The Customer
Delaware is a leading Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems integrator who partner with SAP and Microsoft. Currently, Delaware consists of over 2,000 employees across 12 countries. Delaware Netherlands has built a formidable reputation for SAP Managed Services. They maintain their customer’s SAP systems by providing ongoing application management and hosting.
A driving force in the success of this Managed Services division is their partnership with Leaseweb. Together we developed a custom-built SAP hosting solution that provides Delaware’s customers with exactly what they need.
The Challenge
Delaware Netherlands were looking for a strategic partner who could build tailored cloud solutions to support SAP S/4HANA. The main hosting requirements for SAP S/4HANA are large amounts of memory, high availability, and SAP-certified hardware. They had tried major public cloud platforms and didn’t find them to be a good fit for SAP S/4HANA as they proved costly when running workloads permanently, which is essential for ERP systems.
Delaware Netherlands were seeking a hosting partner that could accommodate these specifications, but also to fulfil a role in their managed services concept. They were looking for hosting facilities, a reliable network, and a knowledgeable team to collaborate and develop products with – this would enable them to form a completely managed SAP S/4HANA service for their customers.
The Solution
Delaware Netherlands sought out Leaseweb as they were looking for a company who had a reputation for taking a personalized approach and would be committed to developing a service specifically for SAP S/4HANA customers.
Leaseweb developed a cloud concept which would be made to fit each Delaware Managed Services customer. Each customer has a Private Cloud environment built using VMware vSphere, a highly customizable solution capable of meeting specific business objectives. This allows Delaware’s customers to access on-demand resources for their SAP systems, and easily scale up and down.
To ensure business continuity, we implement a twin data center for Delaware customers. This is an important disaster recovery measure to keep critical systems running. Connectivity for Delaware’s customers is powered by the Leaseweb Network, which has a core uptime of 99.999% and a bandwidth capacity of 5.5 Tbps. Delaware also outsources management of its hosting network to Leaseweb, making use of Leaseweb’s Networking Management Packs.
Leaseweb also provides additional solutions when required, such as Backup and OS licenses. This hosting solution was brought to the market as Delaware Enterprise Cloud (DEC), and is an integral part of Delaware Netherlands’ Managed Services.
Key requirements
- SAP ready
- High availability – ERP systems need to always be on
- Flexibility – accommodating unique specifications for SAP S/4HANA such as extra memory
- Cost-effective – when running workloads permanently
- Secure hosting facilities
Our solution
- SAP compliant hardware
- Twin data centers, connectivity powered by Leaseweb Network
- Customized infrastructure – scalable CPU, extra memory and licenses on request
- Improved price/performance
- Top-tier, ISO certified data centers
The Partnership
Much like Leaseweb, local entrepreneurship is very important for Delaware as an organization, and they give their employees the freedom to find their own road to success. This freedom allows solution owners such as Jan Kolen, Manager of Managed Services for Delaware Netherlands, to create a unique service to fit the market. These values align closely with Leaseweb, and provide common ground for our partnership.
From the start, our relationship has been open and transparent so both teams can quickly learn and adapt to each other. Hosting is a 24/7 service, so it’s a big commitment to support our customers, and we invest heavily in those relationships. Flexibility from both sides has enabled us to continually improve, and our combined efforts have made DEC a success.
"Leaseweb are very flexible and we need that flexibility. The hyperscalers of this world treat their customers like a number, and you must do things their way. This is not how we’ve been working with Leaseweb, and now we have a unique cloud solution which works for our customers. Every customer gets things tailor-made and that’s why our business is booming."
Jan Kolen, Manager of Managed Services, Delaware, the Netherlands
The Outcome
DEC, which is a combination of Leaseweb services, is giving Delaware customer’s exactly what they need. The cloud platform is hosted on the best performing certified hardware for running SAP S/4HANA workloads, which was determined by a series of tests. Leaseweb Private Cloud enables customers to easily scale up and down without having to buy new hardware and without incurring the large costs of public cloud platforms. Delaware’s customers are now able to focus more on the functionalities of the applications, while the application management and hosting is completely taken care of.
By working with Leaseweb, Managed Services has gone from being an add-on service to a core offering and major revenue stream for Delaware Netherlands, in a relatively short period of time. Based on the success of DEC in the Netherlands, they are predicting this product will spread internationally for Delaware. As technology evolves and even more databases come to the market, Delaware will continue to manage these services in partnership with Leaseweb.
With our knowledge of applications, operating systems, and databases and Leaseweb’s infrastructure and expertise, we have been able to create a complete Managed Services offering for our customers."