Detailed analyses positioned IBM® Power®  as the optimal choice for Naviair’s SAP transformation, with its potential for superior performance, thanks to lower latency and robust reliability. By conducting thorough business cases across various on premise and cloud platforms, Naviair also discovered the potential for substantial cost reductions and improved Total Cost of Ownership (TCO).

“Based on a 5-year contract, IBM Power was over 3 times more cost-effective than a cloud solution, and on prem solutions using x86 were 50% more expensive than IBM,” comments Malvander.

A key factor in the decision was a 5-year capacity planning exercise conducted by IBM, to help Naviair validate that the company would have sufficient storage and processing capabilities. This enabled Naviair to be confident in the longevity of the chosen solution.

Recognizing the urgency to modernize its IT ecosystem, together with IBM Expert Labs, Naviair embarked on a transformation initiative centered around implementing IBM Power10 S1022 for its SAP HANA® environment.

Using an agile approach, Naviair tackled five major projects simultaneously:

• Migrating SAP HANA databases
• Conducting a comprehensive security and compliance assessment
• Refreshing all hardware (server, storage, network, backup and monitoring)
• Redefining the network
• Enhancing the entire SAP landscape

“It was a true collaboration throughout the entire project,” notes Malvander. “We built up the Red Hat Enterprise Linux and AIX platform, the infrastructure, the patching, the compliance, the environment, everything from scratch during a 6-month time frame. We included a security evaluation on the infrastructure and SAP. We completed a landscape upgrade of the SAP environment that would usually take 6 months on its own. And lastly, we replaced the database from Microsoft SQL to SAP HANA—that's usually a project in itself. This is really what made IBM Expert Labs shine.”

The collaborative partnership with IBM Expert Labs enabled smooth transitions from x86 to Power, Microsoft SQL to SAP HANA, Windows to Red Hat® Enterprise Linux® (RHEL), and a new IBM FlashSystem® storage deployment, fostering mutual learning opportunities throughout the process.

“IBM gave me the confidence that this was do-able. When we had a problem, within 2 hours the Expert Labs team had an expert on the line, so we could solve the issue and proceed, in collaboration with our subcontractors and suppliers. This was a true game changer and something that I really appreciated,” notes Malvander, who took on an active, hands-on role in the project.

“And with IBM it was always an honest dialog,” added Jannie Lynghøj, Naviair IT Project Manager. “Their approach was to discuss the challenges with us and for us to solve them together.”

To help Naviair manage the security requirements of RHEL, and to support compliance management documentation processes, IBM PowerSC was included as part of the infrastructure solution design.

For its part, IBM PowerVC brought advanced virtualization and cloud management, which enabled Naviair to create new virtual machines in just a few minutes, with the same RHEL installation each time.  Additionally, the centralized management console with its easy-to-use interface helped Naviair complete administrative tasks efficiently and without the need for specialized skills.

“And lastly,” says Malvander, “the infrastructure is AI-ready. While we are still in the exploratory phase of leveraging AI extensively, having this capability built into our environment opens up exciting opportunities. Knowing that we can run large language models directly on premises enables exceptional performance for advanced analytics and AI-driven workloads. This readiness positions us to seamlessly embrace innovation and unlock new potential as we move forward.”

Operational excellence through collaborative innovation

With the new solution in place, Naviair experienced remarkable improvements across numerous facets of its operation. These included:

More streamlined infrastructure

IBM Power10 S1022 enabled the aviation services provider to significantly optimize its infrastructure, reducing the physical footprint from 8 x86 servers to merely 2 powerful machines. This dramatic decrease in hardware resulted in notable energy conservation, contributing positively to Naviair’s environmental sustainability efforts—a particularly important benefit, given Naviair’s goal of becoming a CO2-neutral organization by 2030.

“To meet our new SAP infrastructure requirements, we would have needed at least 8 fully equipped high-end x86 servers, which we replaced with just 2 IBM Power10 S1022 servers—1 per datacenter. After conducting energy conservation calculations, we estimate a potential power consumption reduction of around 64%. Additionally, by consolidating workloads onto the Power10 servers, we significantly lowered our software license costs, making the solution both energy-efficient and cost-effective,” comments Malvander.

Following the solution implementation, Naviair experienced performance improvements 3-4 times faster than its previous SAP infrastructure environment.

Faster data retrievals

IBM FlashSystem 5200 storage enabled Naviair to speed up data retrievals significantly, minimizing downtimes previously attributed to extensive processing demands, and increasing levels of user satisfaction, as well as considerable energy savings.

“In my experience, storage is often the critical point where performance starts to lag under heavy workloads," Malvander remarks. "However, in our new environment, I haven’t encountered any storage-related bottlenecks. We used to have situations where processes could take up to 30 minutes to complete, but now the response from the business has been overwhelmingly positive. The noticeable improvement in efficiency has eliminated the usual calls about performance issues, which is a clear testament to the system's reliability.”

Higher resource scalability

The new infrastructure provides better speed, scalability, and seamless resource scaling. This improvement is also highlighted by Malvander: “With the SAP HANA on Power solution, I appreciate the ability to scale resources seamlessly, either up or down, without disrupting the running SAP HANA installation. This capability enables greater agility and supports uninterrupted operations, with minimal to no downtime, so that we can adapt quickly to evolving business needs.”

Tighter integration

The adoption of RHEL fostered a level of integration, laying foundations conducive to exploring container technologies via Red Hat OpenShift® in the future. It also enabled a reduction in licensing costs.

Reflecting on the success of the project, Malvander concludes,

“This project touched right from the business level down to the detailed infrastructure. The success of this project wouldn’t have been possible without the exceptional coordination of Jannie Lynghøj, who maintained a firm and focused leadership from start to finish. What truly set this project apart was how we worked together—always positive, always lifting each other up to achieve our goal. When someone hit a roadblock, we didn’t leave them behind; we shared knowledge, built understanding, and levelled up as a team. That synergy was incredible. Together, we turned the 'impossible' into reality, and that made this one of the best projects I’ve worked on in a long time.”

About Naviair

Naviair (link resides outside of ibm.com) is a state-owned provider of aviation services in Denmark. In addition to air traffic management services in Danish airspace, Naviair provides aeronautical information services in Denmark, Greenland and the Faroe Islands. The company also administers flight information services in Denmark and the North Atlantic Area, as well as technical support and maintenance