KNAPP

TOGETHER ON A JOURNEY INTO THE FUTURE

The globally active technology company KNAPP relies on an innovative network design by Cisco, which is designed, implemented and maintained by the IT service provider NTS. As an add-on in the UCS sector, KNAPP recently decided for UCS-X, a flexible Hybrid-Cloud infrastructure.

More than 6.500 employees and approximately 55 locations of the KNAPP Group globally are shaping logistics, an industry sector of the future. KNAPP understands itself as a Value Chain Tech Partner and provides intelligent automatization technologies and comprehensive software solutions from one source to its customers in order to master the challenges of digitally driven value-added chains. Reputable and successful businesses such as Zalando, Adidas or the Würth Group count on solutions from KNAPP for the structuring of their value-added chains. This success model needs to be streamlined and made sustainable by means of IT technology. Here, KNAPP relies on an innovative network design by Cisco and NTS. Basic requirements for the choice of partner respectively network were security, availability and a reliable Managed Service.

“For us it is essential that critical issues are detected before the damage is done or before downtimes occur.“

ALEXANDER ALDRIAN Vice President Corporate IT, KNAPP

Cisco DNA-Center meets KNAPP-DNA

For KNAPP, an efficient and secure operation is essential, especially when the network basis, which acts as a backbone for central IT services, is concerned. Therefore, the new network is built on Cisco Digital Network Architecture (DNA). It is the basic idea of the DNA center to simplify the manual administration of the network and its components by means of intuitive controls, extensive automation and analytics, and making it more efficient at the same time. IT teams are able to intuitively carry out processes for design, provision, guidelines and warranty by means of a central management dashboard.

Proactiveness is the new reaction: NTS Managed Service

The rapid increase in the number of devices to be networked, the increased attack surface offered by the expanding network, the increasing flexibility expected, but also the growing complexity require a proven, secure and stable technology service. “Away from reactive and towards proactive,” says Alexander Aldrian, Vice President Corporate IT at KNAPP, describing one of the major benefits that KNAPP is demonstrably experiencing with the NTS Managed Service. “Our business has to run – guaranteed – even at off-peak times, on public holidays and at weekends. It is essential for us to identify critical issues before any damage occurs or downtime occurs.”

It is precisely at this critical point that KNAPP relies on the managed services of NTS and transfers operational responsibility for the company’s own network to NTS. The range of services includes 24/7 monitoring, incident and problem management, change and release management and reporting. The measurable result is higher availability and less downtime.

“In the case of NTS we appreciate their focus and the specialization. State-of-the-art approaches and KNAPP specific features are ideally identified and combined by NTS.“

ALEXANDER ALDRIAN Vice President Corporate IT, KNAPP

Global cooperation in the neighbourhood in Styria

Despite digitalization, it is a major concern for KNAPP to be as close as possible to the customer. This advantage is also visible in the partnership between NTS and KNAPP. Convincing factors are the immediate neighbourhood as well as the cooperation itself that functions smoothly. On top of that one cannot ignore the similar corporate developments. Both companies represent similar dynamics in business development, and both are very successful in their respective fields nationally as well as on a global level. As a further plus point, corporate cultures and corporate values harmonize very well.

“Despite digitalization, local proximity is important for us, because it is easier to replace technologies, whereas this is not true for collaboration in a team! We see it as a considerable added value when a partner is aware of our structures in the headquarter and is therefore able to integrate it into their solutions. This is well understood by NTS. Thus, we are able to provide our IT services globally and efficiently for all our locations”, explains Alexander Aldrian.

FACTS

  • LAN, WLAN
  • DNA Center
  • ISE
  • 250 Switches und 400 Access Points
  • NTS Managed Service Network
  • NTS Managed Monitor
  • NTS Support 24/7
  • UCS-X als flexible Hybrid-Cloud-Infrastruktur
ABOUT KNAPP
  • Technological company for digitalization and automation
  • > 55 locations
  • > 6.000 employees globally
  • Revenue FY 2020/21: 1.06 billion Euro
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