How IaaS comes to retail and manufacturing: who and why switched to virtual infrastructure
It is believed that the "cloud" - this is just a marketing name. It is often referred to the place and out of place, and what is hidden under this concept is not always known from people who are not from business or from IT.
It seems to us that the best features of the virtual infrastructure and its purpose demonstrate specific use cases. In our blog, we collect cloud cases of our clients. For us, this is a library of examples of working with IaaS in practice.
Based on these stories, we will tell you what solutions the IaaS provider can offer companies in completely different fields. Today we start with retail and manufacturing.
/ photo by Nick Harris CC
The customer in this case was the Ideas4retail group of companies. "World of Hamleys" - only one of the brands in its portfolio. At the time of the beginning of cooperation with us, about 80 stores operated under this brand. And they all had to get into the cloud.
We built a virtual infrastructure that connected all retail outlets and allowed access to important company services from any store. Domain infrastructure, mail services, protection against viruses and spam, telephony - all this has been virtualized.
In the case of this customer, we were waited by a complex structure of the company and high demands on the level of availability. As for the second condition, this is an absolutely basic point, which is one of the integral points of our SLA.
The first condition turned into a large number of tasks that were to be solved. DMI Dyatkovo needed tools to manage the sales of furniture products in the dealer network. We built the system “with stock” - if necessary, it could be adapted to increase the number of requests (order placement) from dealers by three to five times.
This customer has a clear, local task - to bring ServiceDesk to the cloud. The script at that time was worked out. The user sent his request through the web interface in support — for example, a message about problems with the equipment — the support officer received the request and responded to it.
The work was debugged, but the company considered it unprofitable to maintain its own servers for this task and decided to switch to a virtual infrastructure. This is a good example of the bit-wise transfer of business processes to the cloud and the transfer to non-core areas of work.
In this case, we also had to work with one service - the ERP-system of the distributor of window and door goods and services. But there was also its own specificity - by the beginning of our cooperation, the VBH concern had already deployed a cloud solution in Germany. The entry into force of the law on the storage and processing of personal data of Russians in the territory of the Russian Federation has set the company the task of partially moving to the Russian cloud.
Our network of data centers is located in Russia and the CIS. One of the data centers, even by happy coincidence, is located next to the VBH office. This was an added advantage. Together with our German colleagues, we organized a convenient solution that also meets the requirements of the law and supports the modern version of the ERP system.
As Faberlic grows, so does the company's infrastructure requirements. Over the years, she expanded her physical capacities and at one point decided to take advantage of the hybrid infrastructure. It is about scaling, which is so incidentally growing businesses.
Faberlic arranges that you have to pay only for the used capacity - this is important when working with tasks that are unpredictable in terms of resources. These arise when developing new IT products within the organization. Faberlic received a requirement for a high level of availability and qualification of technical support. The IT Grad service implies round-the-clock support seven days a week, as well as having a personal manager.
UDK works in the field of wholesale trade and prefers to rent retail and warehouse space. The company shifted the same principle to its infrastructure. In order not to buy equipment and separate 1C licenses, UDK chose the 1C cloud platform based on the SaaS model. It came out cheaper than buying hardware, and we took care of the high level of availability.
At a certain stage of development, Terra-Avto faced a “classic” choice between building its own infrastructure and outsourcing. The second option did not require the formation of a new department in the state and capital investment in "iron" - he was chosen.
After migrating to the cloud, the company appreciated the already mentioned scalability - for a business in which there is a seasonality factor, this is always important.
This case is characterized by the fact that shortly before the transition to the virtual infrastructure, several network enterprises merged, and the cloud model helped consolidate the databases on one platform - it became easier for companies to access them.
Another company, which was to "curb" the growing dealer network, at one time became the manufacturer Frammer. He needed a centralized control channel for this network, and we, as an integrator, provided the pool manufacturer with the necessary tools for this:
Yota Devices is a high-tech company, and its tasks are of the appropriate level. The whole complex of complex systems of the company itself well demonstrates the capabilities of the virtual infrastructure.
Here we dealt with a distributed team. Another important point is the abundance of internal and external services of the company. Yota Devices are used by hundreds of people around the world. All of them live in different cities and countries, and they are united by the need for high-quality service - timely software update and response to technical issues.
