Funkinform

A reliable solution for modern media production

Many publishers have always relied on their own on-premises server capacity for media production, but cloud-hosted solutions are beginning to gain traction. Funkinform provides its customers with the DIALOG publishing system. It is used throughout Europe by more than 60 publishers on a total of 7,000 workstations in more than 300 companies and network branches for the different stages of the production process. Funkinform makes it available to its customers as a hosted solution. To meet the needs of its customers, the company sets high standards for the infrastructure in order to enable users to achieve maximum efficiency with low resource costs while at the same time ensuring a high degree of flexibility. That is why Funkinform relies on the OVHcloud Hosted Private Cloud solution.

OVHcloud offers Funkinform a Private Cloud infrastructure with dedicated servers, fully hosted and managed by OVHcloud. Funkinform customers benefit from strict data protection and data security features, flexible scalability with the shortest provisioning times and comprehensive measures to ensure high availability for all solutions.

A scalable infrastructure for managing browser-based publications

The media sector is undergoing a digital transformation. In the past, due to security and data protection concerns, many publishers relied on their own on-premise servers to establish digital processes and new applications in media production. But in times of exponential data growth, the on-premise systems of publishing houses in particular are increasingly reaching their limits in terms of storage space, computing capacity and software performance. In such a situation, new resources can only be implemented at great expense in terms of software and hardware. Web-based solutions are therefore particularly popular. Many web portals and e-paper or app solutions have long been handled via the cloud in order to handle both content and access volumes on a large scale. Even the complex production processes of the media world, for example for automated print production, are increasingly running on standardised browser-based solutions at a high technical level instead of publisher-specific applications on their own servers.

Funkinform GmbH, headquartered in Ettlingen—Germany, develops innovative software solutions for complete media production. With powerful programmes, modules and tools; editors, content managers and media consultants; plan, control and monitor all their content and jobs on all publication channels - whether digital, mobile or print. The fact that many of Funkinform's products are provided in a hosted model relieves the company's customers enormously in terms of availability, updates and investment as well as operating costs and enables better use of existing resources.

When it comes to cloud infrastructure for its in-house developed products, the company, which specialises in the publishing sector, needs consistent data protection, cutting-edge hardware and software, and a high level of scalability available on demand.

In the past, Funkinform has implemented hosting projects with different providers in order to find the best partner for the respective use case, to create innovations and to meet the changing requirements of the industry. However, the strong growth of the hosting business has often pushed the infrastructures used to their limits after a short period of time, as the company's environment is shared. In search of a cloud provider with an equally strong commitment to service quality, Funkinform chose OVHcloud after considering several factors such as price, performance, scalability and availability.

Dedicated, powerful and instantly available resources in the Private Cloud

For Funkinform, OVHcloud has set up a Hosted Private Cloud as a so-called "Software-Defined Datacenter" (SDDC). The private infrastructure with dedicated servers is hosted and managed entirely by the cloud provider in its German datacentre in Limburg an der Lahn. It combines the latest Intel hardware with VMware technology in fully isolated and dedicated environments to secure critical workloads and protect important customer data.

Funkinform was able to access an already configured infrastructure within a very short time by choosing a Hosted Private cloud. This allowed the company to fully concentrate on creating the necessary virtual machines (VMs) and other management settings.

To support the long-term growth and scale of the Hosted Private Cloud infrastructure, additional hosts or datastores can be added at any time with minimal provisioning time, or removed again after peak access times, in order to avoid the cost of unused resources. If required, billing is also available on an hourly basis. The servers used by Funkinform are dedicated to its products' workloads delivered in a hosted model. They meet the requirements of ISO 27001, CSA STAR, SOC I and II Type 2 certifications. By following strict isolation and redundancy rules, OVHcloud provides Funkinform with a highly available infrastructure.

“We come from a classic on-premise world, which still exists in many places in the publishing industry. With OVHcloud, our customers gain efficiency because the systems are scalable and can react to immediate needs.”

Rainer Lang, Sales and Marketing Manager at Funkinform GmbH

While using Hosted Private Cloud, the datacentre hardware and software can be updated without affecting server operation. To ensure the highest possible level of availability, at least one empty host (also called a node) is always on standby. No active processes run on it, so it can take over without delay in provisioning as a failover host. This approach allows maintenance and update work to be carried out without affecting virtual machines by patching in turn and moving the VMs smoothly to the already maintained hosts. In the case of a failure of a host, the failover host can automatically take over at any time. Additionally, a faulty machine can be replaced in the background to provide a free failover host in the Hosted Private Cloud.

OVHcloud's German datacentre, where Funkinform solutions are hosted, is owned by the cloud provider and part of a secured network for high reliability and service continuity. In terms of hardware, OVHcloud uses its more than twenty years of experience to always offer enterprise-grade servers with the latest generation components. The company uses state-of-the-art components to manufacture its own servers in Croix, France. The dedicated servers are designed in-house, configured, assembled and maintained by OVHcloud. Funkinform benefits from innovative solutions such as the watercooling of the servers for improved energy efficiency or the company's own developed protection against DDoS attacks.

Furthermore, Funkinform can be certain that OVHcloud products comply with the GDPR, because, as a European provider, OVHcloud always applies the strictest security directives. Unlike many other hyper-scale providers, OVHcloud’s European datacentres are not subject to the Cloud Act or similar regulations that allow non-European government organisations to access company data.

A reliable and secure cloud infrastructure for the entire production process

OVHcloud's SDDC provides Funkinform with a reliable, scalable infrastructure that allows its publishers a smooth transition to the cloud. The Funkinform team can focus fully on processes and workflows to provide an excellent user experience for their customers. In this way, the company's offering takes away the hassle of publishers having to run their own server infrastructures, allowing for optimised use of resources within the company while providing the improved flexibility when more capacity is needed. Furthermore, the state-of-the-art servers OVHcloud produces are always as up-to-date as possible from a technical point of view. With security measures and strict standards for security and data protection, OVHcloud’s cloud infrastructure is an optimal solution for hosted applications that cover the entire production process in the publishing industry.

“Despite a great technical complexity, we want our partnership to run smoothly. What we value at OVHcloud is the consulting expertise, direct exchange and pragmatism. In our work, we can now focus on processes and workflows. We create resources that we can pass on directly to our customers.”

Rainer Lang, Sales and Marketing Manager at Funkinform GmbH