Challenge.
‘Printed in Switzerland’ stands for premium products manufactured by the print service provider Ostschweiz Druck AG (OSD for short) in Wittenbach. The company has been growing continuously since 2015. The sister companies Typotron AG in St. Gallen, Walz Druck GmbH in Walzenhausen and Vetter Druck Thal GmbH now round off the Ostschweiz Druck portfolio. But those who continue to grow must also be future-proof. The company therefore decided to comprehensively modernise its IT infrastructure, which had reached the end of its life cycle, and to replace the entire server infrastructure 1:1. The print service provider was not simply looking for a solution that would support future expansion and fulfil its own high requirements in terms of security, speed and reliability. It also needed to be monitored around the clock by an external service provider and optimally supported. Ostschweiz Druck was looking for a competent, reliable and strong IT partner for this 360° support. A flexible financing solution for the new server landscape was also required in order to optimise the investment costs and keep the one-off financial burden as low as possible. Such a service provider therefore had to have a great deal of expertise and the best service in order to find and offer the new infrastructure, all-round service and suitable financing.
We have been very well and closely supported by Bechtle the whole time. The contact with the technicians was and is optimal and the response times are fast - an all-round professional and pleasant co-operation. We particularly appreciate the fact that Bechtle looks after our technology securely and also provides us with reliable support for things in the background such as backups and VMs. At Ostschweiz Druck, we attach great importance to consistency and continuity in our relationship. Bechtle is simply the right partner for us: fast, reliable and competent.
Rino Frei, Managing Director, Owner, Ostschweiz Druck AG
Solution.
For many years, Ostschweiz Druck’s IT has been managed by Bechtle, among others. During this time, a deep mutual trust has developed – and the IT service provider knew exactly what OSD needed: new, reliable hardware that is future-proof, as well as the appropriate services to manage the IT efficiently. Thanks to its comprehensive portfolio and IT expertise, Bechtle was able to offer these customised 360° services: proactive monitoring, regular maintenance, rapid troubleshooting, and perfect backup management. In addition, Bechtle’s broad portfolio included a suitable leasing model: the HPE Financial Services offering convinced OSD. But before the entire server infrastructure and other new components could be replaced, the appropriate hardware had to be found. The choice fell on two HPE DL365 Gen10+ servers and an HPE DL345 Gen10+ backup server, which offer outstanding performance and reliability thanks to AMD EPYC processors. As an HPE Platinum Partner Solution Provider, Bechtle not only offered the best conditions, but also the necessary expertise to set up and configure the new servers in advance. This enabled a quick and smooth on-site integration at Ostschweiz Druck. Bechtle then installed the new hardware components in the server room at the Ostschweiz Druck headquarters in Wittenbach. To enable OSD’s network to run at 10 Gbit/s in the future, Bechtle expanded the ports with HPE Aruba switches, which increased the data transfer speed. After installing the hardware, Bechtle also migrated the virtual machines (VMs) from the old to the new servers. The challenge here was the change from Intel to AMD processors. To minimise downtime, the migration took place outside of operating hours, which went smoothly.
In order to spread the high investment costs over several years, Eastern Switzerland leased the entire hardware from HPE Financial Services for five years with a residual value. This means that the servers can be taken over at the end of the term. The full-service printing provider thus switched from the previous capital expenditures (CaPex) model and high one-off payments to operational expenditures (OpEx). The investment costs were optimised and one-off financial burdens were minimised.
Since the servers went live, Bechtle has been providing comprehensive, proactive and reliable management and support for the newly installed components. Bechtle’s 360° monitoring service monitors the systems around the clock and records all the important information for later analysis. This means that potential problems are detected early and Bechtle’s specialists can fix them before any damage occurs. The IT service provider also maintains, manages and administers the backup using 360° backup control. To do this, the specialists configured it to ensure a high level of data security and quick recovery in the event of a fault – and so that Bechtle can start the recovery process quickly. The Bechtle Service Desk regularly checks the reports and informs Ostschweiz Druck AG’s IT department immediately if an error is detected, so that it can be rectified without delay.
Business benefits.
The new HPE server landscape implemented by Bechtle at Ostschweiz Druck is more powerful and reliable, increases efficiency in day-to-day operations and offers significantly faster data transfer. Thanks to 360° support and maintenance, Bechtle takes care of maintenance and monitoring and reacts proactively to problems, which releases internal resources at OSD and increases data security. The leasing model from HPE Financial Services spreads the high investment costs over several years, is transparent and minimises the financial burden. This ensures that the company remains technically flexible in the future, can react more quickly to market changes and is optimally prepared for further growth and technological challenges.
Partner.
