Success Story SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications Southern Industries Corporation

SPIC’s IT systems are critical to its business, handling operations from materials management to shipping—but as the company’s legacy infrastructure grew, performance was falling.

By deploying an SAP ERP solution running on SUSE® Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications, SPIC slashed the time taken to produce reports by 99.99%, accelerating decision-making. The business also saw IT performance more than double, while virtualized infrastructure will enable power savings of 25%.

Overview The Head of IT at SPIC said: “When I joined Incorporated in 1969 and headquartered SPIC, the company had been using a non- in , SPIC is one of ’s leading integrated, tailor-made application run- fertilizer manufacturers. The company’s ning on Oracle for around 15 years. This biggest client is the government of Tamil legacy system was showing its age, and Nadu, which purchases agro-products for required a dedicated team of five people subsidized distribution. working 24/7 to manage and maintain it. Southern Petrochemical Industries Employing 1,500 people, SPIC also has “What’s more, when people wanted to see Corporation at a Glance: operations in oil and natural gas, pharma- financial or performance information, we Southern Petrochemical Industries Corporation ceuticals, power, and biotechnology ap- had to go through a slow and cumbersome (SPIC) is one of India’s leading fertilizer plications in agriculture. Its products not process involving multiple applications to manufacturers, with further operations in power, only help sustain soil health, but also act as produce the relevant reports—forcing em- oil and gas, pharmaceuticals, and biotechnology. environment-friendly catalysts to increase ployees to wait a long time for information. Industry and Location food productivity to meet India’s demands. Chemical and , India “For example, month-closing reports took Challenge about two weeks to produce—so our mar- Product and Services SPIC’s IT systems are crucial to its busi- keting and financial teams had to wait for SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP ness, managing processes from materials the previous month’s financial information, Applications management to shipping. However, as it and then re-work their plans for the cur- grew, the company’s legacy infrastructure rent month accordingly. This slowed down Results was becoming a brake on innovation. decision-making across the business.” + Cuts time taken to produce reports by 99.99% + Increases IT performance by more than 2x Aware that these sluggish, cumbersome + Enables predicted power savings of 25% processes were holding it back, SPIC de- “Choosing SUSE Linux Enterprise cided to adopt a high-performance enter- Server to run our SAP technology prise resource planning (ERP) system. was the correct decision for our business—we’re now on Solution the right track for further SPIC evaluated a number of products be­ successful expansion.” fore selecting SAP Business Suite 4 SAP HANA (SAP S/4HANA), running on SUSE

Head of IT Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications. Southern Petrochemical Industries Corporation “In the past it took at least eight hours to run a report, whereas now we can get them at the click of a button. This cuts the time spent waiting for reports by around 99.99%—accelerating planning and decision-making.”

Head of IT Southern Petrochemical Industries Corporation

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“We talked to several companies to get a solutions, and our team has been im- sense of what would best suit our needs,” pressed by the high quality of SUSE’s said the Head of IT. “We were impressed documentation.” by the security and flexibility of the SUSE solution, as well as the high level of experi- Results ence and availability of both the SUSE and With SAP S/4HANA running on SUSE Linux SAP teams.” Enterprise Server for SAP Applications, SPIC benefits from fast, reliable support SUSE Linux Enterprise Server has a first- for its business processes. rate reputation as the leading Linux distri- bution for enterprise organizations running “In the past it took at least eight hours to SAP. It is performance-optimized and con- run a report, whereas now we get them at figured to provide the best possible sup- the click of a button,” said the Head of IT. port for SAP applications, and is regularly “This cuts time spent waiting for reports updated with new optimizations as SAP by around 99.99%—accelerating planning releases new versions of its products. and decision-making.”

By choosing SAP S/4HANA, SPIC benefits SPIC is impressed by the high perfor- from the latest SAP functionality built on mance, flexibility and security of its new the in-memory HANA data platform for ac- solutions, which enable the company to celerated business processes. SPIC opted run smoothly and at reduced cost. for two modules initially: SAP S/4HANA Simple Logistics and SAP S/4HANA Fi­ “We have far more control over access nance—giving the company integrated ac- levels since moving to the new platform, cess to all business data, and streamlining boosting security,” said the Head of IT. finance and logistics processes for greater “We’ve also seen performance more than efficiency and flexibility. double, and we need only three people to maintain the SAP landscape, versus five As part of the adoption of SAP HANA, SPIC for the legacy system.” used the Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM) virtualization technology built into What’s more, SPIC estimates that using the SUSE Linux Enterprise platform. With KVM virtualization to decrease the number five virtual servers running on each of of physical servers it runs will cut energy three new physical servers, the company costs by around 25%—good for the envi- has been able to eliminate 15 legacy serv- ronment, and for its bottom line. ers—reducing complexity, boosting ease of management and cutting costs. “Choosing SUSE Linux Enterprise Server to run our SAP technology was the cor- The Head of IT said: “Change after such rect decision for our business—we’re now a long time is never easy, but we haven’t on the right track for further successful had any issues since moving to the new expansion,” said the Head of IT.

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