Centurion, 29 May 2009
Facilities management specialist TFMC, a company in the JSE-listed Mvelaphanda Group, has implemented a R5 million HP and VMware storage and disaster recovery solution for its Microsoft and SAP R3 ERP platforms through its preferred IT systems, software, hardware and consulting services provider, Datacentrix.
The project included blade server infrastructure, storage, area networks and a disaster recovery plan and facility at TFMC's headquarters at Meersig in Centurion.
Chris Steenkamp, TFMC manager IT Operations, says that because TFMC is regarded as an IT development test platform for the Mvelaphanda Group, the project was crucial from a group perspective.
"A proposal and detailed explanation of our needs was presented to Datacentrix, who recommended a VMware solution which we evaluated in-depth.
“Importantly, VMware is SAP certified, a key feature as TFMC has made a major investment in a full-scale SAP ERP system that includes every one of SAP's modules," says Steenkamp.
"This solution is absolutely mission-critical to TFMC. With offices in all of the main centres throughout South Africa, we provide integrated facilities management services to 6 500 buildings with a total area of about 2.5 million m2 over 3 300 sites. To manage these services effectively and economically, all regions rely upon the central SAP system at Meersig.
“Reliable information storage and uptime are essential to the success of our business."
The project has also extended TFMC's "green footprint". The server room is smaller and less heat is generated by the blade servers, which reduces the power requirement for cooling. More efficient use of the servers is made, increasing efficiency across all of the TFMC divisions.
Steenkamp adds that the biggest challenge was to reduce data restoration time. HP Storage Mirroring Software for virtual infrastructures was selected. Running with VMware, the HP Mirroring snapshots servers and replicates the data at the recovery site, considerably reducing restoration time.
"TFMC's IT function and call centre at Meersig is a 24x7 operation and the CRM software is also SAP. We have more than 1 000 employees and simply cannot afford to have our services, which are driven by SAP software and HP hardware, down for three or four days. Importantly, there was minimal interruption to the business in getting the VMware solution implemented and operational."
The eight-month project kicked off in November last year. By January 2009, the Microsoft solutions were up and running with VMware while the SAP implementation, because of its extent and complexity, has taken longer. For Datacentrix, the project was run by Trevor Bekker, enterprise services manager, Stefan Venter, enterprise accounts manager, and Carlo Monteiro, key account manager.
Monteiro said Datacentrix's BEE footprint, long established track record in IT business solutions for major companies and its depth of experience and expertise in ERP solutions were critical factors that the company drew upon in implementing the storage and disaster recovery solution for TFMC.
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