Ahlers Group fashions European growth based on SAP and IBM technologies

German-language version/auf Deutsch

Family-run international fashion clothing conglomerate Ahlers AG, located at Herford in Germany, employs almost 3,000 people, manufacturing mainly menswear brands like Baldessarini, Otto Kern, Pierre Cardin, Gin Tonic, Pioneer, Jupiter and Pionier.

The company, whose chairman Dr. Stella Ahlers is a granddaughter of founder Adolf Ahlers, has annual sales of more than €260 million, of which some 47 per cent is to companies outside Germany. Ahlers AG manufactures more than 12 million items every year.

Ahlers AG wishes to continue its long tradition of manufacturing quality apparel, which has led to steady business expansion. International sales success is bringing new challenges, and Ahlers relies on its IT infrastructure to support growth and drive innovation within the company.

Choosing the right fabric

The company selected enterprise resource planning (ERP) software from SAP, specifically the integrated financial and controlling applications, to address the initial need to manage and report on the business. Knowing the likely demands on the new applications, it was clear that existing hardware systems would be incapable of providing sufficient performance, which in turn prompted a complete infrastructure review.

The system assessment criteria were based on the requirements to continue normal business transactions in the case of failure, to recover from disaster in less than one working day, and to reduce the total costs of operation.

Ahlers AG selected the IBM System i 550. Using this hardware, SAP could be run rapidly, reliably and at low cost next to other business applications. The new system, from arrival at the office through software migration and cutover into full production, was implemented in less than 90 days.

The i550 server is configured as two logical partitions, with a total of 40 GB memory, four processors and a performance of 12000 CPW (commercial processing workload). The SAP application is run on a partition with two processors with 20 GB memory capable of delivering some 2,700 SAPS. Internal storage of 2.3TB is complemented by an IBM System Storage DS8100 storage server with an additional 2.3TB capacity, and IBM TS3310 tape library for backup and archive purposes.

“Ahlers AG has had very good experience of the IBM System i platform regarding performance and reliability. We have in-house System i administration experience, which contributes to lower personnel and training costs, and the inclusion of IBM DB2 as part of the operating system cuts software licensing expenses, too,” says Gerhard Meinsen. “With the automatic database and workload management features of IBM DB2, Ahlers AG does not need an additional administrator for the new SAP applications, making the choice of the i550 an easy one for us.”

Belt and braces

With more than 700GB of business-critical SAP application data, the key to the new implementation was the deployment of a central, fully automated archive, backup and restore capability based on new IBM DS8100 storage servers both locally and at a remote location, approximately 10km distant. Scheduled backups locally to a second storage server and subsequently to LTO3 tapes in an IBM System Storage tape library model TS3310 would ensure that Ahlers AG has a complete, current copy of its data at all times. Maximum recovery time in case of disaster is just five hours.

“Any system failure lasting longer than five hours would be very bad,” remarks Gerhard Meinsen. “We could function for only a short time without its IT systems because of the fast pace of the fashion industry and the tight integration with our partners. And the capabilities of the DS8100 provide a simple way to protect the Ahlers AG from infrastructure failure or disaster, by replicating data continuously.

At one stage during the test installation, an IBM Global Technology Services consultant called to tell Ahlers that a disk had failed. The DS8100 concerned had continued to provide the performance stated, and automatically reported the fault to the IBM engineers.

The IBM DS8100 is designed to deliver robust, flexible and cost-effective data storage for mission-critical workloads. The DS8100 offers the ability to deploy logical partitions (LPARs) to help enable consolidation while maintaining separation for differing workloads, and provides exceptional system availability to support continuous operations – an ideal choice for Ahlers AG in the fast-moving fashion industry.

The TS3310 tape library is a modular, scalable tape library designed to address the tape storage needs of rapidly growing companies who find themselves constrained by the rigid architecture of traditional tape backup systems. Designed to scale vertically with expansion for LTO tape cartridges, drives and redundant power supplies, the TS3310 is perfect for organizations that know that their long-term capacity requirements will rise. A Capacity on Demand (COD) feature allows the system to scale up as needs grow.

Room for expansion

“With the new setup, we use the journaling feature of the i5/OS operating system to allow the two servers to synchronize their system states. In case of primary failure, perhaps through disaster, Ahlers AG would be able to recover to the secondary server from the point at which the stoppage occurred, with no loss of data.

“Our instruction to Intercom Consulting was to find the maximum possible data security at the best possible price,” says Gerhard Meinsen. “Their advice and skills were essential, and they provided exactly the right implementation for Ahlers AG – giving us the ability to grow our infrastructure in step with our business.”

Tailored IT solutions

With the new SAP software running successfully on the i550 server, the next ambition is to introduce a second DS8100 and eliminate the internal disk storage. This move will enable storage capacity to be increased as demand rises, and introduce storage virtualization to allow more cost-efficient use of capacity by sharing volumes more flexibly between the different applications.

Despite running core SAP software for around 120 users, as well as Lotus Notes and the Perform WP_DRESS ERP system for more than 600 users, the i550 provides very fast response times. Ahlers AG management has access to key financial data from a single system that provides continuous operations, and supports the company’s planned growth. Increased scalability is a key concept in the implementation

Gerhard Meinsen concludes, “Ahlers AG is very happy with the IBM System i5 550 Solution Edition for SAP software; it is a reliable infrastructure which should be fully capable of protecting us against disaster. The key benefit is peace of mind – I can sleep easy at night, knowing that our systems are safe.”