The Technical University of Munich

Success at a Glance

In 2003, TUM decided to develop a new SAP HCC facility. Familiar with the superior performance offered by Sun Microsystems technology, including the longevity of its hardware and software products, TUM approached Sun to build the new computer center.

TUM wanted to offer the entire portfolio of SAP solutions without sacrificing server utilization each semester due to fluctuating student demand. For example, in one semester, 45 percent of the courses might use SAP R/3 Enterprise Standard, while 18 percent use SAP Business Information Warehouse (BW). The following semester, the course loads could be reversed, requiring more availability of SAP BW systems and less of SAP R/3.

Following TUM’s tight timetable, Sun built the fully operational computer center in only three months. For high availability and scalability, Sun created a grid environment incorporating 150 Sun servers in clusters running 30 SAP systems.

Exploring new ways to collaborate with TUM, Sun and TUM founded a center of innovation called the Sun Early Experience Lab (SEE Lab). The SEE Lab has the latest Sun hardware and software, acting as a test bed for developing best practices and system configurations that will ultimately be migrated to the TUM HCC. In addition, the SEE Lab provides valuable feedback to Sun.

The first project in the SEE Lab was to implement SAP-ECC 5.0 on a Sun Fire V40z using SUSE Linux 64-bit and the SAP 64-bit kernel. The SEE Lab developed installation scripts for this configuration, which are now available to all Sun's SAP customers. The next project, already in process, involves designing a service-oriented application (SOA) for SAP-ECC 5.0. Other planned projects address lowering total cost of ownership (TCO) for SAP installations, innovative data center operations and cost measurement in virtual infrastructures.

Today, the original architecture design at TUM supports 615 SAP HCC lecturers utilizing 45 networked systems throughout Germany. Accessed via the Internet, the training environments appear as secure SAP systems, offering students real-world experience through a hands-on learning approach. Behind the scenes, identification and monitoring systems promote server efficiency through transparent provisioning or rolling back of system resources as required, allowing SAP HCC administrators to focus on other tasks. High availability and improved system efficiency allowed TUM to achieve 100 percent payback in less than two years.

Already recognized as a leader in SAP instruction, SAP HCC continues to develop several projects that it plans to offer in the near future. Utilizing the scalability that the Sun architecture provides, the ESP plans on improving and increasing its services, implementing three to four new SAP IDES versions, customizing NetWeaver solutions and adding to the curriculum new training courses in CRM, APO and IS-Banking.