IT success stories
An excerpt of successful projects

When the field of activities of a company includes the processing of sensitive data of its clients – as is the case with accountants, tax consultants or human resources departments – then a particularly high level of data security is required. Because when a security incident occurs, not only its own data is at risk but also the information of those who rely on absolute confidentiality. Agenda Informationssysteme GmbH, a software house specialized in tax consultancy software products, was therefore looking for a way to provide its more than 10,000 clients with perfectly secure access over the Internet – without this compromising its work efficiency.

censhare AG, provider of Universal Smart Content Management Software, will completely dispense with its own hardware and has moved its systems to the "vDatacenter" of noris network. The live and development environment of Content Management SaaS and censhares internal systems are now run on a highly flexible, fully virtualized IT platform. censhare can easily configure and provision virtual data center resources via a portal.

Over the past decades, the Max Bögl Group has continuously evolved through innovations in technology and organization from a mere provider of construction services into a modern technology and services company. Projects around the world need to be coordinated and organized. Not only the company's globally distributed locations, but also the construction sites must be permanently linked in a secure and reliable manner to the Group's central IT infrastructure.

In 2010, Max Bögl Group, Germany's largest privately owned construction company, installed a 200 square meter backup data center on their premises in Sengenthal near Neumarkt (Upper Palatinate). Designed by noris network AG, the group's long-term IT service provider, the data center reflected the latest state of technology. However, a basic principle of IT security through redundancy consists in spatial separation, so Max Bögl Group chose to achieve a disaster-proof accommodation by placing the backup center at a greater distance from their live system.

Entertaining online games with thousands of real players – this is GameDuell's highly successful concept. Since the company was founded in 2003, more than 125 million users have registered with the Berlin-based provider. However, the requirements on the performance of online games are high – any disorder or even interruption resulting from technical problems spoils the party and could cause the players to turn their backs on the platform. When the IT infrastructure needed to be expanded as a result of GameDuell's strong growth, the company was looking for a partner who could guarantee technical reliability.

For printeria, an online service offered by infowerk ag and today one of the most widely known and largest online print portals for posters, photo books and photo gifts, the availability of a high-performance IT infrastructure is a crucial factor. End users assume that they can upload their photo data reliably and quickly at any time – even at peak times. The same security and reliability is required by the provider to be able to transfer the large data volume from this server on to the servers installed at infowerk ag.

ISE Information Systems Engineering GmbH is the first system house in Germany that has specialized in the Oracle Exastack Family (Exadata, Exalogic, Exalytics). At the end of 2010, the award-winning Oracle Platinum Partner opened its first test center following the purchase of an Exadata Database Machine. However, this test center soon reached its limits, since not only the database server, but also the application and analysis systems should be tested in a complete operating environment. The overall solution marketed as Oracle Exastack Family was consolidated in the ISE Oracle Technology Center and places stringent demands on its accommodation.

Today, the availability of a comprehensive IT infrastructure is mandatory for modern construction companies. The construction sites must be securely interconnected with the company via fast connections – as well as the individual sites with another. For this purpose, the Klebl Group is looking for a technical and organizational solution that ensures for all parties easy and efficient access to the existing applications, processes and technologies.

Kitchen retailer Küchen Quelle relies on an extensive IT infrastructure to handle the electronic workflow between sales staff, head office, five kitchen megastores, the manufacturers of furniture, sinks, stoves and refrigerators, and finally the coordination of freight forwarders and cabinetmakers who deliver and install the kitchen in the customer's home. When Küchen Quelle was detached from insolvent Arcandor Group, the company had to move its IT out of the group data center within less than two months.

At www.worldshop.eu, customers participating in the Miles & More frequent flyer programme can acquire a wide range of high quality branded products from aircraft models and suitcases to sports equipment, entertainment electronics and wines and also pay the products with their bonus miles. Around 20,000 visitors, from 200,000 to 300,000 page impressions a day and a complex, mixed payment system (bonus miles and cash) make www.worldshop.eu a technologically demanding webshop that operates in five languages.

The mail order business today increasingly runs over the Internet, and hence a reliable IT infrastructure is mission critical for the venerable fashion house MADELEINE. In the past, MADELEINE Mode GmbH used to rely on the IT structure of the Arcandor Group. In order to prevent the shutdown of its own online shops when Arcandor became insolvent, MADELEINE was looking for a reliable partner to provide long-term IT support and host the madeleine.de and emilialay.de sites.

In printing companies, work processes are increasingly shifting towards computers and purely digital end-products. Building up, maintaining and optimizing the required IT infrastructure by oneself is therefore a major endeavor. Along with the implementation of content, a modern full-service multimedia agency also strives to offer its clients customized technical services, from the provision of the necessary IT systems through to services such as maintenance and support, which can guarantee non-disruptive, smooth operation.

As a system house, PROFI Engineering Systems AG generates intensive data traffic between their offices throughout Germany. Higher bandwidth and redundant protection were needed.

When REWE Retail Group became the owner of the electronics retail chain Promarkt, this should not remain REWE's only activity in the field of consumer electronics. In order to implement a particularly customer-friendly combination of specialist stores and webshop sales channels, REWE Group had also taken over the online provider myby and thus secured advanced webshop technology. The next step was to coordinate the products on offer at the ProMarkt branches and on www.promarkt.de, and to network their IT systems. 

Schmetterling operates the largest independent medium-sized travel agency cooperation in Europe. The 3500 travel agents and tour operators participating in this cooperation can rely on Schmetterling's services, for example, when it comes to developing and operating their IT solutions. For this purpose, the full-service provider must be able to provide a growing number of diversified solutions with consistently high performance, reliability, safety and efficiency.

Ströer Out-of-Home Media AG, a Cologne-based group of companies, markets more than 280,000 advertising spaces and is one of the leading outdoor advertising companies. Both the IT environment handling the administration, documentation and evaluation of advertising spaces and advertising motifs, as well as the underlying ERP system, should get a new home: highly available and geographically separated to provide effective disaster protection. To this end, the company sought a competent, preferably ISO 27001-certified service provider with growth potential.

The easyCredit sales concept that is pursued by TeamBank AG with a particular focus on service quality and added value requires an IT infrastructure that provides specialist advice to clients at conveniently accessible locations and quick and transparent lending practices. To ensure efficient processing of loan agreements, the bank strives to enable its client advisers to access all stored data at any time while simultaneously relieving them from manual routine work and minimizing potential errors.