CASE STUDY

OverviewTo respond to increasing competition, Merkl IT decided to enhance its customer service by expanding its offerings, but first needed to cut the time spent by staff on cumbersome administrative tasks. Merkl IT replaced its previous servers with the easy-to-manage Flex System, allowing staff to spend more time on more productive activities, such as developing new business services. Halving the time needed to provision new systems helps Merkl IT respond faster to customer requests, raising satisfaction; an 80 percent reduction in cable costs lowers operational expenses.

Founded in 2007 and based in Munich, Merkl IT specializes in providing reliable,

cost-effective cloud-based services to mid-size companies across Europe.

Competition in the cloud computing market has been intensified by a large influx of

new entrants plus a shift in focus by existing IT service providers. Merkl IT decided to

distinguish itself by excelling in customer service, achieved by expanding its offering

with on-site and helpdesk support for end users and devices.

Maximilian Merkl, Managing Partner of Merkl IT, explains, “The only way that we

could expand our offering without adding to our IT team was cutting down on

day-to-day administration. By freeing our staff from time-consuming, manual work,

we allowed them to instead focus on making the company stand out from

the crowd.”

Merkl IT examined a range of solutions, including products from HP and Cisco, and

decided to replace its existing blade servers with the Flex System.

The Flex System features compute nodes based on x86 technology, and

supports Merkl IT’s Software as a Service (SaaS) and Infrastructure as a Service

(IaaS) offerings.

“ Flex System provides us with state-of-the-art technology that supports the needs of our business and our clients alike.”

— Maximilian Merkl, Managing Partner, Merkl IT

Merkl IT responds to customer demands twice as fast with the high-performance Flex System

COMPUTER SERVICES

CASE STUDYCOMPUTER SERVICES

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As Merkl IT wins new customers and its existing clients’ businesses grow, the firm

can add new server and storage nodes to the Flex System quickly and easily to keep

pace with demand. The Flex System comes complete with integrated networking

infrastructure, so Merkl IT only needs to purchase the cables that link the Flex

System to other devices. This has reduced the number of external cables that the

firm needs to purchase by 80 percent.

Maximilian Merkl remarks, “The Flex System has cut the cost of external cabling by

80 percent, keeping our own operational expenses low so that we can pass savings

onto our clients.”

Merkl IT is confident that the Flex System will support the company’s strategy of

positioning itself as a leader in customer service.

Maximilian Merkl explains, “Our IaaS and SaaS customers benefit from the

outstanding reliability of the Flex System provided by the system’s redundancy. On

our side, low administrative requirements allow IT staff to focus on more productive

activities, such as developing new services.”

Deploying the Flex System solution has also enabled the company to accelerate its

response to client demands.

Maximilian Merkl continues, “With the Flex System, we can now provision systems

twice as quickly as before, helping us react faster to our customers’ requests, and

ultimately offer them a better service. Basing our cloud offerings on the ultra-reliable

Flex System means that even small companies can profit from the reliability and

scalability of cutting-edge technology.”

For more informationTo learn more about Lenovo Data Center Systems solutions, contact your Lenovo

Sales Representative or Lenovo Business Partner, or visit: lenovo.com/systems

LYC12422-WWEN-01

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Solution componentsHardware

Flex System chassis

Flex System x240 with Intel® Xeon®

E5 family of processors

“ Basing our cloud offerings on the ultra-reliable Flex System means that even small companies can profit from the reliability and scalability of cutting-edge technology.”

— Maximilian Merkl, Managing Partner, Merkl IT