Centralised middleware for IT and OT
Orchestra as the basis for a digital integration platform for the circular economy at AVAG Umwelt AG
Orchestra as part of the best-of-breed digitalisation strategy at AVAG
In order to make its services sustainable and future-proof, AVAG Umwelt AG is pursuing an ambitious digitalisation strategy – and is consistently relying on the best-of-breed approach.
The aim is to use the best and most efficient application for each task. However, this means that an increasing number of specialised applications are now in use at the company.
This system diversity therefore requires a stable and scalable integration architecture in order to ensure efficient data exchange between the applications. Instead of developing customised point-to-point interfaces, AVAG decided at an early stage to use our Orchestra middleware.
Special challenge:
Requirements in the IT and OT environment
A decisive factor in the choice of Orchestra was its ability to reliably integrate both traditional IT systems and applications in the OT environment. As a company with strong links to physical processes – for example in logistics, waste processing or measurement and control systems – AVAG Umwelt AG requires middleware that fulfils the specific requirements of industrial environments.
Orchestra is technically designed in such a way that the software can also reliably fulfil these special requirements. This creates the basis for future projects in this area.
Expectations for the integration solution
Apart from the technical requirements for an integration solution, the team at AVAG Umwelt AG also had clear expectations regarding the improvements that should accompany the implementation of an integration solution:
The effort for interface development and maintenance should be significantly reduced, the scalability of the system landscape considerably increased and the time-to-integration of new applications significantly shortened.
Project realisation:
From workshop to scalable integration architecture
The AVAG team was introduced to the world of middleware with an architecture workshop together with the experts from soffico GmbH. This was followed by ‘training on the job’, i.e. the interface development was carried out jointly in workshops. This made it possible to build up specific middleware expertise internally and create the basis for the independent implementation of simpler integration tasks. This approach also enabled the contact persons at AVAG Umwelt AG to formulate their own requirements for complex interfaces clearly and precisely.
AVAG Umwelt AG specifically utilised the consulting and development services of the soffico experts for demanding integrations and the design of sustainable interface logics. The coordination of the technical conception in Orchestra was particularly valuable for them:
The AVAG Umwelt AG team received optimal advice on how their requirements could be efficiently and sustainably mapped within the middleware. A central element here, for example, was the use of the Solution Hub, which is a key factor for connecting other AVAG locations. This combination of internal competence development and external expertise made it possible to create a sustainable, well-documented and future-proof integration solution.
Successful pilot project: ‘BochFlow’ customer delivery system
The first integration project with Orchestra involved connecting the customer delivery system ‘BochFlow’ for the waste disposal centres. Here, master data was transferred from the ERP system to the delivery system and transaction data was fed back – including complex data format transformations between different technologies and APIs. The implementation of the pilot was successfully completed, paving the way for further integration projects.
Orchestra as a central middleware solution
Based on this successful pilot project, Orchestra was expanded to become the central middleware solution at AVAG. The following systems, among others, have now been connected:
CRM system HubSpot
ERP system Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central
In-house development for full container registration
FTP server for secure data exchange
CheckMK monitoring system
The variety of systems – some with very different interface requirements – placed high demands on the middleware: flexibility, scalability, security and interoperability. Orchestra fulfils these requirements in full.
The platform not only meets all the technical requirements for a standardised and flexible interface architecture, but is also established in the OT environment. As a result, the solution now forms the backbone of our integration architecture as part of our digitalisation strategy. Further projects and applications are being integrated on an ongoing basis.
With Orchestra, we have found the ideal middleware to efficiently implement our best-of-breed strategy – technically strong, OT-tested and with a partner at our side that impresses with its expertise and uncomplicated collaboration. We particularly appreciate the pragmatic approach and sound advice in our collaboration.
The advantages for AVAG Umwelt AG
Thanks to the introduction of Orchestra, AVAG Umwelt AG now benefits from structured, secure and transparent data exchange between a wide range of applications – both in the IT and OT areas. Instead of numerous individual point-to-point interfaces, Orchestra enables the creation of a central integration platform that serves as a stable and scalable basis for digital transformation.
The standardised connection of new systems and the flexible expansion of existing connections have significantly reduced development and maintenance costs. At the same time, the time-to-integration for new applications has been significantly shortened.
A key success factor is the expertise built up internally: simple adaptations and integrations can now be implemented independently. The expertise of soffico is still reliably available for more complex requirements.
With Orchestra, AVAG has a future-proof integration architecture that not only fulfils current requirements, but can also react flexibly to future developments – efficiently, maintainably and sustainably.
Rica Holzmann
