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AHEAD

AHEAD
Formerly Sovereign Systems + Data Blue

Overview

What is AHEAD?

AHEAD builds platforms for digital business. By weaving together cloud infrastructure, intelligent operations, and modern applications, we help enterprises deliver on the promise of digital transformation.AHEAD was founded in 2007 and in 2019 merged with Sovereign Systems, and Data Blue.…

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Recent Reviews

TrustRadius Insights

Competent and Comfortable Team: Users consistently praised Sovereign Systems' team for their high level of competence and ease to work …
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Product Demos

Ace the Teacher Demo Lesson: Planning Ahead (Part 3/7) | Selected

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Engine Carburettor Cleaning Demo– A step ahead to guide you better by MDM

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Service Offering Details

What is AHEAD?

AHEAD builds platforms for digital business. By weaving together cloud infrastructure, intelligent operations, and modern applications, we help enterprises deliver on the promise of digital transformation.

AHEAD was founded in 2007 and in 2019 merged with Sovereign Systems, and Data Blue. The services formerly available under those brands is now available from AHEAD, LLC.

AHEAD Videos

The Sovereign Systems’ Cloud Management Platform (CMP) improves IT agility by automating and managing deployment tasks. Our CMP integrates best-of-breed solutions that help IT teams become an automated, on-demand service provider to the business.
From optimizing IT resources to modernizing data center infrastructure, Sovereign partners with VCE to provide best-in-class Converged Infrastructure solutions that support and drive many components of an overall data center strategy.
Begin to modernize your infrastructure and better align IT with business with Sovereign's Next Generation Data Center. Whether you're building your cloud or supporting data produced by the Internet of Things, Sovereign and Cisco have your solution.

AHEAD Competitors

Frequently Asked Questions

Presidio and Cumberland Group are common alternatives for AHEAD.

Reviewers rate Implementation Rating highest, with a score of 9.

The most common users of AHEAD are from Enterprises (1,001+ employees).
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Comparisons

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Reviews and Ratings

(70)

Attribute Ratings

Reviews

(1-25 of 42)
Companies can't remove reviews or game the system. Here's why
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
  • System configuration and development support
  • Project management
  • End-User training
  • Project timeline/estimations should be more conservative. Where the customer is being overly aggressive, Sovereign should be sure to schedule touch points/project milestones to level set expectations.
  • Sovereign should provide engagement customers with a detailed summary of hours consumed. Tying hours to executed Invoices would be helpful. That would keep the customer from having to do so.
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
  • The provided pre-req documentation was thorough and well thought out, making it easy to jump into the project.
  • The design session to gather our requirements was very helpful, Sovereign's familiarity with the vRealize product line along with diagramming our desired layout confirmed our decision to bring in assistance with the project.
  • When we ran into some issues with Sovereign's custom code their development team was on top of it and solved the issue in a matter of a few days.
  • Our environment is unique and had some requirements that exceeded Sovereign's experience. While this was never a huge deal, it did bring about some bouts of trial and error.
  • If possible during engagements it is best to play to different resource's strengths, in some cases someone else may have been a better fit for the task at hand if availability permitted.
In the vRealize space, I don't think there is a company better suited to assist with implementation. They have several installations under their belt and will get things up and running in a timely fashion. They are still a smaller firm which allows for more agility and flexibility during engagements. For very large, complex environments there may be some advantages to sticking with the vendor.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
  • Evidence gathering
  • Document review and vendor integration meetings
  • Implementation of solution
  • Professional services pre, during and post implementation
  • Fully conveying the solution including proper set up procedures and documentation of best practices to the client.
[Sovereign Systems is well suited for] Storage and Server implementation and upgrades including converged infrastructure.
January 09, 2018

VMware VAR

Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
  • By using well-seasoned engineers they have people that have been around long enough to know the ins and outs so you're not dealing with rookies.
  • Sovereign is still a small vendor so getting their name out there as a player helps larger companies use them for larger projects.
VMware build/config/audits are in their wheelhouse.
David McMillan, MBA, ITIL | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
  • Requirements analysis that translates our needs to specific configurations
  • Producing equipment quotes that translate to capital and operational spending
  • Frequent direct-contact follow-up to ensure we have what we need
  • Works closely with our hardware/software vendors to produce a unified front to us the customer.
  • Persistence is good, up to a point.

We have found that Sovereign System complements our primary hardware vendor very well, adding a layer of value in the form of pre-sales technical support and specialists who can come in and talk with us about our specific technical challenges.

