United Beet Seeds prepares for global growth with cloud-ready architecture

Assist a single, central IT team to support a global business

In 2005, SESVanderHave joined the French Florimond Desprez group. In 2024, Groupe Florimond Desprez and DLF Seeds A/S announced that they were entering a new global joint venture, called United Beet Seeds. This new company prioritizes continuous investment in expertise, research and sustainability. These efforts are essential for delivering competitive and innovative solutions to farmers and the industry, helping them tackle important agro-ecological challenges.

United Beet Seeds merges the sugar beet, fodder beet and industrial chicory seed businesses, and all related research and innovation activities, enabling them to leverage their complementary strengths and shared passions.

The venture also involved merging the companies’ IT operations. SESVanderHave’s IT department in Belgium was chosen to manage United Beet Seeds’ IT operations across all of Europe, including branch offices in France, Italy and Denmark. To help the Belgian team handle a bigger workload and keep costs down, United Beet Seeds required a standard architecture that would be easy to manage and maintain.

The solution also had to accommodate on-premises computing, protecting the confidential information used for research and innovation. Climate patterns, soil types and diseases vary widely between the different countries, and seed varieties need to be tailored to these conditions. United Beet Seeds requires constant research and significant on-premises computing power to process data relating to and develop varieties that can withstand the climate crisis, pests and diseases.
To protect their intellectual property and day-to-day operations, the architecture had to remain up to date, support disaster recovery onsite and in the cloud, and include proactive monitoring.

Creating one architecture to support a complex environment

NTT DATA used a combination of experience from working with United Beet Seeds before and our consulting expertise to propose three options for the new architecture. We discussed the advantages and drawbacks of each architecture. Together, we decided on a Nutanix architecture with workloads hosted on Dell XC servers.

We designed a solution that would meet the needs of different sites, including offices, factories and research and innovation facilities. Some of the sites have limited internet connectivity but still have to keep up with system updates. The hybrid solution supports both the on-premises and cloud environment.

To keep downtime to a minimum, we rolled out the new solution in phases. The solution was first installed and configured, then all data and workloads were migrated to the new system. At United Beet Seeds’ main site in Belgium, we deployed the solution in a couple of weeks. The actual migration was completed in two weeks. Including server delivery, the entire system was replaced in only six weeks.

United Beet Seeds’ IT department manages the solution, and we offer technical support. We contact them every quarter to help the IT team manage their Nutanix environment, check on the system’s health, and schedule new deployments and system expansions.

We designed a solution that would meet the needs of different sites, including offices, factories and research and innovation facilities. Some of the sites have limited internet connectivity but still have to keep up with system updates. The hybrid solution supports both the on-premises and cloud environment.

To keep downtime to a minimum, we rolled out the new solution in phases. The solution was first installed and configured, then all data and workloads were migrated to the new system. At United Beet Seeds’ main site in Belgium, we deployed the solution in a couple of weeks. The actual migration was completed in two weeks. Including server delivery, the entire system was replaced in only six weeks.

United Beet Seeds’ IT department manages the solution, and we offer technical support. We contact them every quarter to help the IT team manage their Nutanix environment, check on the system’s health, and schedule new deployments and system expansions.

Increasing efficiency and lowering the total cost of ownership

The Nutanix solution helps the IT department support all employees, locations and operations for United Beet Seeds in Europe. Helping United Beet Seeds evaluate their architecture options meant they didn’t have to take the time to compare disparate solutions. And by supporting the entire solution, we’ve enabled them to save costs and get access to expert assistance when they need it. 

Partnered to offer the full solution

We serve as a one-stop partner for United Beet Seeds. By consolidating their IT needs with a single provider, they achieve better cost efficiency and faster, more efficient support.

Reduced the total cost of ownership

The cost of the architecture platform affects their total cost of ownership, but so do factors such as licensing fees. In this case, the more expensive platform offered the lowest total cost of ownership.

Designed to meet future needs

United Beet Seeds plans to replace their backup and file storage systems in future. These new systems can be added to the existing solution or be set up separately, so the core IT team can still manage and monitor everything centrally.