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Red Hat, Vorwerk Bake the Hybrid Cloud and Internet of Things Into Leading Cooking Appliance

Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform helps Vorwerk integrate recipe ecosystem into more than 1.5 million+ Thermomix connected devices

SAN FRANCISCO – RED HAT SUMMIT 2018 - —

Red Hat, the world's leading provider of open source solutions, today announced that Vorwerk is implementing a new Internet of Things (IoT) environment with multicloud support and an infrastructure based on Red Hat solutions. Serving as the foundation for Vorwerk’s IoT initiative is Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform, Red Hat’s hybrid cloud solution built from enterprise-grade Kubernetes and Linux containers, which provides the flexible, scalable architecture for Vorwerk to expand device connectivity and application processing power.

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The success of the project also shows that – with solutions like Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform and Red Hat CloudForms – we are extremely well positioned to support enterprises as they implement digital transformation strategies, including those that span hybrid and multicloud footprints.

Ashesh Badani

vice president and general manager, OpenShift, Red Hat

Over its 130-year company history, Vorwerk, a family-owned business, has transformed from a carpet factory to a diversified international group with a portfolio of products and services that includes premium household appliances, carpets, cosmetics, and even leasing and financing services. Today, Vorwerk is considered a pioneer in many product segments when it comes to digitalization and innovation.

To better leverage the increasingly connected nature of the consumer world, Vorwerk implemented a digital recipe ecosystem, “Cookidoo,” containing an IoT environment with multicloud support to integrate more than 1.5 million of its IoT devices. Cookidoo can be accessed directly via Thermomix, an advanced, multifunctional kitchen appliance, using the Cook-Key accessory. The Thermomix software backend currently consists of several thousand containers in hundreds of virtual machines (VMs) across hybrid and multicloud infrastructure, requiring a stable and fully-automated container platform to serve as the IoT backend.

Vorwerk adopts solutions by Red Hat on a large scale

To help power its IoT environment and specifically Thermomix, Vorwerk selected Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform. Using Red Hat’s enterprise-grade Kubernetes container application platform, Vorwerk can consistently create, deploy, and manage applications across hybrid and multicloud infrastructures. This helps Vorwerk to increase its efficiency for the delivery of both modern and traditional applications with shorter development cycles and lower operating costs. In addition to Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform, Vorwerk has implemented additional Red Hat technologies, including:

  • Red Hat CloudForms to manage its new architecture across the hybrid cloud. Red Hat CloudForms is a hybrid infrastructure management platform that provides self-service provisioning and management, tracks costs and helps enable compliance across virtual machines, containers, physical infrastructure, and public and private clouds.

  • Container-native storage by Red Hat based on Red Hat Gluster Storage. Container-native storage provides flexible, scalable, cluster-based software-defined storage optimized for Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform to more efficiently meet data needs with minimal manual provisioning.

  • Red Hat Ansible Automation, which serves as the high-performance, open source automation engine that supports the simple, conceptual design of automated process sequences. With Red Hat Ansible Automation, Vorwerk is able to automate the deployment and scaling of applications across its hybrid cloud infrastructure, a critical component in powering millions of connected devices while limiting potential for downtime.

Vorwerk also made use of Red Hat Services, specifically Red Hat Consulting and Red Hat Technical Account Management, to help support the entire implementation. Vorwerk used Red Hat's expertise in planning, architectural design, and technical execution to help drive a smooth project deployment.

With the new Cookidoo ecosystem, Vorwerk is seeking to gain numerous competitive advantages through Red Hat’s digitally-transformative, hybrid cloud technologies. The new integration, for example, enables Thermomix customers to automatically access an extensive online recipe database, Cookidoo, directly through the Thermomix’s user interface and the mobile app. Additionally, Vorwerk’s new Red Hat infrastructure enables multicloud services brokerage between Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure, and the company also plans to include Alibaba Cloud in its public cloud service mix.

Supporting Quotes

Ashesh Badani, vice president and general manager, OpenShift, Red Hat

“Vorwerk sets very high standards in terms of the performance, flexibility, and scalability of the company’s IT solutions. For that reason, we are very proud that Vorwerk opted for Red Hat solutions and that we can play a crucial role in an innovative, future-looking IoT implementation. The success of the project also shows that – with solutions like Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform and Red Hat CloudForms – we are extremely well positioned to support enterprises as they implement digital transformation strategies, including those that span hybrid and multicloud footprints.”

Michael Hosse, senior manager of digital architecture,Vorwerk

“We consider innovation and customer service to be of the utmost importance, which is where we see how the Internet of Things can play a crucial role. With Red Hat as our partner, we have succeeded in creating an enhanced customer experience through improved device connectivity. In terms of technology, functionality, and flexibility, we are impressed with the state-of-the-art solutions provided by Red Hat, including Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform, and we can already say that we most definitely made the right decision for our business and our customers.”

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