The leading German drugstore operator has replaced its Tibco middleware with Solace’s Event Mesh platform. In October, dm was able to completely shut down its Tibco EMS system. Now, dm is in the process of introducing Solace into its logistics operations as well, replacing Oracle AQ middleware. The project is in full swing and is expected to significantly improve the supply of logistics data to the entire company.
Pascal Reitermann, DevOps Engineer at dmTech, reported enthusiastically last month at a Solace customer event in Frankfurt am Main about the optimised data supply between systems thanks to the Canadian platform. Since the introduction of Solace, data exchange between the central SAP merchandise management system, the in-house developed store systems, the Gebit POS solution and Markant’s master data pool has improved significantly.
Before dm introduced Solace, the company was unable to exchange data directly between its two cloud worlds – Microsoft and Google. Processes had to be defined in such a way that an on-premise system retrieved data from one cloud and passed it on to the other. This was cumbersome, as dm handles most of its store system data in the Google Cloud and central business applications in Microsoft’s Azure. With the Solace-based architecture, data now flows in an event-driven manner between the drugstore operator’s different clouds.
Digital receipt as use case
Pascal Reitermann cited the digital receipt on the dm app, which allows customers to archive their purchases from different stores in one place, as a concrete use case for the integration of all databases and systems with Solace. The DevOps specialist also mentions order management for express pickups with in-store picking and couponing as processes that benefit significantly from the new data hub. According to Pascal Reitermann, Solace also enabled dm to optimise its data security through better authentication procedures, reduce the complexity of data connections and route data more dynamically.
Migrating the entire middleware was a mammoth task. “We first had to find someone in the company who was responsible for around 700 data connections between systems in the old architecture,” reports Pascal Reitermann. Ultimately, a way had to be found to migrate 20,000 data recipients or senders (clients) and 100 million data exchanges (events) per day to the new world.
New project creates transparency in logistics
dm is now in the process of introducing Solace also into its logistics operations, in order to connect the various control systems of its distribution centres, which come from SSI Schäfer, TGW, Swisslog and KBS Industrieelektronik, among others, to conststently used warehouse management system from Körber, which has been marketed under the new name Infios since this year. In this area, dm has previously used Oracle AQ as middleware and has encountered a significant problem: TGW’s software does not support Oracle AQ.
Furthermore, connections have so far only existed between the individual control systems and Infios. Data communication between the different control systems was just as impossible as between control systems, SAP, the store systems or Markant’s master data platform. With Solace, dm is now also creating a data hub in logistics through which all systems can exchange data with each other. “With Solace’s event-driven architecture, we can reduce complexity and become more flexible at the same time,” Stefan Futterer from dm Logistik explained in Frankfurt.
Solace impresses with low latency
According to Stefan Futterer, one of the reasons Solace was chosen for logistics was its low latency – the delay that occurs during data exchange. ‘Our systems often have to decide in 50 milliseconds whether a box is routed to the right or left. With Solace, the latency usually stays at 10 milliseconds,’ says Stefan Futterer.
Solace made considerable concessions to the drugstore operator so that dm could implement the project in logistics. “We can’t move to the cloud with the warehouse control systems of large distribution centres,” explains Stefan Futterer. Even short downtimes would cause a disaster. Solace therefore allowed dm to operate its platform, which is normally a pure cloud solution, on-premises as an exception.
Solace is well received in the retail sector
For Canadian data supply specialist Solace, which actually comes from the world of finance, the projects with dm are a huge success. In 2023, Solace prevailed against 27 competitors in the drugstore operator’s selection process.
Solace is also very popular with other German retail companies: the market leader, Edeka Group, uses Solace for its product master data distribution, among other things, and Hornbach is also in the process of introducing the Canadian company’s data hub, as reported. Solace entered into a partnership with CAS AG, a renowned implementation partner in the German retail sector, in 2023, as The Retail Optimiser reported.