In the cloud, the company has deployed a FOTA server — it is from it that updates for devices are distributed — and an Error server — it is responsible for storing error logs and allows detecting and eliminating bugs. The work of these services was supported by SaaS solutions, in the development of which IT Grad was also involved.
/ photo Bernal Saborio CC BY-SA
Production is difficult and responsible. But there are even more demanding systems. At least in terms of the number of customers. We have an example of how they get along in the cloud.
We are talking about the St. Petersburg Pulkovo Airport. Together with its IT Directorate, several years ago, IT-Grad implemented a number of projects . With the help of the IaaS cloud, we deployed a backup site for airport facilities. Pulkovo already had three data centers, but taking into account all the risks and responsibility to the millions of passengers, a “spare airfield” was required here.
We deployed it, making the virtual infrastructure part of the hybrid system along with the Pulkovo facilities. It is not enough to deploy - it is important to check that the customer can be confident in prompt switching in an emergency.
In 2016, for this, the failure of critical airport services was simulated. The cloud in such a test intercepted the initiative, and the functioning of the services quickly resumed on the virtual infrastructure. It also includes a system for displaying information about flights on a board for passengers and a system for managing all operational activities of an airport.
In general, in this project, a different role was assigned to various tests. The cloudy environment served as a platform for running in the future infrastructure of 14 Greek airports. Shortly before that, they were acquired by an investor Pulkovo. The model was the server core of the St. Petersburg airport, and the IT-Grad cloud became the test environment. As a result, the services used for the construction of this channel went to the cloud platform in Greece.
The above examples confirm that the virtual infrastructure can be the main, backup and test platform for retail companies and large industrial holdings. In addition, the cloud is not only a platform, but also dozens of services.
They can meet the challenges of virtually any enterprise, replace more expensive solutions, and even entire departments — for example, call centers and support services. In the next article, we will use other examples to show how IaaS helps businesses grow whose main activity is on the Internet.
It seems to us that the best features of the virtual infrastructure and its purpose demonstrate specific use cases. In our blog, we collect cloud cases of our clients. For us, this is a library of examples of working with IaaS in practice.
Based on these stories, we will tell you what solutions the IaaS provider can offer companies in completely different fields. Today we start with retail and manufacturing.
/ photo by Nick Harris CC
Trading companies
In the sphere of trade, we managed to work with both wholesale and retail, both with international networks and with major players from the CIS. And each time we solved different tasks.
Network of children's toys stores "World of Hamleys"
The customer in this case was the Ideas4retail group of companies. "World of Hamleys" - only one of the brands in its portfolio. At the time of the beginning of cooperation with us, about 80 stores operated under this brand. And they all had to get into the cloud.
We built a virtual infrastructure that connected all retail outlets and allowed access to important company services from any store. Domain infrastructure, mail services, protection against viruses and spam, telephony - all this has been virtualized.
Furniture concern "DMI Dyatkovo"
In the case of this customer, we were waited by a complex structure of the company and high demands on the level of availability. As for the second condition, this is an absolutely basic point, which is one of the integral points of our SLA.
The first condition turned into a large number of tasks that were to be solved. DMI Dyatkovo needed tools to manage the sales of furniture products in the dealer network. We built the system “with stock” - if necessary, it could be adapted to increase the number of requests (order placement) from dealers by three to five times.
Network of supermarkets "ABK"
This customer has a clear, local task - to bring ServiceDesk to the cloud. The script at that time was worked out. The user sent his request through the web interface in support — for example, a message about problems with the equipment — the support officer received the request and responded to it.
The work was debugged, but the company considered it unprofitable to maintain its own servers for this task and decided to switch to a virtual infrastructure. This is a good example of the bit-wise transfer of business processes to the cloud and the transfer to non-core areas of work.
Concern VBH
In this case, we also had to work with one service - the ERP-system of the distributor of window and door goods and services. But there was also its own specificity - by the beginning of our cooperation, the VBH concern had already deployed a cloud solution in Germany. The entry into force of the law on the storage and processing of personal data of Russians in the territory of the Russian Federation has set the company the task of partially moving to the Russian cloud.
Our network of data centers is located in Russia and the CIS. One of the data centers, even by happy coincidence, is located next to the VBH office. This was an added advantage. Together with our German colleagues, we organized a convenient solution that also meets the requirements of the law and supports the modern version of the ERP system.
