records as necessary. “We got a lot of business from that pretty quickly,” Ms. Dunham said.
With auto dealers’ growing reliance on computer support, many began using AIB’s innovative titlesDesk software, which makes it easy to process title and registration work electronically. The application also enables the dealer to transmit all of its titling and registration forms to a laser printer, a more efficient and accurate solution than completing the forms by hand.
Business Needs
Support for growing business to handle Web-based applications and new business initiatives
Networking Solution
Dedicated Ethernet access provided in an AT&T Fiberready building
Business Value
Enhanced customer service; scalability easily supports increasing demand; highly secure access protects critical information
Industry Focus
Applications support for automotive industry
Size
600+ Clients
© 2015 AT&T Intellectual Property. All rights reserved. AT&T, the AT&T logo and all other AT&T marks contained herein are trademarks of AT&T Intellectual Property and/or AT&T affiliated companies. The information contained herein is not an offer, commitment, representation or warranty by AT&T and is subject to change.

As AIB grew, the three Dunham children joined the company, each working in a different aspect of the business. Eldest son Kellen Dunham, an engineer, helped develop titlesDesk, which has become the premier dealer titling application in the state. “titlesDesk is in at least 90 percent of all franchise car dealers in large Texas markets,” he said.
– Kellen Dunham, Vice President of New Product
Development, AIB, Inc.
Availability boosts productivity
AIB has built and retained its market share thanks to the quality of the data integration automation and superior customer support. “Processing a new vehicle registration and assigning a license plate at the dealership really helps the dealers, because they have to handle hundreds of these forms every month,” Dunham said. “Some dealers will do 800 in a month.”
The solution also benefits car buyers. “A buyer might not know how to figure out the correct fees for his registration, fill out all of the forms correctly and pay his taxes, and so the dealer typically does that on every single deal,” he said. “It’s really about reducing each deal’s time.”
It also shortens the learning curve for dealers when they bring on new employees.
AIB has come a long way from its earliest days. “Our technology went from antiquated dial-up modems to DSL and then eventually to T1s,” Dunham said. As the company grew, it needed more speed for daily operations. In addition, the backups between AIB’s servers in Dallas and company headquarters were too slow, and officials worried about being able to provide continuous application availability for its many customers. “We need to be available 24x7. Dealers use our program all day long, so if it were to go down, they’d be sitting at work twiddling their thumbs,” Dunham said.
“If they can’t process orders it becomes a productivity issue,” Ms. Dunham added. They rely on us and trust us to be available to them. We needed to stay ahead of the game with our technology.”
Fiber for a growing enterprise
AIB replaced its T1 and T3 dedicated access lines with
AT&T Managed Internet Service with Ethernet access. The solution delivers dedicated access with the high reliability, reach, flexibility and security its clients require. The
Dunhams found the implementation surprisingly easy.
“At first we thought we were going to have to tear up the parking lot,” Ms. Dunham said. But because AIB is located in an AT&T Fiber-Ready building, the infrastructure was in place to support its growing bandwidth needs with highly secure, network-based access to business communications, information and applications. Ethernet has standard interfaces with recognizable ports, equipment and cabling, enabling AIB to simply plug and play.
“The initial implementation went well, but it’s even better when you need to increase speed because it’s so easy,”
Dunham said. “Ethernet is better than a T1 because it’s easier to manage, easier to install and doesn’t require a huge router.”
The solution also makes it faster and easier to back up data from AIB servers in Dallas to its headquarters. “There was too much data actually going across those T3s. It was a bandwidth issue, and AT&T solved it with the fiber solution,” he said.
Fiber also improved the quality of the voice over IP (VoIP) lines in AIB’s call center. “We were doing our normal data and VoIP on the T1s and our phone system wasn’t good,”
Dunham said. “Ever since we’ve been on the fiber it’s a lot better.”
A fantastic experience
The service has performed well for AIB, enabling its call center staff to be even more responsive to customers. In addition to needing VoIP for calls, staff also need email access and connectivity to access remote support applications to assist clients. “Any kind of issue that halts our processes, makes us unproductive and costs us money,” Ms. Dunham said. When a water pipe burst in AIB’s building, AT&T was on the scene quickly to assist. “Even though AT&T had nothing to do with the pipe bursting, they pulled out all the stops to get it fixed for us,” she said.
Kellen Dunham said AT&T appreciates what it’s like to run a business. “They absolutely understand that businesses can fail essentially because of a bad network or not having connectivity. In two hours they were able to get the service active again,” he said.
MIS with Ethernet access has become an essential part of
AIB’s operations. “It actually enables us to retain the business,” Dunham said. “If customers couldn’t reach us easily, if we couldn’t provide support every single day of the year, we wouldn’t have as many customers as we do today.”
“We’re very happy with the AT&T service here in Hurst. It’s been very reliable and it’s been able keep us in constant contact with our customers,” Ms. Dunham added. “Our experience with AT&T has been fantastic.”
– Kellen Dunham, Vice President of New Product
Development, AIB, Inc.
© 2015 AT&T Intellectual Property. All rights reserved. AT&T, the AT&T logo and all other AT&T marks contained herein are trademarks of AT&T Intellectual Property and/or AT&T affiliated companies. The information contained herein is not an offer, commitment, representation or warranty by AT&T and is subject to change.

Cost-effective network expansion
AIB and the State of Texas are launching webDEALER, a new system that will be offered in all 254 Texas counties.
“We’re really excited because we’re the value-added vendor for the dealer management system in the car dealerships for the State of Texas,” Ms. Dunham said. “And the webDEALER requires our integration with the dealer management systems in order to extract and import the data.”
The Dunhams expect AIB to grow significantly once webDEALER is introduced, which makes the scalability of its AT&T Ethernet solution especially important. “We’ve already increased the bandwidth once,” Dunham said. “It was much easier than switching out the T1 – we just called
AT&T and I think we had three minutes of downtime. We could do it right in the middle of a work day instead of early in the morning or late at night the way we used to handle upgrades.”
If webDEALER is as successful as the Dunhams expect it to be, the company will probably need to add employees, Ms.
Dunham said. AIB is also considering adding AT&T colocation hosting services. Moving its system backups from its headquarters to an AT&T Internet Data Center would help eliminate congestion that could occur after webDEALER is launched. One other possible change: relocation. “We have been considering moving our headquarters, but the new location will have to have AT&T fiber,” Dunham said.
“We’ve been an AT&T customer for 17 years,” Ms. Dunham added. “We like the reliability, security and customer service we get. We have faith in AT&T.”
Note
*AT&T Fiber is not available in all locations. Contact your
AT&T representative to verify availability.
© 2015 AT&T Intellectual Property. All rights reserved. AT&T, the AT&T logo and all other AT&T marks contained herein are trademarks of AT&T Intellectual Property and/or AT&T affiliated companies. The information contained herein is not an offer, commitment, representation or warranty by AT&T and is subject to change.