Prague, 10 February 2023: Ness Czech experts have successfully migrated online applications from its own infrastructure to the Microsoft Azure cloud environment at the Czech telecommunications operator O2 Czech Republic. The main reasons for the change were cost reduction, flexibility and acceleration of the preparation of new projects.
“In the environment of the largest Czech telecommunications operators, this is probably the first major customer system that runs in the public cloud,” says Martin Silvička, CEO of Ness Czech. The goal was to move most of the critical portal solutions to the cloud. Online applications have a very variable load, with hundreds of thousands of users and hundreds of requests per second at peak times, and orders of magnitude less demand during off-peak hours. On-premise infrastructure cannot manage such variability over time, the necessary hardware and software licenses must be acquired to handle the peak load.
O2 Czech Republic started preparing its cloud strategy at the end of 2019, with the aim of becoming more agile, accelerating innovation and bringing new products to market faster. Until then, the operator relied on local operations. Before moving to the cloud, it needed to demonstrate that the level of security in Azure would be at least on par and cost savings could be achieved.
“At Ness, we appreciate the adherence to schedule, seamless deployment and flexibility in terms of infrastructure management. The entire migration was completed in less than 6 months,” praises Zdeněk Boháč, Director of BSS Development & Operations at O2 Czech Republic.
“The driver behind the move to the Cloud was to enable accelerated innovation. It used to take us about six months to implement new technology. Today, on the Azure cloud platform, we can do it in just one month. Now we can react more flexibly to customer needs and requirements,” says Martin Kožíšek, Transformation Manager at O2 CZ, adding that another important aspect of the transition was the requirement that each application being moved should have a positive business case. “Two years after moving portal applications to MS Azure, we have confirmed the assumption of 30% savings in total cost of ownership.”
Ness and O2 have been working together on migrating applications to the cloud since 2020, when the customer’s online troubleshooting application was migrated. Other parts of the IT infrastructure are now being transferred to the cloud at O2 under the guidance of Ness experts.
About Ness Czech and Ness Digital Engineering
Ness Czech, a premier system integrator and part of the global Ness Digital Engineering group, is a leading IT service provider in the Czech Republic. Since 1993, the company has been at the forefront of innovative technology and software product implementation, serving major clients like O2 Czech Republic, Komerční Banka, and ČÚZK. Ness Digital Engineering operates offices in Prague, Brno, and Ostrava, employing over 260 professionals and generating annual revenues exceeding CZK 835 million.
Its parent company, Ness Digital Engineering, provides cutting-edge IT solutions globally, employing over 4,500 professionals across 11 innovation centers in North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia.
Media contact
Kamil Pittner, Media Consultant, PRCOM, +420 604 241 482, kamil.pittner@prcom.cz