Rivella

Rivella – Rivella modernises data storage with HPE GreenLake technology and Alletra MP.

Rivella has been Switzerland’s national drink since 1952. Rivella is different from other soft drinks: it is based on milk serum. Part of the recipe is also a secret mixture of herbal and fruit extracts. This mixture is supplemented with water, carbon dioxide and sugar or sweeteners. When Rivella’s storage system, which is important for machine data, planning and the ERP system, had to be replaced, Bechtle implemented HPE GreenLake technology with two Alletra Storages on site at the company and took over the service. The new storage system from HPE on prem with HPE GreenLake technology impresses with its outstanding performance and high data availability.

Project details.

Services

Networking Solutions
Server & Storage

Industry

Manufacturing

Manufacturer

Company size

250 – 1,500 employees

Challenge.

Rivella AG produces 100 million litres of its soft drinks in Rothrist every year. The recipe for the Swiss national drink Rivella (available in red, blue, refresh and green tea flavours) has been one of Switzerland’s best-kept secrets for almost 70 years. To ensure that this remains the case, Rivella’s data must be well protected. The long-established company operates its production-related IT infrastructure on its own premises. This is supplemented by less important areas in the Azure Cloud. This makes Rivella a good example of working in a hybrid cloud. The on-prem area is spread across two buildings. Security, performance and sufficient resources are the top priorities. After all, the IT structure behind it must be sufficiently powerful for production to flow. Rivella’s experience with HPE products has been excellent. When the storage system had to be renewed, the previous HPE 3PAR storage system was to be replaced by an up-to-date on-prem system. Rivella was looking for a replacement that would bring the IT infrastructure up to date and further increase operational reliability. The new system was to be as innovative as the entire company and utilise the technologies of a cloud solution, while continuing to run on prem like the SAP system used in-house, along with the factory control systems. Rivella wanted to store all production-related and other protected data locally for security and performance reasons. The integration of the new storage system also had to take place without interrupting ongoing operations and - most importantly - be implemented within just five weeks.

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Solution.

As a long-standing IT partner of Rivella, Bechtle knew the IT infrastructure inside out. After a thorough analysis of the on-site situation, Bechtle suggested HPE GreenLake for Block Storage technology as a suitable solution. Its innovative edge-to-cloud concept normally combines local storage with centralised data management via the cloud. However, Rivella wanted to have not only central but also local management of all components installed in the data centres instead of using the service. Bechtle therefore transferred the technology from HPE GreenLake for Block Storage to the newly implemented HPE Alletra Storage MP, thereby fulfilling Rivella’s wishes. Although the drinks manufacturer had also looked at alternatives, it had always been extremely satisfied with HPE technologies in previous years. The HPE Alletra Storage MP impressed with its innovative functions, its seamless integration into the existing IT infrastructure and its attractive price. It is the industry’s first disaggregated and scalable block storage, which enables computing and storage operations to be expanded independently of each other. Together with the HPE Greenlake for Block Storage technology, it can use the Block, File or Object storage protocols and manage the entire storage centrally at the same time. Bechtle installed the two HPE Alletra MP storage systems in two separate data centres at Rivella after a delivery time of just three weeks. An HPE ProLiant DL20 Gen10 Plus server connects and monitors the two systems and reports any irregularities to HPE and Bechtle. Bechtle then installed the basic configuration in accordance with Rivella’s storage and SAN concept, as well as synchronised replication to ensure continuous data availability. The data migration from the old to the new storage system took place during operation thanks to the sophisticated HPE technology and the existing HPE environment. As a result, there was no downtime whatsoever. The migration took just two weeks and included support for Rivella’s administrators and users in using and optimising the new system. As part of its trade-in programme, HPE also bought back the previously used components that had reached the end of their life cycle. Bechtle now supports Rivella AG with individual support and system customisation instead of the HPE service included in the Greenlake.

The implementation of HPE GreenLake technology on prem by Bechtle was a decisive step for our IT infrastructure. We were just as impressed by the smooth implementation and migration without any interruptions to operations as we were by the rapid delivery of all the hardware. With this modern storage solution, we are optimally equipped for future requirements, and our statistical analyses using SAP HANA in particular will receive the necessary performance.

Patrick Felder, ICT Consultant Senior/Head of ICT Infrastructure Services/Professional Trainer, Rivella AG

Business benefits.

With the new on-premises HPE Alletra storage solution, Rivella has a high-performance IT infrastructure and receives the best support from Bechtle. The new storage system improves data processing and evaluation, which is particularly important for machine operating data and thus for production (MES - Manufacturing Execution System) as well as for business analyses (BPC - Business Planning & Consolidation) such as sales planning. Rivella is therefore ready for a future in which the cloud can be used as required.