Case Studies > Banking-Finance

Consolidation Makes Cents

Implementing an IBM System z10 Enterprise Linux Server helps EFiS EDI Finance Service AG save money and the environment

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Customer: EFiS EDI Finance Service AG Headquarters: Dreieich, Germany Business: Outsourced application provider for banking, financial institutions and corporations Challenge: Reducing costs, providing better security, increasing computing performance, improving disaster recovery and keeping green Solution: Consolidating other Linux OS-based servers to a faster IBM Enterprise Linux Server and using its existing IBM System z9 Business Class machine as a disaster-recovery box Hardware: IBM System z10 Enterprise Linux Server and a System z9 Business Class server Software: Novell SUSE Linux Enterprise Server

Slimming down the application base at Dreieich, Germany-based ABK System GmbH affiliate EFiS EDI Finance Service AG using Linux* on System z* has not only reduced expenses, but has also positioned the company to improve customer service and reduce its impact on the environment.

Always on the leading edge of technology, EFiS was one of the first organizations to use Linux for mission-critical applications in 2004. At the time, the company converted its COBOL-based banking application to run on Linux on System z, as well as IBM AIX*, HP-UNIX* and Sun Solaris. More recently, EFiS migrated more of its application base to Linux. In 2009, for example, it migrated many AIX, HP and Sun application instances to an IBM System z9* Business Class running Linux. This allowed EFiS to streamline its IT environment through consolidation and take further advantage of the power of Novell SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) running on System z solutions.

EFiS continues to move forward by adopting new, optimized systems to further its application-serving goals. To that end, it recently migrated from the System z9 BC to IBM’s new System z10* platform-based Enterprise Linux Server running Novell SLES.

“With the System z10, we can consolidate even more to save additional energy costs and further reduce our carbon use.” — Ernst Bauer, COO with EFiS

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