IMAB

IMAB Group accelerates its digitalisation process and relies on VEM sistemi to build a resilient, secure and high-performance infrastructure.

The company, which specialises in the production of modular furniture, has embarked on a programme of infrastructure renewal to make IT a true enabler of business.

VEM sistemi was chosen by IMAB Group, a company specialising in the production of modular furniture for the home, as a strategic partner to undertake a digital transformation process aimed at improving the resilience, security and efficiency of the group’s information ecosystem. This complex project has enabled VEM to modernise IMAB’s technological infrastructure, generating tangible benefits to support the group’s growth and operations.

The challenge: adapting the structure to new business needs

The answer: redesigned architecture, integrated security, centralised management

The project, entrusted to the expertise of VEM sistemi, began with a meticulous assessment phase, which was essential in order to accurately outline the state of the IMAB Group’s IT infrastructure and identify the main areas of concern. The analysis highlighted the need for a thorough overhaul of the architecture, which was anchored to legacy systems that were no longer adequate for current needs.

The first step in the renewal process involved upgrading the hardware, which was essential to support the installation of new applications and the digital evolution of processes. The modernisation began with the network, with work carried out on the most obsolete components to create a truly resilient infrastructure. A crucial step involved the restructuring of the data centres: the sites were redistributed, one to Fermignano and the other to Canavaccio di Urbino, thus bringing one of the two environments to a distance of over seven kilometres from the main one. All this was done without any interruption to production activities. This was a significant achievement, considering that even a single day of downtime would have had an estimated economic impact of around €800,000, with operational repercussions lasting for around three months.

To complete the infrastructure project, a third data centre dedicated to backup management was built in a separate facility from the two main ones.

Starting with data backup and protection, the existing infrastructure was unable to guarantee adequate levels of performance in recovery processes or security, making it vulnerable to potential attacks. Added to this were critical issues related to storage capacity, which was insufficient to efficiently and securely manage the storage of the entire backup volume required. Therefore, initially hosted in the primary data centre, the backups were completely migrated to the third data centre, where the entire data protection environment was centralised, additional cybersecurity features were added, and performance was improved in case a recovery was necessary. The new site, like the first two data centres, houses three Cisco C220 servers and, in addition, Cohesity hyperconverged software, which, thanks to its zero trust approach, allows data and backups from the VMware virtualised environment and the AS400 platform, which manages the company’s ERP system, to be stored securely and immutably. Cohesity therefore protects the entire virtual infrastructure and can also function as secondary storage.

Finally, the infrastructure is now constantly monitored thanks to VEM’s NOC and SOC services, which guarantee timely intervention and continuous control over performance and security. A constant presence that makes all the difference, especially in the most delicate moments, when it is essential to be able to count on a partner ready to act with competence and timeliness.

The results: resilience, control, efficiency and operational speed.

The new IT structure has improved and modernised IMAB’s technological infrastructure, making management easier, operations faster and the structure more resilient within a context where business continuity is fully guaranteed.

‘In just a few months, we have achieved all the goals we set ourselves,’ says Fabio Pepe, CIO of IMAB Group. “The path we have taken has allowed us to achieve concrete benefits: the goal of resilience has now been fully achieved and business continuity is guaranteed thanks to the presence of three repositories distributed across three data centres, containing the same information. In terms of backup, recovery times have been drastically reduced, also contributing to greater energy efficiency. As far as networking is concerned, the most significant advantage is the high speed of data transfer between the different data centres. These changes allow us to face market challenges in a more structured and secure way.”