SAP Tackles European IT Costs With Virtualisation

German software maker SAP is adopting virtualisation software from Citrix to help it cut server running costs and cut carbon emissions.

In a statement released this week, SAP said that it will be virtualising around 500 servers using Citrix XenServer by the middle of this year. The ERP specialist also said it intends to deploy Citrix XenApp virtualisation technology to help deliver internal applications to employees and partners.

After testing XenServer, the company opted to roll-out server virtualisation intially in the company’s Saint Leon Rot, in Germany. The next phase of the project should see servers in the company’s worldwide training centres virtualised. The company said it will wait until the server virtualisation projects in Germany are complete before deploying similar systems in its offices in Asia and the US.

According to SAP, by deploying virtualisation technology the company should be able to cut its carbon emissions by up to 600 tonnes annually in addition to the immediate savings on hardware.

“We were impressed by the performance benefits that the Citrix server and application virtualisation solutions provided,” said Dietmar Bruder, vice-president, SAP IT Infrastructure Services. “Our goal in implementing Citrix XenServer is to not only reduce the costs of our server infrastructure, but to also significantly lower its carbon footprint.

SAP says it is using Citrix XenApp to virtualise the delivery of more than 40 internal applications including Microsoft Office and SAP Business Suite software to more than 50,000 end users.

SAP recently launched a set of sustainability initiatives including a line of management applications for environment health and safety (EHS), and a commitment to reducing its own carbon footprint. SAP is also introducing the internal role of chief sustainability officer to oversee its green IT efforts.