baramundi Success Stories
EXOR International
Technology (IT, Telecommunications, MSP/MSSP)
EXOR International
EXOR International is part of the Holdex Group Srl., headquartered in San Giovanni Lupatoto, Italy, which also includes the IoT specialist CORVINA Srl. Together with other companies in the group, EXOR International forms a complete industrial automation chain,
Starting with the production of electronic components, industrial HMIs and IPCs, runtime software for protocol conversion and visualization, software PLCs, and a cloud platform.
Complex Environments at Exor International
Founded in 2017, the startup CORVINA has developed a cloud-based industrial IoT platform that provides technologies for Industry 4.0 operations. The platform serves as a container for distributed edge systems, combining data acquisition, monitoring and control, configuration management, and integrated web tools and programming environments. The solution supports machines and applications throughout their entire lifecycle.
The Group’s development and production take place at four locations in Italy, with sales offices around the world. The ever-growing IT environment, which currently comprises over 430 devices, is managed by Senior System Administrator Matteo Scala and his three colleagues at the headquarters in Verona, as well as by an IT controller at each location. With so many locations, ensuring transparency and security has become a real challenge.
In Search of a Solution
Mateo Scala explains: "Our office environment is very diverse. In addition to traditional office suites, accounting, ERP, and VPN software, we also develop our own software, firmware, and hardware in-house with the help of our branches—using all the necessary specialized tools. We also create and use our own products. This helps us reduce the attack surface for potential cyberattacks. It also means we have to pay very close attention to any solution that could pose a vulnerability. We try to keep as much as possible behind our firewalls, and we limit our connections to the cloud."
When we were still a smaller company, we did all of this manually. But as the number of users and devices grew, we reached the limits of what our team could handle. In addition, our company must be ISO 27003 certified, which means we really need to have full control over our IT environment. This includes properly inventorying all devices on our network. Everything has to be patched, and operating system updates must be deployed properly and on time. Without automation, this task would be impossible to manage with just four employees—not to mention the necessary monitoring of all branch offices.
The Need for Monitoring and Automation
"We were also in the process of centralizing our entire IT management to further improve control over our IT environment. We needed automation to ensure that updates and configurations were consistent across the entire network. We narrowed our options down to three different solutions that could provide the necessary management tools.
We needed a secure on-premises solution, but service was just as important to us: We didn’t just want software—we wanted a qualified partner with excellent service whom we could rely on and who would address our needs. After six months, we finally decided on baramundi."
Quick Implementation
After that, the rollout proceeded quickly: Within three months, the new management system was implemented at the Verona site as well as in Germany and the United States. "We’re continuously adding new locations to our IT management system. Newly added locations are integrated immediately. Existing infrastructure takes a little more time, so it’s an ongoing process.
With baramundi, we now cover the entire lifecycle of our devices: We provision laptops, desktop PCs, and mobile devices; take inventory of them; handle updates and patches; and automate many routine tasks using the baramundi modules.
Management also extends to our factory environment, where we have many Windows devices in addition to our own IoT Linux HMI and other Linux devices."
"The switch to baramundi brought about a significant improvement in our efficiency. Even though our IT team is still the same size as before, the new options for automation, compliance, deployment, inventory, and monitoring have more than doubled our ability to get things done.
And what’s even better: Our team members can now focus on their specific tasks instead of automation, compliance, deployment, monitoring, and inventory management."
