Retail
ACA Fashion Software ensures continuity with Uniserver
The fashion industry places high demands on software solutions. POS systems, webshops, warehouse processes, and supplier portals must run continuously. For ACA Fashion SoftwareFor , a specialist in automation solutions for the fashion industry since 1983, the availability of their cloud infrastructure is therefore of vital importance. Not only for themselves, but directly for the continuity of their customers.
To eliminate dependency on specific internal knowledge and structurally ensure 24/7 availability, ACA Fashion Software made the switch to a Private Virtual Datacenter at Uniserver.
The solution in brief
Private Virtual Datacenter with dedicated hosts for guaranteed performance
Firewall as a Service based on Fortinet (Fortigate/Fortiweb)
Managed backup via Veeam Backup Enterprise Plus
Migration as a Service for a smooth transition from the existing Hyper-V environment
Full 24/7 availability and support by Uniserver
Software that keeps the fashion industry running
ACA Fashion Software develops and manages specialized automation solutions for companies active in the fashion industry. Their client base is broad: from purely online players to chain stores, from independent shops to omnichannel retailers, and from brand owners to distributors looking to better support their customers.
ACA's software thus touches the heart of their customers' business operations. A POS system that fails, a web order that is not processed, warehouse operations that come to a standstill—the impact is immediate and palpable. Uptime and performance are therefore not wishes, but critical success factors.
The boundaries of the own cloud environment
Prior to the collaboration with Uniserver, ACA managed its own cloud environment. This involved an HP CloudMatrix environment topped with a Hyper-V cluster environment. Technically solid, but increasingly a risk as the organization grew.
The main bottleneck was not the technology itself, but the dependence on specific knowledge concentrated in a limited number of employees. Knowledge regarding the configuration and management of this complex environment was concentrated among a handful of people. This made the continuity of service vulnerable.
In addition, 24/7 availability, professional support, and scalability played a role. The in-house environment required ACA to remain responsible for hardware maintenance, updates, and availability outside of business hours. This was a heavy burden for an organization that primarily wants to focus on software development.
The choice for a Private Virtual Data Center
When searching for a new infrastructure solution, guaranteed performance was a non-negotiable requirement. Shared environments carried the risk that other customers could influence the available resources.
It is very important to us that the performance of our environment can be guaranteed. We do not want to be dependent on performance problems of other customers in this regard.
Roel de Kock, Managing Director at ACA Fashion Software
The database workload, in particular, made a dedicated environment essential. ACA applications place high demands on I/O performance and response times. A Private Virtual Datacenter with dedicated hosts offers the isolation and predictability required for this.
The choice for Uniserver was also a choice for knowledge transfer. ACA had no internal experience with VMware, the platform on which the new environment would be built. Uniserver could provide and manage that knowledge.
Security and network: Fortinet as the new standard
Network security was also included in the transition. ACA previously used Sophos firewalls. They performed adequately, but reached the end of their lifecycle and needed to be replaced.
Via Uniserver, ACA switched to the Fortinet solution (Fortigate/Fortiweb). This Firewall as a Service now plays a central role in the architecture: segmentation of customer environments, VPN connections, internet connections, and protection of SaaS services.
Because ACA regularly implements adjustments and wants to be able to react quickly, they deliberately opted for self-service firewall management. The technical expertise is available, and operational speed is essential.
Migration as a Service: from Hyper-V to VMware
The transition from a self-managed Hyper-V environment to Uniserver's VMware-based infrastructure was a significant project, given the size of the ACA environment. The choice for Migration as a Service was therefore clear: VMware expertise lay primarily with Uniserver, and the turnaround time for a standalone migration would not be realistic.
Knowledge of VMware lay primarily with Uniserver. Given the smooth migration, Uniserver's knowledge and experience were clearly evident.
Roel de Kock, ACA Fashion Software
The inventory, migration design, and actual execution were well coordinated. The follow-up after completion provided the necessary peace of mind. ACA emphasizes honesty in this regard: the complexity of the firewall configuration combined with the scale proved to be somewhat underestimated in the initial phase, which led to several revisions to the firewall design. Ultimately, this was brought to a successful conclusion.
Result: less management pressure, more focus on customers
Since the switch, ACA Fashion Software has been experiencing the benefits, particularly in terms of workload and knowledge independence. The virtualization platform, the backup service, and the firewall are all hosted as managed services at Uniserver. As a result, the dependency on specific internal knowledge has decreased structurally.
Since we no longer manage the virtualization environment ourselves and the backup and firewall are purchased as a service, the IT department has more time to focus on managing the client environment. This provides us with many benefits.
Roel de Kock, ACA Fashion Software.
For ACA's IT team, this has a direct impact on the daily workload. Less time is spent managing the underlying infrastructure, which creates room for what ACA is really good at: the management and further development of client environments.
A partner who thinks along
ACA describes the collaboration with Uniserver as very positive. Issues are responded to quickly, challenges are addressed in a solution-oriented manner, and market developments are communicated transparently.
The collaboration is very positive. Good support is provided and issues are responded to quickly. They also think proactively and solution-oriented. Uniserver is very transparent; all the information you need is shared as effectively as possible.
Roel de Kock, ACA Fashion Software.
This proactive attitude aligns with the way ACA views infrastructure partners: not as a distant supplier, but as an extension of its own organization.
Advice to other software vendors
For other software vendors hesitating between doing it themselves or outsourcing, Roel de Kock has a clear message:
By running your environment on a third-party virtualization platform, you ensure that you can dedicate all your time to the actual client environment. Moreover, you do not need to have knowledge of virtualization, hardware, etc. That is all the responsibility of the partner. 24/7 availability is then also guaranteed.
For ACA Fashion Software, the choice of Uniserver was ultimately a choice for focus: focus on the fashion industry, on their customers, and on the software those customers use every day. The infrastructure? That is in good hands.
Contact us for an exploratory conversation and discover how a sovereign cloud environment can contribute to focus, continuity, and scalable growth for your organization.
