From automation on factory production lines to seamless retail experiences on mobile devices, digital transformation is empowering innovation faster than ever before—and for Techwave Hungary’s customers, managed SAP solutions are a key enabler.
To gain the capacity, capability and scalability for next-generation SAP workloads, Techwave Hungary augmented its existing IBM POWER8®-processor-based managed services platform with IBM Power Systems E950 servers and IBM FlashSystem 7200 storage. The new platform is virtualized with IBM PowerVM®, managed using IBM PowerVC, and runs SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications.
Techwave Hungary’s enhanced virtual private cloud positions it to move new and existing customers to next-generation SAP solutions, grow its business, and support rapid digital transformation.
Gabor Lesti, CIO at Techwave Hungary, says, “As well as meeting our service-level requirements around performance and availability, the cost-efficiency of the IBM Power Systems servers and IBM FlashSystem storage means we can offer the latest SAP solutions at a competitive price point. We are confident this offering will be a valuable way to differentiate ourselves in the managed services space, capture new customers, and expand our market share.”
Following the launch of the next-generation SAP BW/4HANA and SAP S/4HANA solutions, customer demand for real-time analytics and big data capabilities increased sharply. In Europe, Techwave Hungary delivers fully managed SAP solutions, and realized that the new appetite for data would demand significant additional capacity.
Gabor Lesti confirms, “We see that the in-memory analytics capabilities of SAP S/4HANA and SAP BW/4HANA will allow our customers to shift their digital transformation programs into higher gear.”
To manage this dramatic growth, Techwave Hungary wanted to maintain and improve on its already rigorous service levels for existing customers, while creating the headroom to serve the new SAP S/4HANA and SAP BW/4HANA workload as its customers explore the new digital possibilities.
As a next step, the company looked to scale out its existing virtual private cloud platform. As well as supporting demanding new in-memory analytics use cases, Techwave Hungary targeted an infrastructure solution that was certified for the latest SAP solutions, and that could be integrated seamlessly with its existing server environment.
Based on its years of positive experience using IBM POWER8 technology, Techwave Hungary decided to adopt proven IBM POWER9™ systems.
“Our customers trust us to deliver round-the-clock operations for mission-critical SAP and non-SAP workloads, so high availability is a must,” recalls Lesti. “We also aim to deliver competitive pricing, so operational cost-efficiency is extremely important.”
Because of the tight compatibility between the two IBM Power Systems environments, Techwave Hungary realized that creating customer services that span both platforms would be far easier than a comparable x86-based solution. In addition, the IBM solution offered a highly cost-effective way to support both SAP and non-SAP workloads on the same server platform.
Lesti continues, “By using IBM PowerVM to create logical partitions [LPARS] in our IBM Power Systems E950 servers, we can deploy multiple SAP environments to each physical machine—enabling us to use our server resources more efficiently than an equivalent x86 platform. With IBM PowerVC, we can balance our virtual private cloud workloads and create high-availability configurations with minimal manual effort, which gives us the peace of mind that our customers’ solutions will stay online in the event of an outage in one part of our environment.”
As it prepares for business growth, Techwave Hungary already has an eye on further enhancements to the IBM platform. For example, the company predicts that data compression in the IBM FlashSystem solutions could allow customers to reduce their physical storage requirements by up to 50 percent, helping to reduce operational costs for managed SAP solutions.
“The combination of IBM Power Systems servers and IBM FlashSystem storage offers high levels of performance for demanding SAP and non-SAP workloads alike,” comments Lesti. “It’s not only the IBM Storage solutions that offer fast and cost-effective scalability—our IBM Power Systems platform does too. With IBM Power Systems Capacity on Demand, we can activate dormant CPU and memory resources as we need them—deferring the need to purchase new memory or new physical servers. With IBM technologies we can scale extremely quickly in response to customer requirements, while ensuring that we’re never paying for compute resources we don’t need.”
To help deploy the new environment, Techwave Hungary engaged its trusted IBM Platinum Business Partner, USER Rendszerház Kft. (link resides outside of ibm.com).
“We have worked with USER Rendszerház on many projects in the past, and we have always been very satisfied with the quality and responsiveness of their services and support,” comments Lesti.
In collaboration with experts from USER Rendszerház, Techwave Hungary deployed the new IBM Power Systems E950 server and IBM FlashSystem 7200 storage solutions at its primary data center. With ultra-low latency storage, built with IBM Spectrum® Virtualize technology, Techwave Hungary gains advanced data services, the capacity to support large repositories of SAP S/4HANA and SAP BW/4HANA data, and the flexibility to scale up and out as volumes grow.
“Thanks to IBM and SUSE, we have created an ultra-scalable and highly resilient virtual private cloud to help our customers unlock the game-changing analytics capabilities of SAP S/4HANA,” concludes Lesti. “One of our key messages to customers is that we’re always looking for the latest and the greatest technology to keep their mission-critical systems running smoothly 24/7. With IBM Power Systems servers and IBM FlashSystem storage, we can keep that promise.”
Solution components
Headquartered in Budapest, Hungary, Techwave Hungary Ltd. is an expert integrator of SAP solutions. Techwave Hungary Ltd. operates as an audited SAP Hosting Partner, SAP Value Added Reseller, and Application Service Provider Partner in the global market, with more than 400 customers worldwide. Techwave is one of the leading providers of managed SAP solutions in Europe, delivering tailored industry solutions in more than 11 countries. These high-level services help customers to advance both their IT and business capabilities.
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© Copyright IBM Corporation 2021. IBM Corporation, New Orchard Road, Armonk, NY 10504
Produced in the United States of America, June 2021.
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