Faberlic
As Faberlic grows, so does the company's infrastructure requirements. Over the years, she expanded her physical capacities and at one point decided to take advantage of the hybrid infrastructure. It is about scaling, which is so incidentally growing businesses.
Faberlic arranges that you have to pay only for the used capacity - this is important when working with tasks that are unpredictable in terms of resources. These arise when developing new IT products within the organization. Faberlic received a requirement for a high level of availability and qualification of technical support. The IT Grad service implies round-the-clock support seven days a week, as well as having a personal manager.
Southern Distribution Company (UDK)
UDK works in the field of wholesale trade and prefers to rent retail and warehouse space. The company shifted the same principle to its infrastructure. In order not to buy equipment and separate 1C licenses, UDK chose the 1C cloud platform based on the SaaS model. It came out cheaper than buying hardware, and we took care of the high level of availability.
Network of auto centers "Terra-auto"
At a certain stage of development, Terra-Avto faced a “classic” choice between building its own infrastructure and outsourcing. The second option did not require the formation of a new department in the state and capital investment in "iron" - he was chosen.
After migrating to the cloud, the company appreciated the already mentioned scalability - for a business in which there is a seasonality factor, this is always important.
This case is characterized by the fact that shortly before the transition to the virtual infrastructure, several network enterprises merged, and the cloud model helped consolidate the databases on one platform - it became easier for companies to access them.
Production companies
In manufacturing companies, the ultimate business goal is similar to trading - to realize products. However, they also have a lot of complex tasks associated with its release.
Manufacturer of composite pools Frammer.ru
Another company, which was to "curb" the growing dealer network, at one time became the manufacturer Frammer. He needed a centralized control channel for this network, and we, as an integrator, provided the pool manufacturer with the necessary tools for this:
- access to a single database 1C in the cloud for all points;
- cloud call center combined with 1C base;
- round-the-clock technical support.
Manufacturer LTE-equipment Yota Devices
Yota Devices is a high-tech company, and its tasks are of the appropriate level. The whole complex of complex systems of the company itself well demonstrates the capabilities of the virtual infrastructure.
Here we dealt with a distributed team. Another important point is the abundance of internal and external services of the company. Yota Devices are used by hundreds of people around the world. All of them live in different cities and countries, and they are united by the need for high-quality service - timely software update and response to technical issues.
In the cloud, the company has deployed a FOTA server — it is from it that updates for devices are distributed — and an Error server — it is responsible for storing error logs and allows detecting and eliminating bugs. The work of these services was supported by SaaS solutions, in the development of which IT Grad was also involved.
/ photo Bernal Saborio CC BY-SA
Instead of conclusion
Production is difficult and responsible. But there are even more demanding systems. At least in terms of the number of customers. We have an example of how they get along in the cloud.
We are talking about the St. Petersburg Pulkovo Airport. Together with its IT Directorate, several years ago, IT-Grad implemented a number of projects . With the help of the IaaS cloud, we deployed a backup site for airport facilities. Pulkovo already had three data centers, but taking into account all the risks and responsibility to the millions of passengers, a “spare airfield” was required here.
We deployed it, making the virtual infrastructure part of the hybrid system along with the Pulkovo facilities. It is not enough to deploy - it is important to check that the customer can be confident in prompt switching in an emergency.
In 2016, for this, the failure of critical airport services was simulated. The cloud in such a test intercepted the initiative, and the functioning of the services quickly resumed on the virtual infrastructure. It also includes a system for displaying information about flights on a board for passengers and a system for managing all operational activities of an airport.
In general, in this project, a different role was assigned to various tests. The cloudy environment served as a platform for running in the future infrastructure of 14 Greek airports. Shortly before that, they were acquired by an investor Pulkovo. The model was the server core of the St. Petersburg airport, and the IT-Grad cloud became the test environment. As a result, the services used for the construction of this channel went to the cloud platform in Greece.
The above examples confirm that the virtual infrastructure can be the main, backup and test platform for retail companies and large industrial holdings. In addition, the cloud is not only a platform, but also dozens of services.
They can meet the challenges of virtually any enterprise, replace more expensive solutions, and even entire departments — for example, call centers and support services. In the next article, we will use other examples to show how IaaS helps businesses grow whose main activity is on the Internet.