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Svenska Fönster Selects Veeam and NetApp for Business Growth

Veeam not only enables restoration of our data in the event of a disaster, it also protects our virtual infrastructure, which makes up 98% of our operations. Veeam’s Cloud Data Management solution quite simply enables us to do business.
Mattias Forslindh
IT Project Manager
Svenska Fonster

The Business Challenge

Svenska Fönster manufactures hundreds of thousands of high-quality windows each year; however, the company is always keen to increase market share.

Before increasing market share, Svenska Fönster had to be sure it could manufacture more windows in a shorter timeframe. The company had invested in a state-of-the art factory, and it had hired and trained the best employees. Only one challenge remained: Inefficient IT operations because legacy backup couldn’t keep up with the company’s business-growth strategy.

“We needed to improve IT efficiency before increasing window production and market share,” said Mattias Forslindh, IT Project Manager at Svenska Fönster. “We had deployed Veeam and knew what it was capable of, but we needed to replace our old storage environment so Veeam could do what it does best: make data and applications available all the time.”

Forslindh said taking and removing VMware vSphere snapshots during backup and replication was putting a tremendous burden on virtual machines (VMs), creating a performance bottleneck in production. Backup and replication could only occur at night.

Recovery was an issue too. Recovering the four-terabyte VM that supports the company’s enterprise resource planning (ERP) system could take up to two days, which was unacceptable to the business.

“Our ERP system has to be available all the time because it keeps track of customers’ orders,” he explained. “If it’s not available, we can’t manufacture windows.”

Forslindh said inefficient IT operations caused the IT team to work overtime as well. Even routine maintenance caused performance problems in production, so it had to be completed during evenings and weekends. The team’s work-life balance was veering more toward work.

The Veeam Solution

Veeam Availability Suite integrates directly with Svenska Fönster’s new storage environment, NetApp ONTAP, to ensure the ERP system is always available for window production, enabling the company to increase market share. NetApp ONTAP is part of a FlexPod converged infrastructure comprised of Cisco UCS blades and NetApp AFF 300.

“Veeam integration with NetApp was a game-changer for us,” Forslindh said. “We simplified data protection and improved IT efficiency, enabling us to support our company’s business strategy to increase market share.”

Veeam orchestrates backup and replication through direct integration with VMware vSphere and NetApp ONTAP, leveraging storage snapshot functionality to reduce impact on the production environment. Veeam backs up and replicates nine TB across 200 VMs from ONTAP storage snapshots on-premises for fast, local recovery and off-premises for business continuity and disaster recovery.

“Because of the deep integration between Veeam and NetApp, our backup window decreased by 98%, going from five hours to five minutes, which means we can back up whenever it’s best for the business; we’re not limited to nighttime,” Forslindh said. “Recovery speed increased by 89%, so recovering our ERP system only takes a few hours, not days.”

Veeam also enables Svenska Fönster to do something not possible before.

“SureBackup verifies the recoverability of our backups,” Forslindh said. “This is another game-changer for us because we know with certainty that we can restore data from any recovery point we set.”

Forslindh said data protection has become so fast and easy that the IT team rarely has to work during non-business hours.

“Veeam and NetApp gave us back our evenings and weekends. They’ve reduced our administrative burden considerably, helping us improve our work-life balance.”

If the IT team runs into an issue or has a question, Forslindh said technical support from Veeam and NetApp are always available.

“I’ve worked with a lot of vendors over the years, and Veeam and NetApp offer the best technical support — there’s no comparison.”

The Results

Improves IT efficiency with 98% faster backup and 89% faster recovery
Veeam’s integration with NetApp ONTAP snapshots increases backup, replication and recovery speeds for Svenska Fönster, improving efficiency in the IT infrastructure, reducing the risk of data loss and increasing business agility.

“Veeam is an excellent solution on its own,” Forslindh said, “Deep integration with NetApp makes it the best solution.”

Supports an increase in window manufacturing, leading to greater market share
Veeam and NetApp helped Svenska Fönster ensure critical applications, including the ERP system, are available continuously so the company could increase window production.

Reduces the administrative burden on the IT team, improving work-life balance 
Veeam and NetApp are tightly integrated, making data protection more efficient, more reliable and easier to manage. The IT team works fewer evenings and weekends, providing a better balance between work life and family life.

Company:

Svenska Fönster is one of Europe’s leading and most environmentally friendly window manufacturers. The company’s head office and factory are in Edsbyn, Sweden, where more than 800 employees work. Svenska Fönster is part of Dovista, which in turn is owned by VKR Holding, a Danish holding and investment company with 16,000 employees in more than 41 countries.

Challenge:

Svenska Fönster wanted to increase market share, but first the company had to improve IT efficiency. Performance bottlenecks during backup and recovery made it difficult to consider an increase in window manufacturing.

Results:

  • Improves IT efficiency with 98% faster backup and 89% faster recovery
  • Supports an increase in window manufacturing, leading to greater market share
  • Reduces the administrative burden on the IT team, improving worklife balance