ENGIE energizes the transition to a zero-carbon world with help from Veeam

The business challenge

Energy plays an essential role in society and the economy. Over time, energy developments have improved the way we live and the way we do business. Those developments have also fueled a climate crisis. According to the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), global emissions must fall to zero by 2050 if the world has any hope of keeping climate change within safe boundaries.

Is a zero-carbon world possible within the next three decades? The World Economic Forum, a not-for-profit foundation committed to entrepreneurship in the global public interest, says the answer is yes. ENGIE agrees, putting the zero-carbon transition and the fight against climate change at the center of its strategic focus. One way ENGIE helps customers reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions is by creating innovative, tailor-made Software as a Service solutions.

“We build sustainable solutions that neutralize carbon footprints while optimizing manufacturing processes,” said Eric Roos, lead application engineer in industrial automation services at ENGIE. “Most of our customers operate 24 hours a day, so their solutions must be available 24 hours a day.”

ENGIE’s challenge was ensuring customers’ solutions are always available. Backup wasn’t 100% reliable, so Roos and his colleagues searched for an alternative. One of their key requirements was fast, reliable backup on premises or off premises to ENGIE’s own data centers or private clouds. Another key requirement was Cloud Data Management.

“Our customers use clouds for data optimization and predictive analysis, such as AI and ML,” Roos said. “Ensuring cloud data is available helps them improve efficiency and productivity.”

Roos said ENGIE considered three backup solutions — Cohesity, Zerto and Veeam.

“Following proof-of-concept demonstrations of all three solutions, we were convinced that only one was capable of meeting each of our needs and our customers’ needs.”

The Veeam solution

ENGIE chose Veeam Backup & Replication to protect customers’ solutions. Veeam Cloud Data Management, a key feature of Veeam, helps ENGIE deliver unparalleled data availability, visibility and automation.

Veeam backs up 400 TB across 530 virtual machines on premises at ENGIE and off premises to private clouds, enabling the 3-2-1 Rule (three backups on two different media with one backup being off premises) for business continuity.

“Veeam supports our goal to fight climate change and accelerate the transition to a carbon-neutral economy by ensuring our customers have continuous access to the tailor-made, sustainable solutions that operate their facilities,” Roos said.

ENGIE’s solutions are diverse and far-reaching. The Maxima Centrale Power Plant in the Netherlands uses intelligent IT systems and software optimized by ENGIE to generate electricity from natural gas for 1.6 million households. Veeam helps ENGIE make sure the systems and software are backed up and available around the clock, so businesses and households have uninterrupted electricity.

Animal feed mills across the globe use ENGIE’s customized software platforms to automate production of feed and eliminate crosscontamination. Feed for cows, chickens and pigs can’t be mixed because their diet requirements are very different. ENGIE’s solutions not only help avoid cross-contamination, they also support energy efficiency and sanitation efforts to avoid salmonella.

Veeam also helps ENGIE support customers using AI and ML. Veeam Cloud Data Management evolves the way their data is managed, making it smarter and more self-governing while ensuring availability across any infrastructure.

“Multi-cloud solutions are becoming more important to our customers,” Roos said. “For many of them, the future may include cloud modules we develop that provide live reports on weather, traffic and other information critical to their success. We’re ready for the future, and Veeam will help us achieve our goals.”

The results

• Protects IT solutions operating a natural gas power plant serving millions of households
  The Maxima Centrale Power Plant is one of the world’s cleanest energy plants because of ENGIE. Veeam supports ENGIE by delivering continuous availability of the solutions it develops for customers.
• Safeguards software platforms in animal feed mills producing tons of feed each day
  ENGIE’s solutions control the entire production process, including intake of raw materials, dosing, grinding, mixing, pressing into pellets and loading onto trucks. Veeam helps ENGIE ensure each process is uninterrupted so farmers receive their feed deliveries on time.
• Supports customers’ use of AI and ML in multi-cloud solutions
  Veeam Cloud Data Management provides easy, secure and reliable crosscloud data management, migration and analysis for ENGIE’s customers engaging in AI and ML.