The ABBC Group is modernising its technical infrastructure with the help of Bento
The ABBC Group is modernising its technical infrastructure with the help of Bento
The Challenge
Adrem Invest is one of the most recognised service providers for utility networks in Romania, and one of the stronger meter management, reading and indexation services in the country. After 20 years of continuous growth on the local market, the strategy of the company lead to the creation of a holding – the ABBC Group – which includes no less than 14 companies. The challenges that the Group was faced with were: long implementation time and high costs for any additional IT need, lack of a centralised back-up solution or a disaster recovery solution, static and rigid IT infrastructure consisting of a fixed number of servers, each serving a single role within a single company.
The Solution
The ABBC Group chose Bento to design and implement a modern IT infrastructure, since it qualified both in terms of having technical staff specialised in VMWre (VCP certification), as well as technical staff specialised in CISCO (CCNP routing and switching certification). Following an analysis of the situation and of the business objectives, three synchronised virtual environments were developed, with a centralised back-up solution, to meet the SLA requirements of the Group. Bento opted for the implementation of interconnected network infrastructure elements, to provide unified services – internet, VPN (Virtual Private Network), video conferencing and VoIP (voice over Internet Protocol). The network ensures a wide range of corporate services, such as Active Directory, ERP, CRM, back-up and remote synchronization. In addition, the final solution included integrated and dedicated systems that are used only by some of the companies in the Group, such as workforce management solutions or engineering platforms. The software solutions for virtualization and back-up used as hardware support consist of VMWare vSphere suite 5.5 for the virtualization platform and VEEAM 7.0 update 4 for remote replication and centralised back-up. The hardware solutions for secure communication were provided by CISCO. Throughout the project, Bento provided consulting services, implementation and project management.
Benefits
The implementation of an flexible and scalable infrastructure increased the functionality of the IT Department, while the addition of latest generation servers brought more agility to the business. The advanced Disaster Recovery options make it possible to limit the costs and consequences of a potential incident, eliminating the possibility of data loss in the event of force majeure. Currently, Bento provides hardware infrastructure and related services for all companies in the ABBC Group through a virtualized platform, distributed in three physical data centres: two in Romania and one in Switzerland. There is also secure communications between these three locations and between ABBC offices and the virtual environments.
