WESTPOLE AND SOUDAL: STICKING TO SUCCESS
The challenge
Growth comes with the necessary IT growing pains. As production plants were started worldwide, IT systems became more and more crucial as nearly all IT is consolidated in Belgium. Due to the factories running nearly 24/7 in different parts of the world, patch windows became increasingly smaller and the SAP systems in Belgium became vital to keep the factories running.
The solution
To help solve the problems of Soudal, WESTPOLE installed an infrastructure based
on IBM Power systems. These UNIX based systems, that can also run multiple Linux
versions, have already a higher uptime than regular x86 servers, whilst experiencing much less security issues.
The solution WESTPOLE offered was also cost-effective thanks to consolidation of resources resulting in optimalization of licenses.
The benefits
The unique design of the IBM Power allows for the virtualization of the SAP HANA production instances,
this had multiple advantages for the customer:
EXPERTISE
WESTPOLE’s expertise in IBM is widely recognized and our helpdesk is 24/7 available with local presence in Belgium. Soudal has immediate aid, not only through the classical Vendor support channels, but also through WESTPOLE as certified engineers are continuously available in case of issues. WESTPOLE expertise is recognized by the customer as we manage the daily operations of the IBM Power infrastructure.
This allows Soudal employees to focus on SAP HANA and its business processes whilst being reassured that the hardware is managed correctly and safely by WESTPOLE and its experts.
MASSIVE CONSOLIDATION
Only two physical systems were required for four SAP Hana landscapes consisting out of a total of more than twenty partitions (VM’s).
This resulted in the lowest TCO of
all solutions proposed to Soudal.
UPTIME
Soudal requires their SAP platform to be online 24/7 as production runs nearly continuous in different time zones. Not only does the IBM power platform provide a very secure and stable base, through the virtualization we are able to move production should planned downtime be required on the infrastructure, resulting in no-downtime patch windows.
Production downtime is a significant cost, as creating adhesives is a time sensitive process. To have a system that is continuously available helps significantly in the quality of Soudal’s end product.
EASE OF MIGRATION
Due to the high density of resources Soudal was able to facilitate their migrations from HANA v1 to S4HANA through the IBM Power platform without the need for additional or new hardware.
This helped to speed up migration significantly as partitions could be created on demand.
KEY WORDS
FROM THE CLIENT
Danny Verstraelen – Group ICT Director
“Although a rigid infrastructure is important for the data management within every single company. It’s the services delivered on top that can really make the difference. That’s the added value WESTPOLE offers to their clients”
Why WESTPOLE?
Soudal and WESTPOLE have a long-standing relationship and over the years WESTPOLE has been able to demonstrate it possesses the necessary skills and knowledge to select and implement the right solution. Soudal’s choice to partner with WESTPOLE to help its IT team was a logical next step.
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