Case Study
Taiyo Yuden Europe GmbH
Direct line to Japan from the Proact Hybrid Cloud
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Challenge
From vehicles to smartphones and wearables to medical devices, electronic components from Taiyo Yuden play a crucial role in many products of the modern world. With more than 21,000 employees worldwide, the Japanese electronics group develops, produces, and sells electronic components such as capacitors, inductors, and circuit modules.
Taiyo Yuden Europe GmbH, based in Fürth, is responsible for product sales in Europe. With 90 employees, the company serves the European market, advises customers, and coordinates all European sales and marketing activities. Until recently, the entire server infrastructure was located on-premises. However, maintaining and further developing the system became increasingly burdensome for the five-person IT team.
“The cloud plays a strategically important role for us. Therefore, we decided some time ago to transfer responsibility for our server landscape to a service provider,” says Thomas Frenz, IT Organiser at Taiyo Yuden. “This step is motivated by several reasons. On the one hand, we have noticed for years how difficult it is to recruit good IT talent. On the other hand, the demands on our operational infrastructure are also increasing. By outsourcing the management of our server infrastructure and transferring it to a standardised cloud solution, we can better pool our resources and advance our core business.”
It was important for us to rely on a regional provider. With the Proact Hybrid Cloud, our infrastructure remains hosted in Germany. We were impressed by the excellent consulting and fair pricing.
Solution
Systematic, gradual migration within a few months
After the sales company defined the requirements for the cloud infrastructure, the search for a reliable service provider began. They ultimately chose Proact because the Proact Hybrid Cloud met all the criteria and a successful preliminary project had already established a mutual foundation of trust. “It was important for us to rely on a regional provider,” says Thomas Frenz. “After all, we process sensitive customer data that needs to be well protected. With the Proact Hybrid Cloud, our infrastructure remains hosted in Germany. In addition to the good advice, we were also impressed by the fair and transparent pricing.”
The migration of the virtual systems and their applications was ultimately carried out in stages to minimize IT disruption to business operations. More servers were moved week after week. After two to three months, the migration was successfully completed. Since then, Proact has been responsible for the operation of the virtual machines and administration down to the operating system level. However, as with any complex IT project, there were surprises and challenges that were not foreseeable in the original planning and had to be overcome.
The sweet spot between special requirements and best practices
The integration of the sales company into the corporate network presented particular challenges. To avoid any configuration effort at the Japanese headquarters, the infrastructure had to be externally mapped identically to the previous on-premises version. At the same time, very strict corporate network specifications had to be observed.
“Parallel to the migration to PHC, we updated the access rights in a firewall project. The configuration was very complex and challenging due to the strict specifications,” recalls Felix Reiser, Account Manager at Proact, who oversaw the project. “It was very exciting for us to cover the special requirements while consistently adhering to standards and relying on best practices. This required not only technical expertise but also creativity. The result is a clean, easily maintainable solution.”
A further difficulty arose from the fact that the provider initially rerouted the line from the company site to the Proact Hybrid Cloud differently than planned. This temporarily led to longer response times. “Even in critical moments, the Proact team kept a cool head,” says Thomas Frenz. “All team members were very committed, cared, and worked with us to develop suitable solutions.”
More time for user support and the further development of sales IT
As a result, Taiyo Yuden Europe GmbH benefits from a significantly streamlined on-site IT infrastructure. Instead of having to worry about its maintenance, care, and ongoing development, the five-person IT team has more time for what matters most: user support and IT-driven business support. Monitoring and the backup solution are now also the responsibility of Proact. Scalability, security, and availability are ensured thanks to a Tier 4 data center, certifications according to ISO 27001, ISO 27017, and IDW PS 951 / ISAE 3402 Type II, and ITIL-compliant operation.
Thanks to this new freedom, the sales company’s IT team can now tackle new projects that they were unable to complete for a long time due to resource constraints. These include, for example, the modernization of an outdated sales software system, which has since been replaced by a standard system. Or the conversion and processing of order and invoice data into suitable formats so that they can be seamlessly integrated into the headquarters’ SAP system. “We are very happy with the new setup,” says a delighted Thomas Frenz. “The basic infrastructure work is in good hands. We can now focus consistently on our core competency – namely, using IT to advance the sales of innovative electronic components.”
Benefits
- Streamlining the on-premise infrastructure by moving it to the PHC
- High availability and security through Tier 4 ISO 27001-certified data centers
- Data sovereignty through regional hosting in Germany
- Covering special requirements while adhering to standards
- Relief for the IT department, which can now focus on value creation
Key components
- Proact Hybrid Cloud
The basic infrastructure work is now in good hands. This allows us to focus consistently on our core competency – using IT to advance the sales of innovative electronic components.
About Taiyo Yuden
Taiyo Yuden Europe GmbH is the European sales subsidiary of a Japanese electronics group. The company’s core business is the manufacture of electronic components such as capacitors, inductors, filters, and component modules, such as wireless modules for Bluetooth or Wi-Fi and voltage converters.