SAP Hosting Has Chosen the Managed Storage Solution of Fujitsu Siemens

One of the world’s largest Managed Services orders for storage has been awarded to Fujitsu Siemens Computers. SAP AG has handed large parts of the operation and support of its online and backup storage in its SAP Hosting organization’s data centers to Fujitsu Siemens Computers’ Services arm. The deal provides SAP with an initial four petabytes of online storage capacity per month, and the Managed Storage solution also takes care of backup. The 200-plus terabytes of data handled daily by SAP Hosting will be treated as a Managed Service and saved to tape or disk using the CentricStor virtual tape appliance from Fujitsu Siemens Computers.

SAP is enabled to reduce operating costs and increase cost transparency as well as concentrate on its core competences and key areas of business, through the use of the Managed Storage solution. System billing is based on actual use and eliminates the costs for retaining temporary or permanent reserve storage capacities. Based on its ITIL (IT Infrastructure Library)-aligned operating and service processes, Fujitsu Siemens Computers ensures high availability and clearly defined performance levels, providing SAP with comprehensive security as well as increased quality and flexibility. A single point of contact establishes clear processes for the entire storage environment with regard to responsibility for problem handling and swift reaction times.

The storage agreement also provides SAP with room for pain-free storage growth: it assumes that storage volumes will evidently adapt throughout the four-year contract period.

By implementing such a flexible volume strategy serviced by Fujitsu Siemens Computers, SAP is safeguarding its storage requirements for its hosting services.

"Future product development demands a flexible and innovative storage strategy, just like the operation of internal and external customer systems," said Benno Weidmann, Vice President, Hosting Infrastructure Management, SAP Hosting. “We are developing this strategy together with Fujitsu Siemens Computers and implementing it within the context of Managed Storage. SAP systems worldwide are operated and supported on a 24-hour basis in the data centers of the hosting service provider, including the entire SAP AG infrastructure.”

For Fujitsu Siemens Computers, the Managed Storage contract with SAP is a further milestone toward recognition as a complete single-source provider of products, solutions and services. Managed Storage as a service offering for operating, maintaining and supporting storage solutions in data centers plays a central role in this regard.

"Challenges regarding the efficiency and availability of storage infrastructures are constantly increasing, which is why our offering is aligned so that our customers not only obtain all the products from one source but also all the corresponding services required to set up and run powerful and high-availability data center infrastructures," comments Richard Schlauri, Executive Vice President, Infrastructure Services at Fujitsu Siemens Computers.

The operation and further development of the storage landscape at SAP Hosting is based on clearly-defined Service Level Agreements. ITIL-compliant service processes manage and control 24-hour operation of the storage components. The central storage management provides constant monitoring and alerts and also delivers billing data based on net usage. "We are enabled to bill our customers for the exact amount of storage capacity they use," explained SAP’s Weidmann.

In transferring responsibility for storage management to Fujitsu Siemens Computers, SAP is following the "share-the-work" trend where IT services are purchased as a standard and integrated into a service portfolio. The synergies from this "one-to-many principle" contribute towards reduced operating costs and provide further savings since companies need no longer retain their own specialist storage staff.

Managed Storage from Fujitsu Siemens Computers relieves SAP Hosting of the routine work and releases energy and resources for innovations.

The main features of the managed storage implementation at SAP Hosting include the following:

• Fully-managed storage infrastructure based on enterprise products from Fujitsu Siemens Computers, EMC and Network Appliance
• An initial provision of four petabytes of online storage
• Backup services for more than 200 terabytes of data per day
• Reduced operating costs and increased cost transparency
• Transparent, usage-based provision and billing
• Costs for retaining reserve storage capacities are eliminated
• ITIL-compliant operating and service processes ensure high availability and defined performance levels as well as comprehensive security
• Central and uniform monitoring of the infrastructure components with manage now® from Fujitsu Siemens Computers
• Single point of contact for all storage issues

Fujitsu Siemens Computers