Because we often are rushing around at the last minute trying to nail down configurations, Sovereign Systems has proven that they can respond to our urgency.

Derek Williams | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
  • Excellent with the installation, configuration, and support of the EMC line of storage arrays.
  • Valuable resource in the decision-making process of purchasing and configuration of the VMware product suite.
  • Project management has been key to the success we have had with Sovereign Systems.
  • There isn't much depth in the Citrix arena. Unfortunately, this limits us from being able to consolidate with Sovereign Systems as our only partner.
I have only used Soverign Systems in regards to array storage, storage fabric, and miscellaneous software. However, I will say that for EMC, Brocade, and VMware related questions/support, they are typically where we turn to prior to even calling the product support team.

A mentioned previously in the survey, they are lacking in Citrix specialization, this forces us to use a different vendor for our licensing support. In addition to Citrix, we have used Dell Compute for legacy as well as our latest refresh of hardware, and Sovereign Systems has only recently (that I am aware of) started to specialize in the support and resell of Dell Compute with the recent Dell/EMC merger.
January 03, 2018

Feedback

Mariano Maluf | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
  • Consulting
  • Training
  • Solution Delivery
  • Pre-Sales
  • Large, complex, interdisciplinary projects with a global scope
  • Possibly cross-domain systems architecture beyond traditional IT
  • Potentially emerging technology road mapping
Sovereign Systems is well suited in scenarios where Information Technology decision makers need a solid project execution, starting with requirements gathering that dig deep into the root of the challenges, to then articulate an architecture and an implementation approach that will meet and exceed the technology and business needs around the opportunity.
January 02, 2018

Sovereign Systems

Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
  • Understand current IT trends and best practices
  • Nimble solutions provider, quick turnaround on complex solutions.
  • Customer support. Very great post-sales support. I cannot think of a time I have approached Sovereign Systems for support and had to chase answers down. Knowledgeable staff.
  • Marketing material outlining Sovereigns full range of solutions.
  • Customer service portal would help manage open cases.
December 22, 2017

Great support for Turner

Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
  • Very thorough with their help.
  • They integrate well with our company.
  • They bend over backwards to make sure that everything is done right and on time even when that is not their job.
  • Knowledgable support.
  • Sovereign systems is very tightly coupled with Turner Broadcasting in the purchasing and add tremendous value. I haven't seen anything that they need improvement on. Not to say that their isn't anything. Just at least in my experience there hasn't been anything.
Sovereign has a well rounded staff of technical people as well as technical sales people. They work tremendously well with Turner and their people bend over backwards for us. I needed a drive to help get a project done. Don went out of his way to make sure the drive was here when I needed it.
David Demos | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
  • Excellent communication
  • Great follow-up
  • Really understanding our business needs
  • We have always been happy and will continue to use them as our reseller for EMC.
Configuration, matching the technology, lowering costs.
Brian Sweeney | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
  • Sovereign Systems was engaged to help us along with our journey to the cloud.
  • The team was extremely professional and knowledgeable and helped us chose a platform that met our needs.
  • Professional services did a fantastic job deploying VMware vRealize Automation.
  • While the deployment was first rate and stable, documentation of the environment could have been better.
We leverage Sovereign Systems mainly for professional services in and around IT and service automation. Sovereign Systems has helped us with Puppet, VMware vRealize Automation, and ServiceNow.
December 05, 2017

Sovereign for Success

Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
  • Procurement of hardware. Getting the best rate for us instead of the best profit for them.
  • Services - by having an incredible team of experts they have a deep pool of people they can pull to bring the best possible solutions delivery.
  • Aftercare - they have been proactive in checking in to make sure that the projects they have worked on not only were successful on delivery but continue to deliver months after installation.
  • If I had to offer anything for an area of improvement I would ask that they offer more in the area of training services.
[For] SAN, server, backup and network from a hardware procurement install and service level they have been unmatched. We have used Sovereign Systems on several projects in the past 4 years and have been incredibly happy with the results and successful on the delivery. They have been incredibly efficient and accommodating with whatever outage schedules we have had along the way.
December 05, 2017

