Brabus Moves IT Cloud Infrastructure to Black Point Internet Solutions’ City Cloud

IBM Corporation announced BRABUS GmbH will move
their external communications and IT cloud computing infrastructure to the Black Point Arts Internet Solutions GmbH‘ City cloud powered by IBM PureSystems.

An SMB with a worldwide reputation for vehicle customization, BRABUS will gain
flexible access to critical IT resources. As a result, it will be
positioned to better handle increases in data volumes, improve response times
related to images and videos on their website, and increase access to content
for their BRABUS Car Configurator.

Rapid and external communication through the website is critical for BRABUS as
many customers make their first contact with the company via the Internet.
Visitors to the website can find information about BRABUS and its Supercars and
also gain access to the BRABUS Car Configurator. With just a few clicks, this web application can draw up the design of choice for the model selected.

Facing a steady rise in data volume from the website, BRABUS decided to
outsource this IT infrastructure to Black Point Arts’ City cloud. A partner in
the IBM City cloud program, Black Point Arts maintains a City cloud HA data
center that complies with German security standards and also supplies cloud
services to local SMBs in the Rhine-Main region. At present, Black Point Arts
hosts around 50 small and midrange businesses with its City Cloud. BRABUS with
nearly 300 employees in Germany is one of its larger customers.

"We are experts in the design and
upgrading of automobiles, and Black Point Arts are experts in IT which is why
we are turning to them," says Hans-Jorg Asche, head of IT, BRABUS.
"Since the beginning of 2013, we
have been using IT from the City cloud to make our external communication
scalable, flexible, and secure. We are very satisfied with the IT, which has
run without fail around the clock so that customers in more than 100 countries
can access our website at all times."

Bottrop-based BRABUS has a global reputation and a market position in
vehicle tuning, primarily Mercedes-Benz, AMG and Smart models, but it also
upgrades aircraft or yachts. Finest leather and high-grade wood or carbon, for
example, is used in interior design, and engine performance enhances BRABUS by
extension of cylinder capacity, engine power kits or special control systems
like PowerXtra. Changes to chassis, wheels or aerodynamic parts give different
types of vehicle that unmistakable BRABUS style.

"In the City cloud we offer a
flexible and powerful IT infrastructure that can be adapted at any time to
changes in our customers’ business requirements and framework conditions,"
says Dirk Estenfeld, CEO of Frankfurt-based IT service provider Black Point
Arts. "The special benefit here is
the flexible payment model based on the pay-as-you-use principle and the fact
that we guarantee data protection in accordance with German law."

This flexibility is important for BRABUS because requirements for external
communication are rising constantly. The interactive BRABUS Car Configurator is
very data hungry and the system requirements are increasing rapidly as they add
new car models, additional design functions, and integrated videos. The
flexible City cloud is based on IBM technology including System x servers and
Storwize V7000 storage systems. With the inclusion of the next generation blade
server found in the IBM Flex System, the City cloud boasts an extensive system
that can be expanded dynamically.

"Our partners and customers derive
special benefit from our IBM Flex System because components such as computers,
the network or storage units can be selected in modules within the Flex System"
says Martina Fiddrich, head of SMB business and partnership solution centers,
IBM Germany. "SMB customers like
BRABUS use flexible IT services from the cloud so that IT is a catalyst for
business development and the company can focus on its core competences."

Besides BRABUS, since the systems were launched in April of 2012, more than
4,000 clients from 90 countries have decided that the PureSystems family
offers an alternative to current enterprise computing models, where multiple
and disparate systems require significant resources to set up and maintain.