Reference Story: Key Success Factors of TTTech’s New IT Infrastructure

TTTech, together with Bacher Systems and scalable, cost-efficient technologies from NetApp, implemented a comprehensive concept for its new IT infrastructure — under challenging conditions.. 

TTTech: A Global High-Tech Company. 

TTTech is an Austrian company specializing in the development of fail-safe technologies. Its industry focus includes autonomous driving, Industry 4.0, and aerospace. All products and services are based exclusively on highly innovative software technologies. Founded in 1998 as a spin-off of the Vienna University of Technology, the TTTech Group today employs approximately 2,500 people. The group includes TTTech Computertechnik AG, TTTech Auto AG, TTControl GmbH, and TTTech Industrial Automation AG.

The Challenge: Limited Scalability and a New Data Center Location 

Due to a wide range of specialized projects, TTTech faced significant difficulties scaling its IT systems. Core areas like computing, storage, virtualization, backup, and networking required a unified, holistic approach. Additionally, the company needed to relocate its data center, as the existing site had reached its limits in terms of power consumption, cooling, and space. In short: a complete infrastructure concept — including physical changes — was needed.

„Our projects in industries like automotive, aerospace, or manufacturing are highly specific. Developers either need significant computing power or large amounts of storage — often both“, explains Günther Fischer, Director of IT at TTTech.

A rough capacity plan for the next three to five years served as the basis for a tendering process. TTTech aimed to implement the full solution with a reliable and capable partner.

It’s worth noting that the project kicked off at a particularly critical time — at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Solution: Not Just Storage — A Complete IT Infrastructure. 

When it comes to large-scale infrastructure projects, TTTech identified four key priorities: cost-efficiency, scalability, functionality, and collaboration with a reliable partner.

Equally important was finding a partner capable not only of delivering storage solutions, but also of integrating virtualization, data center networking, and computing capabilities into a complete strategy.

As today’s data volumes are growing faster than ever, smart and future-proof solutions are essential. The NetApp Cloud Tiering Service allows TTTech to both reduce costs and expand data volumes easily. It also ensures secure offloading of data when needed.

Another key component was the NetApp MetroCluster, which — in conjunction with virtualization and data center networking — provided a cost-effective, long-term business continuity solution tailored to TTTech’s needs.

The Implementation: Bacher Systems, NetApp, and a Greenfield Approach 

With all requirements for functionality and scalability met, TTTech selected NetApp. One decisive advantage was NetApp’s S3 interface — a unique feature that enables flexible future cloud expansion without requiring an immediate decision.
The full project implementation was entrusted to Bacher Systems, a long-standing partner in virtualization and storage infrastructure. Their comprehensive approach, combined with migration expertise, made them the ideal choice.

The move to a new location allowed for a greenfield strategy, as Günther Fischer explains: „We were able to test everything from the ground up — things you normally can’t in a live environment, like failover or load testing.They also tested the guaranteed compression rate — a challenge due to TTTech’s diverse data types. Working closely with Bacher Systems, the causes were analyzed, and NetApp extended capacity within the contractual framework without issue.
The migration began with the most critical data and services, followed by step-by-step relocation of remaining systems. One major requirement was maintaining uninterrupted business operations — especially for developers. This was successfully achieved."

 Die Highlights: A Holistic Approach with Full-Scale Integration

The project began during the early days of the pandemic and the related supply chain issues — yet everything went according to plan with Bacher Systems. Timelines and budget were both met,” says Günther Fischer.

Despite COVID-19 and lockdown-related risks, a comprehensive end-to-end solution was realized with NetApp and Bacher Systems. Careful planning and strategic project management contributed to the project’s success, enabling a seamless migration.

NetApp also proved to be the ideal technology partner to support TTTech’s long-term growth, thanks to innovative and scalable solutions.

Risk mitigation is only possible through holistic thinking and planning. For TTTech, this project highlighted the value of having a partner who understands and addresses challenges from every angle.

The Benefits: High-Level Scalability and Cost Efficiency  

The benefits of the new infrastructure are substantial for TTTech’s IT department.
Günther Fischer especially values NetApp’s Cloud Tiering Service: We can now offload data that is no longer in active use. That significantly improves cost efficiency.” NetApp Cloud Tiering is a hybrid storage solution that combines high-performance flash storage with cost-effective media. This includes both on-premise storage and cloud-based storage via the S3 interface. Cloud Tiering manages the storage pool without compromising on manageability or performance. By offloading inactive data, overall operating costs are significantly reduced.

Conclusion: Complex Projects Require a 360° Perspective and a Reliable Partner 

Executing a complete infrastructure project under challenging conditions, such as a pandemic lockdown, demands a well-thought-out and holistic approach.

Beyond the technological innovations and economic benefits, one key factor stood out: collaboration.
With an experienced and responsible partner like Bacher Systems, highly complex solutions — such as the one for TTTech — can succeed even in difficult times.

Solution Components 

NETAPP Products 

NetApp AFF A300 4-Node MetroCluster IP

NetApp E-Series Backup2Disk Storage

On Command Management Software

 

Additional Components: 

Cisco Nexus 9300 & 3500 Switches

VMware vSphere Virtualization

 

Public Realease: May 2022