Datacom, Microsoft and Zespri complete world first in public cloud

Datacom New Zealand has successfully completed the world’s largest production SAP migration to the Microsoft Azure Cloud platform.

Datacom, the local integrator and service partner, migrated Zespri International’s global SAP platform along with other applications to Microsoft Azure.

The migration was completed ahead of schedule and Zespri Asia, Zespri Europe and Zespri New Zealand began working off the systems immediately.

Datacom assisted in the review of platforms, design and build of the network and platform on Azure, as well as implementing the service offering and platform support.

Initially a test environment was set up in Azure to trial the performance of SAP in the cloud. The results showed a response time equal to or better than offshore and indicated SAP landscapes would run efficiently on Azure.

David Duffy, Datacom Midlands, general manager says Datacom assessed the Microsoft Azure technology against Zespri’s needs in terms of cost, global reach, experience and alignment with software choices and found it was an ideal strategic business fit.

“We have a solid, longstanding partnership with Microsoft. While every customer has different needs, the Azure platform was a very good fit for Zespri – with a strong value proposition comprising software as a service (SaaS) and platform as a service (PaaS) solutions,” says Duffy.

Scott Green, Datacom, director ITM, says it is vital for customers to pick their technology partner first and then work with them to select the right infrastructure platform to fit their strategic needs, rather than the other way around.

Andrew Goodin, Zespri, global manager information systems, says, "You can’t be an expert in everything, and we wanted to focus on our core product, kiwifruit, and let our partners Datacom and Microsoft manage our IT infrastructure so we can scale without constraints."

“Datacom had the flexibility, technical knowledge, and can-do attitude to help us evaluate Azure and work toward our target of 100 percent public cloud,” he says.

Scott Green, Datacom, director ITM, says this is a great example of how a collaborative partnership - in this case between Zespri, Datacom and Microsoft - can deliver a world first.