Why SUSE displaced Red Hat at SAGAFLOR

SAGAFLOR AG has embraced in-memory computing to give its staff instant insight into business performance and to streamline operations. Deploying SAP HANA on SUSE® Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications enabled the company to take advantage of a tailor-made distribution with a range of optimisations, paving the way for a wider move away from Red Hat Enterprise Linux to standardise on a single high-availability, high-performance platform with SUSE, ensuring simplified operations.

“Setting up a system optimised for SAP software used to be tricky.
Thanks to SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications,
we can deploy a new SAP system 40 percent faster than before with
Red Hat Enterprise Linux.”
RALF GERHARD, Deputy Head of IT and Group Lead
Development SAGAFLOR AG

SAGAFLOR AG, headquartered in Kassel, Germany, is a trade cooperation of inde­pendent garden and pet shops operating across Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The company offers procurement, ERP and point-of-sales solutions, and market­ing and e-commerce services. Its 600 inde­pendent businesses employ 10,000 people and run 900 stores, achieving a combined annual revenue of 1.2 billion Euro.

To help drive sales, SAGAFLOR wanted to give managers real-time insight into cus­tomer purchasing habits, profit margins and stock levels. Jörg Panthöfer, General Manager and Head of IT at SAGAFLOR, explained: “Our approach to standardising and streamlin­ing operations has been recognised by the industry, and we received an award in the Best Enterprise Solution category for our SAP-based ERP solution from the EHI Retail Institute. We wanted to continue building on this success.”

Providing real-time insight into operations proved a challenge for SAGAFLOR’s ex­isting IT systems. SAGAFLOR decided to deploy SAP HANA on SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications to better support transactional and analytical work­loads on a single database. SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications is certified by SAP and hardware vendors that offer optimised systems, enabling SAGAFLOR to choose its infrastructure partner freely.

With SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications, the company now runs SAP software powered by SAP HANA, on a fast, scalable platform that allows SAGAFLOR to roll out its retail solution to more partner businesses.