BasisOne, a member of the Swicon360 group of companies and Africa’s first SAP-accredited hosting provider, has partnered with business network and IT services provider Vodacom Business to provide a fully managed hosting solution to users of SAP business software. The partnership forms an essential part of BasisOne’s delivery of a world-class managed hosting and disaster recovery solution for users of the SAP application.
“By appointing Vodacom Business as our facilities hosting partner we can guarantee a comprehensive network coverage solution to all our customers, providing them with the relevant access services for connectivity for either single or multiple office sites around the country,” says BasisOne Business Development Director Warren Small. “Clients can either connect directly to Vodacom Business’ MPLS network via traditional leased services to access their SAP system, or they can use the Internet to access their system via our award-winning Identity Management solution, enabling a secure, compliant access platform for customers hosting their SAP systems.”
This concept of a “cloud computing environment” provides an organisation’s employees with the ability to work from anywhere at any time, Small explains. “Multiple locations and sites are now able to tap into the relevant SAP applications and operate as if the system is on site. Additionally, our award-winning integrated Novell Identity Management (IDM) Solution bridges the gap between identity and security to provide a real-time, holistic view of the enterprise, addressing governance and regulatory compliance requirements.”
“This compliance management platform (CMP) cross-validates identity, access and policy information in real time, so the business always knows who is accessing what, when they are doing it and if they are authorised to do so,” he continues. “In turn, if situations arise that are out of the norm, the platform takes appropriate action in real time, including sending simple notifications, initiating full remediation (such as revoking user access), or both, depending on the organisation’s policy.”
BasisOne selected Vodacom Business as its infrastructure partner due to its superior infrastructure platform. Together BasisOne and Vodacom Business are delivering next generation Software as a Service (SaaS), as part of this new cloud service offering. The certified SAP hosting environment, utilising a virtualisation platform, allows customers to benefit from dynamic provisioning, management and monitoring of their SAP system landscape. Based on this model, BasisOne is able to deliver a flexible, efficient SAP application management service. Organisations are empowered to only pay for what they use. If required, additional compute resources can be provided on demand.
“Our customers no longer have to purchase infrastructure catering for expected growth over three to five years,” says Small. ”Here system resources are running at 40 to 50 per cent utilisation. Our customers are able to precisely size their required SAP compute requirements and expand when required.”
Customers now have the ability to focus on their core business and fully outsource their SAP technical requirements. BasisOne will manage the complete application stack, from system landscape, operating system, database and SAP Basis administration requirements.
“Our service offering allows customers to fully concentrate on their business requirements, without having to source the necessary technical skills to manage the middleware stack and system landscape,” Small adds.
BasisOne and Vodacom Business are working together to roll out SAP-managed hosting services in other countries in Africa. “Providing PoPs in Nigeria and Tanzania will enable us to address the demand for managed SAP outsourced services in neighbouring countries, enabling organisations with multiple offices dispersed over a geographical location to have a consolidated environment,” Small concludes. |
