BESA Technologies Moves Its SAP Landscape to AWS in Two Weeks
March 21, 2023
BESA Technologies' hosting provider was shutting down at the end of February, and its SAP system needed an upgrade before it could move. CONTAX upgraded BESA's SAP landscape and moved it to AWS in a two-week lift and shift, with secure VPN access for every office and for users on the road.
At a Glance
The Customer
BESA Technologies is an independent distributor that has grown over more than a decade into a respected stocking distributor of electronic components, serving partners worldwide. It has built its reputation for quality and trust by investing in growth, in its people and in its technology and processes.
The Challenge
BESA's hosting provider was shutting down at the end of February, and BESA had to find a new home for its SAP landscape quickly. Moving also meant upgrading. BESA ran an outdated version of Windows, and the newer versions were not compatible with its legacy SAP MaxDB database.
BESA also wanted secure VPN access to SAP for its users who work on the road, as well as for its offices around the world.
The Solution
BESA contacted CONTAX at the beginning of February. CONTAX put together a team of experienced Basis consultants and AWS architects across four time zones, so work on the project went on around the clock.
Infrastructure as code
CONTAX used AWS CDK and AWS CloudFormation to deploy BESA's infrastructure on AWS as code.
Operating system and database upgrade
The migration included an operating system migration and an SAP database upgrade, resolving the compatibility problem with the old MaxDB database.
Global offices connected
Seven site-to-site VPN connections link the Virtual Private Cloud to BESA's locations around the world.
Access on the road
AWS Client VPN lets authorized users outside the office reach all of BESA's applications and data.
The Results
- BESA's SAP landscape was upgraded and moved to AWS in two weeks, with very few hiccups
- The move was done before the old hosting provider shut down
- System administrators and users on the road reach BESA's SAP environment securely through the site-to-site VPN connections and AWS Client VPN
- BESA's SAP now runs on AWS, ready to scale as the business grows
"CONTAX's ability to assemble a team across four different time zones was a difference-maker. They worked seemingly around the clock to get everything prepped for our go-live. By the time we were actually cutting over to our new SAP environment on AWS, I was shocked at just how much had been accomplished in such a short time. I was very pleased with just how smoothly the project went considering the compressed time-frame that we were under."
About SAP on AWS from CONTAX
CONTAX is an AWS partner specializing in SAP workloads. Its Basis consultants and AWS architects plan and run SAP migrations to AWS, including operating system and database upgrades, network design and cutover. Learn more about SAP on AWS and SAP Basis.
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