Many enterprises crave transformation, but migrating from on-premises infrastructure can be daunting. Techwave wanted to offer clients a cost-effective route to the price and flexibility benefits of cloud.

Techwave helps clients migrate to IBM Cloud bare metal servers, which offer worldwide data center locations, granular control of security and the ability to optimize software licensing.

As global competition heats up, enterprises must seek commercial and operational advantages and efficiencies. For many, the processes and systems that served well in the past are now obstacles to future progress. Workload and data volumes continue to grow dramatically, requiring constant upgrade cycles for on-premises infrastructure, which may not be capable of supporting transformative business initiatives.

Cloud migration offers an escape from the upfront expense and recurring costs of on-premises systems. In addition, cloud services deliver capacity and scalability that is hard to match using fixed infrastructure. But there are many possible routes to the cloud, and enterprises need to think carefully about how to minimize the potential risk and cost of retiring their on-premises systems.

Public cloud solutions present additional challenges: for example, how can enterprises run worldwide digital operations if regulations such as GDPR require data be held locally? Will data security, particularly for financial, personal and health information, be preserved? Techwave’s managed services clients grapple with these issues as they seek the benefits of digital transformation.

Chandra Rao Jampa, Head of the Asia-Pacific & Global Delivery Center at Techwave, describes the challenge: “With on-premises systems, IT departments are struggling to meet their commitments to business users, with a knock-on impact for end-customers and consumers. But public cloud solutions typically do not offer the same levels of hardware, hypervisor and application control that on-premises solutions provide. Combined with the high migration costs and complexity of moving to public cloud, we could see our clients were trapped in a kind of lock-in.

“We set out to help clients solve these issues so that they could take advantage of cloud flexibility, scalability and capacity, and take the first step on their digital transformation journeys.”

Techwave recognized that IBM Cloud bare metal servers offer the right starting point for enterprises seeking to modernize operations and migrate to the cloud while retaining complete control of their IT infrastructures.

To accommodate clients that need to know where their data physically resides – for example, for compliance with GDPR – IBM offers more than 60 global data centers aligned with local data compliance regulations. Additionally, IBM Cloud supports the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) and ISO 27001 information security management standard, helping enterprises meet regulatory demands even as they expand to new geographies.

In one example, Techwave helped a large education client experiencing significant infrastructure challenges: approaching end-of-life, its on-premises servers could not manage escalating workloads or support new app development opportunities. The client considered moving to virtual servers hosted by public cloud providers, but its complex mix of public-facing and internal-only servers presented significant security challenges.

To demonstrate that a cloud solution could support this client’s SAP® applications and associated environments, Techwave conducted a Proof of Concept by creating a dedicated, single-tenant cloud on IBM Cloud bare metal servers. With the IBM offering, the client gained complete control of the infrastructure environment, from hardware, hypervisor and gateway to their trusted applications. Techwave moved the client’s existing perpetual software licenses from the outgoing on-premises infrastructure to the IBM Cloud bare metal servers. The increased capacity and performance of the IBM servers enabled the same workload to run on a smaller number of machines, reducing the number of licenses required and therefore cutting costs.

From the Proof of Concept, the client recognized the considerable benefits a comprehensive migration to the cloud infrastructure could deliver, and moved its SAP ERP and SAP Human Capital Management applications to IBM Cloud bare metal servers. Disaster recovery capabilities are provided by replication to a second data center. With ground-up control of the infrastructure stack, the client can securely separate its internal and external servers and services, and easily add server capacity to meet new workload.

“Being able to use their existing VMware perpetual licenses was a major gain for this client, and removed one of the largest obstacles to their cloud journey,” says Chandra Rao Jampa. “This off-premises private cloud built on IBM Cloud bare metal servers delivers an innovative option that enables the client to modernize, scale and develop its applications while retaining full control. They can add new IBM Cloud bare metal servers or select IBM Cloud Virtual Servers for the next phase of their development.

“Typically, we find clients save 15 percent of IT monthly expenses by moving to cloud. On top of that, they cut costs by a further 25 percent by reducing the number of people tied up with management and maintenance issues. Additionally, the increased system uptime delivered by IBM Cloud bare metal servers releases yet more staff to be re-allocated to essential development and business tasks, delivering a productivity gain of a further 20 percent.”

Techwave continues to develop its client services, most recently including a Proof of Concept for SAP S/4HANA® running on IBM Cloud bare metal servers for a large pharmaceuticals company.

The client wanted to experience the capabilities of SAP S/4HANA without investing significant capital in a new server infrastructure. Techwave responded to their question, “How quickly can you deliver a solution?”, by launching SAP S/4HANA, SAP Business Warehouse powered by SAP HANA, SAP Customer Experience and SAP Enterprise Performance Management within two weeks.

Techwave tailored the SAP solutions to include batch tracking, sensor-driven track and trace, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags, and inventory management – all typical processes for a pharmaceuticals manufacturer – and demonstrated integrations to the IBM Blockchain Platform built on Hyperledger Fabric technology, IBM Hyperledger, IBM Watson® and IBM IoT services. While the client does not currently have plans to use these technologies, it sees clear value in being able to integrate them seamlessly from the IBM Cloud portfolio if future needs emerge.

“IBM Cloud bare metal servers provide the foundation for this client’s business modernization and digital transformation program,” says Chandra Rao Jampa. “The great advantage is that using the IBM Cloud, the client can easily take advantage of multiple other services such as the IBM Blockchain platform built on, IBM Hyperledger Fabric technology and IBM Internet of Things solutions, truly driving their digital transformation.”

For enterprises seeking to move from on-premises to cloud-based infrastructure, IBM Cloud bare metal servers enable rapid, straightforward migration. They also enable organizations to escape on-premises deployments and reap the operational efficiencies of cloud, without the drawbacks of public cloud. By adding IBM Cloud bare metal servers to its portfolio, Techwave encourages more clients to make the leap to cloud.

Raj Rentala, Director of IoT Solutions and Global Director of Marketing, adds, “As a service provider, Techwave uses IBM Cloud to eliminate hardware maintenance, system refresh, and similar technical tasks, providing our clients with scalable infrastructure capable of meeting their growing workloads. The infrastructure control provided by IBM Cloud bare metal servers enables direct connections to any on-premises systems, delivering secure performance at all times.”

In many cases, the move to IBM Cloud bare metal servers is the first step on a longer journey for Techwave and its clients, who later explore services such as artificial intelligence and blockchain from the IBM Cloud catalog.

Srinivas Kode, Vice President, Analytics & NA Delivery, concludes, “IBM Cloud bare metal servers enable Techwave to be a true digital transformation partner for its clients. Techwave sees how IBM Cloud and related services such as IBM Watson and IBM Blockchain built on Hyperledger Fabric technology will help our clients to seize their digital transformation opportunities, modernizing their applications and processes easily and rapidly. With IBM and SAP, Techwave looks forward to helping even more clients achieve their digital transformation objectives.”

Established in 2004, Techwave Consulting, Inc. is a global integrated cloud and digital transformation partner servicing global blue-chip enterprises. Based in Exton, PA, Techwave employs around 1,700 people across North America, Europe, APAC, Africa, with Global Delivery Center in Hyderabad, India and regional delivery centers (RDC) in Houston (North America), Budapest (Europe), and Victoria (Australia). The company serves organizations in the banking, financial services, consumer packaged goods, life sciences, logistics, telecom, and retail sectors.