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SAP Landscape on System p with POWER Technology

Biotest AG

In 2006, the ERP solution that has grown over around 20 years based on IBM System i at Biotest AG was tested or current and future, but particularly international, business process requirements. With 1,200 staff in eleven countries, Biotest AG from Dreieich had reached a point where there was only one possible goal: introduction of a universal system and rollout of processes with new requirements and an option of worldwide use. The decision to implement SAP was taken quickly.
The platform selection in a first version was targeted at an Intel server farm from HP under Microsoft. The System p solution from IBM under AIX was considered through market analyses and in cooperation with IBM. In the course of discussions with FRITZ & MACZIOL, this solution was confirmed with Biotest from the perspective of strategy, market situation and sizings. To create an integrated, universal process and system landscape, the specialist in innovative haematology and immunology and one of the leading global players in the pharmaceuticals business for plasma protein and diagnostics turned to IBM and FRITZ & MACZIOL.

Together with IBM, FRITZ & MACZIOL developed an everything-from-one-source concept based on the IBM System p570 with POWER 5 technology. As well as sizing and configuration of the IBM hardware platform, this incorporated installation of all SAP systems and training of IT staff, including instruction. Faced with a conventional staged concept of this size, the pharmaceuticals company chose a ‘Big Bang’ for implementation.

In addition to the project team from Biotest AG, other partners of Biotest AG were responsible above all for SAP customising and its project management. The base technology including high availability entities were installed,linked and technically integrated by IBM and particularly FRITZ & MACZIOL in about three quarters of a year.

The go-live date for the total of nineteen SAP systems was set for 01/01/2008. This included components such as an ERP system with a three-level landscape (development, quality, production), a staff development and invoicing system as a two-system landscape (development, production), a Business Information Warehouse, a Solution Manager single installation and a Portal installation also with development and production, and an Exchange infrastructure with DEV + PRD landscape. The hardware platform created for this purpose comprises of two IBM System p that are 100-percent clustered. An existing storage and archiving system was integrated so that the complete environment is designed to be high-availability with HACMP.

In place of several applications and servers, the company now only needs two high-availability servers for SAP, positioned in two speciallyequipped computer rooms at the Biotest AG site. That the large ‘Big Bang’ went off smoothly on the day in question was due in no small way to the intensive preparation by staff. The IBM System p server under AIX and SAP was a completely new theme for almost the whole Biotest IT department.

FRITZ & MACZIOL came up with a training plan tailored to this situation, which was based not on theoretical documents, but on practical instruction in the actual SAP landscape. Classic training, including SAP administration, authorisation and transport, then followed. In parallel to this, the SAP Team at FRITZ & MACZIOL provided remote service and support for the Biotest environment. Transfer to an interim, completely 24x7 remote operation has been achieved. For Jürgen Kintzel, Head of IT and one of the managers responsible for the project at Biotest, and Joachim Hubinger, Head of Computer Engineering, this operation has confirmed the validity of choosing SAP in cooperation with the IBM and SAP experts at FRITZ & MACZIOL: “From conception through realisation to knowhow transfer and remote support, the FRITZ & MACZIOL team has impressively proven its high expertise in its field. Especially the fact that the project was achieved completely from one source, so that we only had one contact, was a great advantage and essential for the smooth development.”

Customer Benefits In place of numerous, isolated solutions, Biotest AG now has an integrated SAP solution. Thanks to installation of the two System p platforms with the appropriate clusters, the number of servers has now been reduced to two. A standardised environment, standardised processes and clearly simplified administration are just some of the advantages for Biotest AG.