Oxford University Press Improves SAP IPM Application Performance by 3x

Violin Memory, Inc. has helped Oxford
University Press (OUP) to improve its SAP IPM application performance by
three times – cutting month end processing by two and a half days, and reducing
average dialog response time – the time it takes from the first dialog request
to the presentation of the final data – by 30%.

OUP, a department of the University of Oxford, is the world’s largest
university press, publishing thousands of titles a year in both print and
digital formats for wide-ranging audiences in more than 40 languages. Its SAP
application runs the intellectual property rights management system for a major
part of the organization, which is used to calculate royalties for its authors.

Nightly and monthly batch processing runs frequently overran, delaying other critical
processes. Working with SCC, Europe’s largest independent IT group and
solutions partner, the publisher chose the Violin Memory 6212 Flash Memory
Array, an all-silicon shared storage system with performance (up to 1 million IO/s) and ultra-low latency. The deployment of the
array has accelerated application performance and key business processes, for
example:

• Processing of nightly sales loads has been cut by over 6 hours to as
  little as 50 minutes.
• Key preparation for month end has dropped from 56 hours to 14.5 hours.
• The month-end billing run is largely finished in 12.5 hours, as opposed to 36.5
  hours the previously.
• Average dialog response time – the time it takes from the first dialog request
  to the presentation of the final data – was reduced by 30%.

Mark Harwood, SAP lifecycle for OUP, said: "Most importantly we’ve removed the daily impact and the pressing risk
to our month end close caused by the ever-lengthening batch processing times
required as the data-set grew."

He added: "The decision to choose
Violin Memory was made much easier by the professional approach shown by their
team throughout our engagement, which has helped us to better understand
all-flash memory arrays, an area of technology that is new to us."

Mick Bradley, VP technology services and solutions, EMEA, said: "Oxford University Press is another great
example of how choosing the right storage solution can help a business run more
smoothly. The Violin Memory Array has accelerated OUP’s SAP application by an
amazing 300%."