Africa's largest glass manufacturer, Consol Glass, has partnered with T-Systems to migrate its SAP infrastructure to the cloud. T-Systems will supply Consol with information and communication services in a deal worth R25 million.
As with many companies, Consol was challenged to balance over- or under-provisioning of infrastructure due to the length of its investment cycles. The move to dynamic ICT services removes these capacity issues, as T-Systems' cloud services are optimised to deliver flexible, automated provisioning, when and where required.
Consol looked to T-Systems to provide a solution that could harness the benefits of its existing virtualised and hosted environment, and meet global standards for cloud services while also making commercial sense. The solution had to pass rigorous hurdle rates in the Consol business case.
T-Systems in South Africa has been Consol's major ICT outsource partner since 2005. Says Mike Arnold, CEO of Consol Glass: “For us, the relationship with T-Systems in South Africa has evolved from that of a mere supplier to a strategic alliance where there is an alignment of needs.”
He continues: “T-Systems offers support that leverages its global standards and best practices, is implemented locally and backed by a strong team. The advantage of a partner such as T-Systems is the global support. However, the local team instilled our trust and confidence in the cloud services offering. As a customer, we can now benefit from this expertise and rest assured that we meet local legislative requirements.”
Says Johan du Plessis, CIO of Consol Glass: “T-Systems not only offers the cloud infrastructure but also delivers the platform, along with the capability, to maintain and deliver ongoing support. In addition, they also provide value-added services on top of the standard offering. Today, very few service providers can run a SAP environment in a stable manner while tweaking, optimising and fine-tuning it to meet your growth expectations; T-Systems can.”
“Cloud provision with guaranteed service quality is still a new concept in South Africa, so navigating any possible risks involved was done jointly. That makes this agreement very significant for T-Systems, and we're extremely proud of our partnership with Consol,” says Gert Schoonbee, Head of Sales at T-Systems in South Africa. “Many providers add to the 'hype' around cloud service concepts and components, however, T-Systems is able to deliver the full cloud services solution, and this deal is proof of that,” concludes Schoonbee.
Share
Deutsche Telekom
Deutsche Telekom is one of the world's leading integrated telecommunications companies with around 128 million mobile customers, 35 million fixed-network lines and approximately 17 million broadband lines (as of 30 June 2011). The group provides products and services for the fixed network, mobile communications, the Internet and IPTV for consumers, and ICT solutions for business customers and corporate customers. Deutsche Telekom is present in over 50 countries and has around 241 000 employees worldwide. The group generated revenue of EUR 62.4 billion in the 2010 financial year - more than half of it outside Germany (as of December 31, 2010).
T-Systems
Drawing on a global infrastructure of data centres and networks, T-Systems operates information and communication technology (ICT) systems for multinational corporations and public sector institutions. T-Systems provides integrated solutions for the networked future of business and society. The company's 47 600 employees combine industry expertise and ICT innovations to add significant value to customers' core business all over the world.
T-Systems generated revenue of around EUR 9.1 billion in the 2010 financial year.
Consol
Consol Glass is the largest glass manufacturer in Africa. Its list of blue-chip customers includes South African and international companies that operate and demand world-class service. A significant player in the world of glass packaging, Consol is synonymous with glass excellence internationally. For further information, visit http://www.consol.co.za.
Editorial contacts