Trusted Advisor

Kevin Blackburn | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
  • Sovereign Systems expertise in enterprise storage technologies and virtualization is unmatched by any vendor that I have worked with in the past.
  • Project management and the will to see projects through to the end is unmatched. We have been undergoing a large Epic implementation this year and Sovereign has assisted us every step of the way. They have even gone so far as to work along side vendors that are direct competitors to them to ensure the success of our project.
  • Sovereign Systems's engineers are extremely knowledgeable and competent. They do what it takes to get the job done and make sure that the job is done right while providing documentation of the work that they have done and making sure that we understand the technologies that we are implementing.
  • In the past when we have had issues and vendor support has been required, Sovereign Systems is quick to join in with helping us to get the issue resolved.
  • Sovereign is always pushing to be our "one stop shop" for everything that we may need. Our philosophy is to not have all of our eggs in one basket and to maintain relationships with multiple vendors. While one vendor may be capable of meeting all of our needs, we like to use the vendor that is the best fit for each individual need which is why we diversify the vendors that we use for each project use case.
Sovereign Systems is an indispensable partner in helping us to achieve goals. They help us to vet out solutions to our challenges and help us to wade through the details and choose the best technology to meet our needs. When it comes time to implement the solution that we have selected their implementation engineers always see things through to completion and make themselves available to answer questions and to assist if needed down the road.
December 05, 2017

SovSystems Tech-Review

Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
  • Cost analyses
  • Integration advisory
  • Technical expertise
  • Execution
  • So far so good
Their team is well suited for projects that are related to cloud automation, converged environments, design and resource allocation. Most of the team members are very high caliber SMEs.
December 05, 2017

Sovereign Systems Review

Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
  • Hire great sales staff
  • Customer focused
  • Provide great solutions
  • They're an Atlanta based company. Our company is not based in Atlanta and so I don't see my sales person that much.
As an IT reseller I would recommend them to anyone.
December 05, 2017

Great reseller!

James Ilderton | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
  • Listened to our ideas
  • Worked with the manufacturer to ensure the proper solution was being quoted
  • Communicated updated order and shipping details in a timely fashion
  • Followed up when an additional item was shipped that was not ordered and made it as painless as possible to return it
  • They could use an SE that could work with us directly to help architect solutions, currently they don't have a NetApp SE that could do this for us
In my experience Sovereign Systems fits well into larger more technical IT shops, where the need is for competitive and accurate pricing and delivery, but not where a solution needs to be created from scratch. This may only be for NetApp solutions, but that's the limit of my work with them.
Ken Marshall | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
  • The level of knowledge that the engineers posses is very high and useful.
  • The blog that I receive from Sovereign is a great resource of information.
If you have an environment that has a large ESX environment, they will work well with you. They not only offer expertise and knowledge in the VMWare area, they also have great services to come onsite and work with you in whatever capacity is needed. If you are implementing new technology, they are a great resource for information and manpower.
Matt Hampson | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
  • Sovereign System has always worked hard to meet our budgetary limitation while delivering outstanding value.
  • Anytime I had a technical question I got an answer right away - often my account manager would call up an expert in the field of question and we would discuss.
  • Always a joy to negotiate pricing.... but they are much easier to work with than most vars.
Sovereign Systems is well versed in data center infrastructure - from the usual server, storage, switch configurations to a true hyper-converged solution.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
  • Providing knowledgeable staff during engagements.
  • Partnering with an organization and seeking successful outcomes.
  • Customer Service during and after engagements/purchase.
  • Documentation & notification of enhancements to the SovLabs extensibility modules.
  • Quality (software bugs) of module releases, which has improved over time.
Sovereign Systems and the SovLabs teams are a great option for anyone that's looking to get started or enhance their capabilities around automation, software defined data center, and virtualization technologies.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
  • Comprehensive requirements gathering
  • Effectively challenged the status quo
  • Brought business ideas to life through technology innovation
  • No examples currently - fortunately we are working very well together
Sovereign is a good fit when exploring complex integrations between legacy systems and more modern SaaS solutions.
Mike Hutson | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
  • Suggests the right technologies for the need not a technology with a specific vendor in mind.
  • Understands our culture and technologist so that recommendations fit into what we do best and can support.
  • Is always willing to go the extra mile to make sure we are happy and that our customers are happy.
  • Expansion of the media industry experts.
  • Continue to expand its vendors without losing sight of its small family feel.
  • Remember that they might not always be the answer for everything.
Knowledge of networking and storage systems has always been a strong point and while it continues I will go to them first to help guide decisions I make in the future. Continued expansion of their services that they provide will enable us to look at them for added resources that we need on new projects going forward. Always being there to assist and admit if mistakes are made by either side and help find the correct solution.
June 20, 2017

One with the force

Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
  • Equipment demos
  • Training
  • Equipment requirements/quoting
  • Software development
  • Speed of delivery
To be honest I tend to use Sovereign Systems for most of my IT equipment needs except for areas where our company has specific one on one vendor relationships that prevent using a VAR.
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