07 October 2004

«We were able to unite the personnel from Serono, Swisscom, IBM, Safe Host and the removal company towards the single goal of ‘24-hour synchronisation’. Everyone made an effort to bring their expertise to the table in order to reach the goal together. Team spirit was the crucial factor in creating a genuine work of art!» [...]

An IT concept at the dynamic Serono pace

The expertise of Swisscom Enterprise Solutions in the area of data communication is the starting point for the cooperation with Serono.

Serono, a company with an international reputation and a world leader in the field of biotechnology, is distinguished by its growth and dynamism, which have urged its IT department to undertake considerable challenges. Thereby, the following question arises: Must the Data Center move or be allocated to suppliers? Swisscom Enterprise Solutions has the solution.

With more than 4,600 employees in more than 45 countries, Serono is one of the world’s leading firms in the area of biotechnology. The company distributes eight different medicines. As a world-wide market leader in the treatment of sterility, Serono is also very wellrespected in the field of neurology as well as in the treatment of metabolism and growth problems, and has recently become involved in the treatment of psoriasis. In 2003 Serono had a turnover of more than 2 billion dollars and a net profit of 390 million dollars. The charismatic general director Ernesto Bertarelli, winner of the 2003 America’s Cup, was able to communicate values such as team spirit, the will to win and the striving to transcend oneself in his company as well as for the Alinghi yachting team. We share these values and are pleased that Serono has chosen our solution, which allows us to also participate in the success of the Swiss company.

The IT problem: growth management

CIO Frédéric Wohlwend is responsible for the management of all of the company’s IT needs. 140 employees around the world follow his instructions. «That is a comparatively low figure,» he emphasises. He adds that though investment in information technologies was undertaken rather late, luckily for the business it was done intensely. As a result, the company can profit from modern, high-quality solutions today. He believes that it is important for the Data Center, the «heart of information and communication in a company», to follow the rapid growth in society. «Our organisation is strongly centralised,» explains Frédéric Wohlwend. «Everything is concentrated here in Geneva. When, for example, one of our workers in Japan prints out an invoice, this process is carried out through a server
which is located here.» The quantity of data increases daily. This results in a proportional increase in the physical capabilities of our server. The most powerful require energy resources of the same magnitude. This uncontrolled growth of data and energy resources began to trouble Frédéric Wohlwend. The risk of a breakdown that would have serious consequences for the company was increasing.

An overnight solution.

Frédéric Wohlwend took on the problem, asking several partner companies to submit proposals for a solution. None of these satisfied him and the situation became more urgent. He had discussed the problem with Nicolas Katsis, his Key Account Manager at Swisscom Enterprise Solutions. Mr. Katsis got in contact with one of his partners and immediately began to consult with representatives from Safe Host SA. This firm offers safe solutions for computer storage capacity. From his first meeting with Safe Host, Frédéric Wohlwend was convinced by the correctness of the concept as well as by the presentation a few days later. The plan was not to negotiate a supplier contract, but rather to transfer the Data Center to the premises of Safe Host, whereby Swisscom Enterprise Solutions was to supply the interface with the partner Safe Host for the provision of space and the secure data connections from and within the individual locations of Serono. This involves a first-class service for the Opticallink data transfer from Swisscom, which offers up to 32 clear channels independent from protocol, with a maximum of security and, thanks to the Swisscom Network Management Center, customer service around the clock.

Team play

The relocation and reactivation of the Serono Data Center represented a huge challenge. No fewer than 90 servers, spread over 29 racks, with a total value of 11 million Swiss francs, had to be dismounted, transported across the city, reassembled and put back into operation - all on one weekend. «That all works transparently and, thanks to the back-up IT of the main data server in Boston, without a second of downtime,» explains Frédéric Wohlwend with satisfaction. «Our workers weren’t aware that anything had happened.» This logistical masterstroke was only made possible by a team of specialists from different fields. «We were able to unite the personnel from Serono, Swisscom, IBM, Safe Host and the removal company towards the single goal of ‘24-hour synchronisation’. Everyone made an effort to bring their expertise to the table in order to reach the goal together. Team spirit was the crucial factor in creating a genuine work of art!» It is not surprising that Frédéric Wohlwend is happy with the result. In his opinion, even the fact that now one also thinks of the relocation of some of the servers left at the location as well as telecommunications equipment has made the solution worthwhile. «This relocation is of an exclusively physical nature. The equipment remains in our possession and, thanks to constant monitoring, we retain full control over it.»