This case study explains how Compete366 worked with Majenta, a technology solutions provider to the automotive, aerospace, manufacturing and construction sectors, to build a resilient and secure online testing lab using Microsoft Azure Virtual Desktop.
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About Majenta
Majenta is a supply-chain integration specialist working across four key industries: automotive, aerospace, manufacturing and construction.
Majenta is a value-added reseller for Dassault Systemès, the 3DEXPERIENCE company, that provides businesses and people with virtual universes to imagine sustainable innovations. They work with a number of key players in the automotive manufacturing industry, including Jaguar Land Rover, Nissan, Aston Martin and Ford.
Majenta has also created its own platform tools, MX which is a secure data transfer tool and enerjyhub, a digital supply chain management platform, which allows customers to access and onboard vehicles programs, teams, and suppliers.
The Business Challenge
As part of the services they provide, Majenta was running a physical on-premise Testing Lab which allowed customers to test out software, scenarios, supplier interactions and work with different set-ups and configurations. The Testing Lab was well used by customers from across the automotive manufacturers.
At the start of the Covid pandemic, Majenta realised that to continue to provide this service to its customers, they would need to move to a virtual, cloud-based Testing Lab.
The Solution
The team at Majenta decided to evaluate different public cloud platforms to run the Testing Lab, and found that Microsoft was the only supplier who could support their workstation requirements to run the CAD software.
The requirement was to replicate the high-end workstations and server environment of the on-premise Testing Lab and allow customers to connect via a secure VPN, giving secure access from wherever in the world they were located.
The solution involved the implementation of 6 Azure Virtual Desktops, to allow customers to login securely and run their tests. All of the software and servers for the Testing Lab environment were migrated to Azure with VPN connectivity to customer networks. This meant that users could access the Computer Lab from anywhere with low latency and higher efficiency.
Working with Compete366
Majenta registered on the Microsoft website in order to find an Azure Virtual Desktop expert partner to support them. As James Smith, Technical Director explains “We were impressed from the outset by Compete366. They were the first Microsoft partner to respond to our enquiry, and the information they provided was easy to understand and digest in a simple format.”
He continues “Since the beginning of this project, we have really enjoyed working with the Compete366 team. They are flexible, support our in-house use of the Microsoft cloud services and are always very clear on what they offer. If they don’t know something they will always go and find out and come straight back to us with the answer.”
Benefits
The key benefits that Majenta has achieved from this project are as follows:
- Enabled software releasing and testing to be streamlined.
- Allows customers to ensure their software is fit for purpose.
- Quick to use and set up which has increased customer satisfaction
- Allows customers to use Majenta’s testing environment without having to rely on their own in-house IT systems.
- Offers a high level of security that aligns with customers requirements in this area.
- This is a chargeable service that Majenta provides but now they don’t have to procure additional hardware each time.
- Azure consumption model means they can scale up and down the infrastructure as required.
Next Steps
Majenta are now looking at other areas of the business that can benefit from virtualisation, in order to improve the value that they provide their customers and the adoption of software packages..
If you’d like to find out more about our Expert Azure Virtual Desktop Advice and how we can help you set up your IT infrastructure in the most effective way then do get in touch. We’ll be pleased to help.
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“It’s great to work with the Compete366 team, the team members are really knowledgeable, helpful and responsive. No question is too difficult for them. They have really helped us to manage our Azure costs and ensure we have the right environment. When we bring a new customer on-board we can scale up immediately via the Azure portal and quickly make environments available to our customers.”
“We also find that there’s never a heavy sales pitch from them – they are technically focused and recommend what’s right for us.”
“We had great support from the Compete366 AVD expert, who was really helpful, and guided me through options to tackle issues that arose.”
“The great thing about our AVD set up is that we have a custom set up for each project which Compete366 showed me how to do. And with the scalability and flexibility of AVD – we can meet clients’ expectations and get project users up and running more quickly.”
“We were immediately impressed with the advice that the Compete366 specialists in Azure Architecture were able to provide. This was all new to us and we really needed some external expertise that we could use to get our questions answered. The beauty of working with Compete366 is that we transferred our Azure consumption to them, and at the same time received all of their advice and guidance free of charge.”
“Working with Compete366 has been like extending our own team – they are extremely and easy to work with. Right from the outset, it was clear what was on offer – everything was presented to us in a straightforward and uncomplicated way. They also provided just the right level of challenge to our developers and saved us time and money by suggesting better ways to implement our infrastructure.”
“Compete366 were able to help us leverage some useful contacts in Microsoft. We really value the expert advice and guidance that they have offered us in setting up a highly scalable infrastructure. We are also setting in place a regular monthly meeting which will allow us to further refine our architecture and ensure we keep on track as our requirements grow and change.”
“I have been delighted with the migration, where my team worked very hard, supported by expert advice from Compete366, and achieved everything in the timescale we had set out. Compete 366 made sure that we didn’t make any expensive mistakes, and guided us through the process”
