With the growing focus of IT vendors on raising awareness about the business benefits of IT consolidation, the UAE based Al Rostamani Group has confirmed after a thorough and extensive study, it will pioneer this emerging trend in a major technology deal with HP and Intel to implement Intel® Xeon™ processor-based HP ProLiant blade servers, aiming to build an agile, yet resilient infrastructure to support its growing business operations.
Reinforcing the benefits of HP’s Adaptive Enterprise strategy, Al Rostamani will create a more dynamic and agile IT infrastructure that offers potential for growth across the Group companies and brings increased cost efficiencies and reduced data centre space.
The Intel Xeon processor-based ERP solution will initially be available to two of the group’s largest companies – Arabian Automobiles Company (AAC) and Thomas Cook Al Rostamani Exchange. The new system will automate all core business transactions of each of the two companies and allow the transparent cross-functional sharing and validation of data, providing employees with accurate, timely and business critical information, in order to better control operations and transactions while increasing customer satisfaction.
"The Al Rostamani Group is a multi-industry business that spans Financial Services, Automobiles and Real Estate, and we needed a new IT infrastructure that would be dynamic enough to allow for adjustment with market changes." explained Abdallah El Kadi, - Group IT Manager, Al Rostamani Group, “By moving to a consolidated infrastructure powered by Intel based HP blade servers, we have streamlined the flow of information and minimized costly, inefficient bottlenecks.”
El Kadi added that the Al Rostamani cooperation with HP and Intel was based on the professionalism of the teams, their approach of value selling rather than price selling, their proven strategy of Adaptive Enterprise and their commitment to the partnership.
"With new innovations built upon industry standards and virtualization technology, HP helps enterprises of all sizes maximise the return from their IT infrastructure while helping keep costs in line," said Joseph Hanania, Managing Director, HP Middle East. “On the Al Rostamani project, we capitalised on our alliance with Intel and followed this up with a live demonstration at the HP Invent Center, visits to multiple customer sites with similar requirements, a presentation on the Adaptive Enterprise and several technical and clarification sessions. HP ProLiant blade servers and HP Enterprise Virtual Storage Arrays are an ideal foundation to build more adaptive infrastructure solutions. They are designed with integrated manageability and control to deliver more of the flexibility and efficiency businesses demand today."
“This leading implementation is proof of how Intel platforms are powering the Middle East’s digital enterprises as they grow their business and compete in the new economy” said Samir Al-Schamma, Intel’s general manager in the GCC, “We will continue to work closely with HP and end users to keep on bringing the latest and greatest Intel technologies to support our users in this region.”
El Kadi elaborated: "The successful implementation of Phase 1 of this project is a strategic move not merely for the Al Rostamani Group, but also for the region, as it is a case study in scalability and affordability that can benefit many other conglomerates with the same business model in which the IT department needs to provide shared services across different industries,” continues El Kadi, “ This strategy allowed us to meet the needs of our most sophisticated companies while abiding by the budgets of our smallest companies, all using the same technology and infrastructure components.”
Arabian Automobiles is poised to derive measurable business value from this project, as the new system will empower its employees to better understand, manage and address its continuously evolving customer needs.
The financial performance of the Thomas Cook Al Rostamani Exchange (TCARE) is also set to benefit from the centralized ERP system as the solution is transforming the company’s business-critical transaction processes. By moving from distributed system architecture to integrated – online central system, TCARE will leverage the power of real time information to optimize its business efficiency and boost its profitability, while reducing risk exposure by automating all necessary controls in accordance with regulatory compliance requirements.
