It had been in the making since 2009 and was put into operation in late 2010: the new IT infrastructure at WEIS INDUSTRIES. The modernization is part of a long-term strategy plan and grew out of the fact that the storage capacity of the old Exchange System (e-mails, calendars etc.) no longer matched requirements within the company group.

In addition, the hardware of many of the servers would have been in need of replacement due to age. The current, new environment created by USE Projektmanagement GmbH from Ludwigsburg is based on state-of-the-art VMware technology. »Server virtualization« and »cloud computing« are the key terms for this kind of technology – media buzz words since this year’s CeBIT at the latest.

The reality behind these terms is an IT infrastructure that can be dynamically adapted to the given requirements via the network. Part of the IT environment is no longer operated or hosted by the users themselves, but rented as a service from one or more providers. The applications and data are no longer located on a single server in the company’s data processing center, but in a (metaphorical) in-house »cloud«. This technology is also often used in hospitals, where operational reliability and availability are a particularly high priority.

A central storage area network (SAN) was also installed, theoretically providing space for about 35 million regular-sized e-mails, or a total storage capacity of approx. 7 terabyte. The new Exchange 2010 Services were put into operation just in time before the Christmas break. Meanwhile, the company group’s entire administrative software – the PDS system – was also made virtual in the background and transferred to the new system. Overall, the new concept replaces eleven individually managed servers, which had to be serviced at different maintenance intervals due to varying ages.

Implementing the new system has resulted in considerably increased operational reliability, larger capacities, improved functionality, and significantly less energy consumption. In preparation for the big move, it was also necessary to create a new server room on the first floor of WEIS House in order to relieve the data processing center on the second floor.

Here, the WEIS INDUSTRIES family was able to apply its very own skills: KARL WENNESS® GmbH installed the electrical components and optical fiber connections between floors and the IT units. EDMUND WEIS® GmbH & Co KG was in charge of planning and installing a cooling system for the server cabinets.