ObjectiveInfuse the SAP environment with higher IT efficiency,disaster resilience, and faster system response to meetgrowth and market changes

ApproachMigrate to HP Integrity servers and engageHP Services to implement virtualization and disasterrecovery capabilities

Business technology improvements:• Forty percent faster response time for SAP users

• Improved operational efficiency and resourceutilization

• Dynamic alignment of resources with IT demand

• Reduced operational costs (eliminates the expense offive physical servers)

• Prevention of manual errors and work delays due toinsufficient computing capacity

• System integration across the supply chain

Business outcomes: • Continuity of business operations• Increased productivity• Enhanced customer service• Improved decision-making and information access•Faster reporting and business intelligence mining

Competing minute-by-minute globallySociedade Central de Cervejas (The Society ofCentral Portugal Beers and Beverages) makes thebrands people love to drink. Headquartered inVialonga, Portugal, the country’s second largestbrewery is a part of Scottish & Newcastle Plc, aninternational beverage business with positions in 15European and Asian countries and exports to morethan 60 countries. Sociedade Central de Cervejas(www.centralcervejas.pt) has produced and marketedbeer, water, and soft drinks for nearly 75 years. Itspopular brands, including Sagres and Luso, addressthe company’s mission to be the best beveragecompany in Portugal, sustaining growth andgenerating maximum investment return.

Portuguese beverage company drinks in thebenefits of an HP Virtual Server EnvironmentSociedade Central de Cervejas refreshes SAP platform withHP Integrity servers and Dual-Core Intel® Itanium® processors

“With HP Integrity servers and HP-UX 11i, we have technology that will gothe distance and enable us to stay competitive and innovative.” Margarida Machado, Information System Manager, Sociedade Central deCervejas (SCC)

HP customer casestudy: HP Integrityservers with mission-critical virtualization,HP Services, andHP StorageWorksarrays heighten ITresponse

Industry:Manufacturing

To produce large quantities of beer 24x7 and managethe warehouse and logistic processes that accompanythat activity, all areas must integrate into thecompany’s supply chain. That is why technology playsa prominent role at SCC. “We use technology to get tomarket faster, address product innovation and competein local and international environments,” saysMargarida Machado, SCC’s Information SystemManager.

The importance of adopting technology to competeand meet market demands became more pronouncedwhen Scottish & Newcastle Plc acquired SCC in June2003. “Since then, we have expanded our customerbase and distribution points and needed to increaseour flexibility and agility. We also had to make surethat flexible and efficient technology supported ourbusiness processes,” Machado notes.

Quenching the capacity thirstSCC implemented SAP R/3 and mySAP CustomerRelationship Management (mySAP CRM) to deliverbetter customer service and reduce operational costs.SAP modules assist costing, planning, accounting,replenishment, customer service, customer relationshipmanagement, and master data management activities.

However, the older HP servers running theseapplications were reaching their capacity limits, andthe diverse operating system environment (Microsoft®

Windows® and HP-UX 11i) multiplied maintenancechores. SCC needed to move to an adaptiveinfrastructure, one that would help the staff respondquicker to business needs. As a longtime user ofHP hardware, services, and technical support, SCC

accepted HP’s recommendation to convert its HP 9000servers with PA-RISC processors to HP Integrity serverswith Dual-Core Intel Itanium processors. The platformincorporates the HP Virtual Server Environment (VSE)with high availability, partitioning, and utility pricing.Rounding out the IT framework are HP-UX 11i,HP Serviceguard and HP Metrocluster software, andHP StorageWorks systems.

“We have been very pleased with all of theHP equipment we have used. HP technology fits ourneeds and helps us supply the back-end systems for ourinternal clients to address the market,” Machado says.

Putting the fizz back into SAP processes Switching to Itanium-fueled HP Integrity rx8640,rx7640, and rx7620 Servers delivered versatility andcost efficiency. The company derives higher resourceutilization from the servers and faster response time forall SAP functions—particularly high-use modules likesales, technical assistance, Advanced Planner andOptimizer (APO), Business Warehouse (BW) reporting,and customer relationship management (CRM).

“When we were deciding on our configuration, wetalked with the HP sales team and consultants aboutour needs and initiatives. Like they have always donebefore, HP designed a solution appropriate to ourobjectives. It was extremely valuable to have these ITexperts give us relevant information and guide ourdecision. HP Services gave us a lot of confidence thatour decision was right on track.”Margarida Machado, Information System Manager,Sociedade Central de Cervejas

“The beverage market will continue to beaggressive and require us to make quickadjustments. The HP Virtual ServerEnvironment lets us stretch our resources andtailor them to the computing workloads wehave at a specific time.” Margarida Machado, Information SystemManager, Sociedade Central de Cervejas

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The right decision brought higher performance via anHP Integrity rx8640 Server running HP-UX 11i v2 atSCC’s Vialonga data center and an Integrity rx7640 atthe Queijas data center. “SAP BW runs much faster onIntegrity servers, which is crucial for reporting anddatabase querying,” Machado notes.

