Kalmar

IT maintenance outsourced to Pinja supports the stability of the network environment in Kalmar’s product development unit, and prevents outages.

World-class port technology requires a strong online environment to support it

Cargotec’s independent business area Kalmar is a pioneer in ecological cargo handling technology and terminal automation with roots in container handling dating back to the 19th century. Kalmar’s multinational product development unit serves ports, terminals, distribution centers, and heavy industry operators; up to one in four freight containers in the world is moved with a Kalmar solution.

Kalmar’s product development relies on a strong online environment (RDE) that provides its customers with the technology they need. In order to stabilize the network and overcome regular network problems, Kalmar decided that IT maintenance should be outsourced to Pinja’s network experts.

Kalmar’s RDE network is an IT environment, which Kalmar uses for software testing and product quality assurance. The network covers two (outdoor) areas, a server room, and an office building.

Technical information about the RDE network environment:

Over 30 network devices
Over 10 virtual networks
Over 50 physical servers
Over 1,000 virtual servers

The cooperation in brief

Kalmar put the maintenance of the RDE network out for bids

In the beginning of 2021, Kalmar’s product development unit was struggling with a clunky and unreliable online environment. Frequent and prolonged network outages slowed down the unit’s basic operations, and posed challenges to both the execution of individual projects and the smooth running of the entire business. Pinja was selected as the partner in the bidding.

Pinja’s IT maintenance team tackled network failures

The network experts from Pinja have been available to Kalmar since the beginning of the cooperation, and are responsible for the maintenance and overall management of the RDE network of the product development unit. The team assigned to Kalmar consists of Pinja’s experienced experts, who react agilely to different needs, and have minimized critical network outages. In addition, Pinja’s control room constantly monitors the RDE network, and reacts to any anomalies.

Specialized service for production environments ensures network stability

In addition to daily maintenance and small-scale development, Pinja provides ongoing IT consulting, and proposes measures to improve the network and streamline processes in both the short and the long term. Close cooperation allows effective prevention of outages.

Our situation has improved significantly since we have access to Pinja’s network expertise. We got to the core of the problem from the start, and we can once again drive product development without network problems that disrupt daily operations.

Harri Palm, Head of Kalmar’s DevOps team

The challenge: Ensuring a stable and reliable RDE network for product development

At Kalmar’s huge technology and competence center the history of port automation is written every day, as the product development unit in the middle of port cranes tests new automation software functionalities, and performs quality assurance. The unit’s work allows port and terminal environments to work seamlessly around the world.

Kalmar regularly presents the solutions it develops to clients on-site at the test center, often via the remote control room. This is one of the reasons why a functioning RDE network is a critical part of Kalmar’s automation technology development and release. The network outages that existed before the partnership made Kalmar’s work much more difficult.

“A stable network is a prerequisite for our work in the product development unit. The network outages in the past caused us great inconvenience, as they interrupted software testing, and delayed our work. The situation simply had to be fixed in order to get the deliverables to clients on time” says Marko Anttila, Director, Release Management at Kalmar.

Kalmar had already worked with Pinja in the past, and had benefited from Pinja’s expertise in software planning. In this context, Pinja was also found to have solid expertise in managing network environments. When problems arose with the network, Kalmar turned to Pinja, and selected Pinja as its IT partner in a bidding for the maintenance of the RDE network in early 2021.

The solution: Network IT maintenance outsourced to Pinja, with an exponential reduction in the number of outages

According to Kalmar, the IT support from Pinja has greatly improved the daily work of product development from Kalmar’s point of view. The network remedies implemented during the cooperation have paid off, and a more stable network has eliminated problems causing the delays.

In the past, network outages occurred at worst several times a day for several minutes at a time, but now they are infrequent. These outages are largely due to structural problems in the network and the load spikes they create.

“Our situation has improved significantly since we have access to Pinja’s network expertise. We got to the core of the problem from the start, and we can once again drive product development without network problems that disrupt daily operations”, confirms Harri Palm, Head of Kalmar’s DevOps team.

The number of outages has been reduced through individual fixes and preventive measures, resulting in a fraction of the previous number of outages. The long network outages were completely eliminated within about six months of the start of Pinja’s maintenance.

“The network is now much more stable and reliable – outages are disappearing completely”, says Palm.

At the same time, the satisfaction of the unit’s employees has risen, as the functional network has made everyday life smoother, and eliminated delays in basic operations.

Close cooperation for better operational reliability throughout the unit

Cooperation with Pinja has been close, with Kalmar and Pinja experts working together to find solutions to problems and streamline work. Kalmar thanks Pinja for being active.

“We are impressed by Pinja’s responsiveness and problem-solving skills. We have always received expert help in urgent challenges and longer-term planning”, Anttila sums up.

Kalmar and Pinja are also working together to plan a comprehensive overhaul and rebuild of the business-critical network using Pinja’s expertise. The network will be completely revamped to make the remaining outages a thing of the past. The new network architecture and backbone hardware will not only enable Kalmar to run smoothly on a daily basis, but also to develop and test its products more efficiently.

Tuomas Lassila, Director of Pinja’s ICT business, is pleased that Pinja has been able to support Kalmar’s product development innovations, and looks forward to continued cooperation in network reform and maintenance.

“Kalmar is an extremely interesting operator in its field and makes innovations in its product development that we will certainly hear about in the future”, says Lassila. “As Kalmar’s trusted IT partner, it’s great to be able to build a network environment to support meaningful work, and follow new innovations closely.”

Image: Kalmar