The challenge was to consolidate two IT operations to provide a better service to users and save costs through central network and administration management.

Historically, Sauter was run autonomously, and subsidiaries made their own IT decisions. As a result, Sauter’s headquarters in Basel adopted a Microsoft infrastructure, while the German IT operation, based in Freiburg, has a long history with OpenText Open Enterprise Server (OES). Mr Thomas Bitzenhofer, Head of Corporate IT for Sauter, explains the challenge associated with this: “Users needed access to applications on both infrastructure stacks. Our engineers use complex building control software and access was arranged via VPN, using different credentials. We needed a more efficient and smooth solution for this. The company also realized that centralizing our IT operation would be much more cost effective.”

Sauter decided to merge its IT operations to provide seamless integration to all key applications, save IT resources, and create an environment that could be centrally managed.

OpenText Filr replaced Seafile, an open source file system. Filr provides mobile support and full AD integration for a consistent, secure, accessible experience, whether files are stored and shared from the Microsoft or OES environment.

To encourage team collaboration, Sauter used Microsoft Project. However, in the new consolidated infrastructure, open source products can operate seamlessly on the OES server. The organization now uses OpenProject, an open source project management system. This has significantly reduced license costs and, unlike Microsoft Project, OpenProject does not require a SharePoint server.

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