Deployed with HP Metrocluster and HP Serviceguardsoftware, the servers work together as a redundantcluster over distance, enabling SCC to recover swiftlyfrom an unplanned failure. “We have a critical need tomaintain access to our production systems 24 hours aday, every day of the year. Orders are coming in,invoices are going out and documentation does notstop at the night shift. Our factory is working aroundthe clock. We opted for HP Integrity servers runningHP-UX 11i and Metrocluster to provide continuous highavailability and future scalability for our mostimportant applications,” says Machado.

A welcomed jolt of flexibility and efficiencyThe IT staff chose hard partition (HP nPars) and virtualpartition (HP vPars) configurations on the Integrityservers, which allow them to stack several applicationson a single server. The staff assigns either two or fourIntel Itanium processor cores to each partition. Businessdirectives often prompt the need for additionalresources in the production environment. Then, the stafffires up more memory, processors, and cell boards ata fraction of their regular price with HP InstantCapacity (iCAP) on the Integrity rx8640 Server. Thereserve capacity stays inactive until needed.

“The beer and water business is highly seasonal,”Machado explains. “The curve is much higher duringthe summer, and we have another peak at the end ofthe year over Christmas and New Year’s Eve. During

these periods, we often receive customer orders thatneed to be filled during the evening shift. WithHP Instant Capacity, we can give our factory anddistribution personnel the computing power they needso they don’t have to wait until the next day to runreports or create documentation in the system. Havingthe reserve capacity available has prevented manualerrors and reduced work delays that we had in thepast. Now, we are more responsive to our customers.”

Another VSE component gives SCC a flexible test,development, and quality assurance environment.Employing HP Integrity Virtual Machines (Integrity VM)on the Integrity rx7620 Server, the IT staff createdmultiple isolated virtual servers for SAP modules.Additionally, SCC saves the expense and maintenanceof deploying at least five physical servers to conductSAP application testing.

Gusto for the next phase An important part of SCC’s disaster recovery strategy islinking the Integrity servers to high-capacity storagearea networks based on HP StorageWorks EnterpriseVirtual Arrays at each data center. HP StorageWorksContinuous Access software replicates dataasynchronously from one EVA to the other to protectinformation in the event of a disaster. The failoverinterval from one site to the other is less than 15 minutes.

“With critical business processes relying on IT, ourultimate goal is no stoppage. HP storage technology isa key in providing data integrity and the rightinformation at the right time to our users.”Margarida Machado, Information System Manager,Sociedade Central de Cervejas

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Efficient, flexible SAP computing environment with disaster recoverycapabilities

Primary applications:• SAP R/3 Enterprise 4.7: Financials, Business Warehouse (BW),

Advanced Planner and Optimizer (APO), sales, technical assistance,and customer relationship management (CRM)

Primary hardware:• HP Integrity rx8640 Server (six partitions for the SAP R/3, BW

databases, and APO; and two application instances)

• HP Integrity rx7640 Server (six partitions for SAP R/3, APO, and BWprocessing)

• HP Integrity rx7620 Server (HP nPars and vPars for development andquality assurance)

• HP 9000 servers (rp3440)

• HP StorageWorks 6000 Enterprise Virtual Array (14.4 TB rawcapacity; six enclosures)

• HP StorageWorks 5000 Enterprise Virtual Array (7.0 TB raw capacity;six enclosures)

• HP StorageWorks 4/8 SAN Switches (4 Gb/s and 2 Gb/s)

Primary software:• HP Virtual Server Environment: virtual partitions (vPars), hard partitions

(nPars), Integrity Virtual Machines (Integrity VM), and Instant Capacity(iCAP)

• HP-UX 11i v2

• HP Serviceguard

• HP Metrocluster

• HP StorageWorks Continuous Access EVA

• HP StorageWorks Command View EVA

• Oracle® Database 10.2

HP Services• IT Consolidation and Migration

• Deployment and Support

• Care Pack

• Business Critical Server and Storage Technology Services

Customer solution at a glance

Another key is HP Services, which has forged close tieswith the SCC IT department over the years. The IT staffhas seen HP’s strong competency in action on anumber of occasions. For the last migration,HP consultants and engineers configured and installedthe Integrity servers and operating system, integratingthe Metrocluster software with the SAP applications.They also moved one of the storage arrays andresources to the disaster recovery site. To minimizedisruption, they tested all systems and set up acontingency plan.

“Nobody was aware when we changed from onesolution to the other, which was good,” Machadocomments. “But they did notice the SAP system runningmuch faster.”

Now that the switch is complete, SCC is realizing thebenefits of a more integrated supply chain, fasterreporting, and business continuity enhancements. Withan adaptive infrastructure to support SAP upgrades,the company can continue its upward climb.

“HP has been more than just a technology provider.We consider HP to be an IT advisor who is helping usachieve our goal to be number one in the beer market.It gives us confidence to know that HP technology ishere for us, helping us produce our beverages 24hours a day, seven days a week,” Machadoconcludes.

To learn more, visit www.hp.com© Copyright 2008 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. The information contained herein is subject tochange without notice. The only warranties for HP products and services are set forth in the express warrantystatements accompanying such products and services. Nothing herein should be construed as constituting anadditional warranty. HP shall not be liable for technical or editorial errors or omissions contained herein.

Intel and Itanium are trademarks of Intel Corporation in the U.S. and other countries. Microsoft and Windows areU.S. registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. Oracle is a registered trademark of Oracle Corporationand/or its afilliates.

4AA0-xxxxENW, June 2008