After separating from the Escada Group, women's fashion provider BiBA of Duisburg, Germany, faced the challenge of having to re-establish its entire SAP landscape in a very short period of time. Lacking in-house SAP expertise of its own, the medium-sized firm decided to outsource the task to a specialist.
Today, Pironet NDH Datacenter is in charge of the technical operation of the entire SAP system. Aside from applications outsourcing, BiBA subscribes to network services from Pironet NDH as well.
SAP operation and network from the same source
Pironet NDH provides a protected corporate network that links the BiBA head office with the ICT service provider's high-security data centre. Pironet NDH also takes care of merging the approx. 260 cash desk systems throughout the German BiBA branches into a single network; this network is in turn linked to the central SAP system. The network enables business partners to exchange data with BiBA systems through encrypted VPN access points.
'For us, the decisive factor was to find a single-source operator of business-critical systems that would also provide network connections for these services. Without secure and reliable access to enterprise resource planning, our cash desk systems, for instance, could not function properly. This is the only way we can ensure global quality and service reliability', explains Oliver Kessel, Executive Manager at BiBA, regarding the selection of provider.
SAP resources: 'Infrastructure as a Service'
Another special feature is the provision of SAP at BiBA with the requisite hardware resources. While the actual software runs in a sealed-off virtual environment, it draws storage space and computing power as an 'Infrastructure as a Service' (IaaS) from the Business Cloud at Pironet NDH. 'This enables a company to demand peak-load service as needed at short notice. This way, medium-sized enterprises can even benefit from classic outsourcing of cloud computing', notes Udo Faulhaber, a member of the management team at Pironet NDH. Through its own cloud-computing infrastructure Pironet NDH offers medium-sized enterprises standard applications and IT resources on an as-needed basis.
Today, Pironet NDH Datacenter is in charge of the technical operation of the entire SAP system. Aside from applications outsourcing, BiBA subscribes to network services from Pironet NDH as well.
SAP operation and network from the same source
Pironet NDH provides a protected corporate network that links the BiBA head office with the ICT service provider's high-security data centre. Pironet NDH also takes care of merging the approx. 260 cash desk systems throughout the German BiBA branches into a single network; this network is in turn linked to the central SAP system. The network enables business partners to exchange data with BiBA systems through encrypted VPN access points.
'For us, the decisive factor was to find a single-source operator of business-critical systems that would also provide network connections for these services. Without secure and reliable access to enterprise resource planning, our cash desk systems, for instance, could not function properly. This is the only way we can ensure global quality and service reliability', explains Oliver Kessel, Executive Manager at BiBA, regarding the selection of provider.
SAP resources: 'Infrastructure as a Service'
Another special feature is the provision of SAP at BiBA with the requisite hardware resources. While the actual software runs in a sealed-off virtual environment, it draws storage space and computing power as an 'Infrastructure as a Service' (IaaS) from the Business Cloud at Pironet NDH. 'This enables a company to demand peak-load service as needed at short notice. This way, medium-sized enterprises can even benefit from classic outsourcing of cloud computing', notes Udo Faulhaber, a member of the management team at Pironet NDH. Through its own cloud-computing infrastructure Pironet NDH offers medium-sized enterprises standard applications and IT resources on an as-needed basis.
