This is how Eroski has set up its comprehensive Big Data system

EROSKI had been looking for a comprehensive Big Data & Analytics solution for some time to align the IT infrastructure with the business. The distribution company trusted Omega Peripherals, which built a platform built in collaboration with the company’s ICT team and which allows the integration of data from different environments, simplifies the application of analytical techniques and makes Big Data profitable.

Eroski has different business areas (supermarkets, hypermarkets and cash & carry, gas stations, opticians, travel offices and sports equipment stores) that generate a large volume of data, both structured and unstructured, from multiple sources of information, which it is necessary to extract value to maintain their competitiveness.

With this objective and within its ambitious digital transformation plan, the Eroski group relies on Omega Peripherals, its IT partner for more than 18 years, to carry out a continuous update of its technological infrastructure focused on data. As part of this fruitful collaboration, four years ago a strategy was launched to modernize the storage infrastructure with the latest technology to consolidate all business data and enable its integration with innovative Big Data & Analytics proposals.

Thus, in 2019 all its structured data was unified in a single All-Flash storage platform and from 2020 the construction of a Data Lake in a Private Cloud began through a centralized multiprotocol solution that allows the integration of data (files and objects ) from different environments. In it, user and business data coexist with information related to various areas and systems: online purchase, logistics, member club, CRMs, BI applications, etc. This Data Lake is applied to an approximate volume of 140 TB of unstructured data, of which nearly 200 million are files that were previously housed in different structures.

The solution, which includes Netapp’s AFF and Storage Grid systems, can be complemented with services in the Public Cloud. For this reason, high-density scale-out storage systems converge with NVMe technology that provide the fastest analytical loads.

The next step in Eroski’s technological evolution has been to deploy Stratio Data Centric as a single platform from which to govern both structured and unstructured data, regardless of where it is stored, whether in on-premises systems or cloud services. In real time and from a single interface, you can apply advanced intelligent analytics and get a unified view of data from all business units.

The next step in Eroski’s technological evolution has been to deploy Stratio Data Centric as a single platform

To take advantage of this multi-tenant platform, a deployment in SaaS mode was initially chosen and, in this way, the first use cases could be quickly undertaken. At the same time, the implementation of the on-premises version and the migration of the services that were required to its PaaS modality were carried out.

18 years of mutual trust

Eroski’s digital transformation and modernization plan, called Handia, adds to these deployments the development of systems based on ‘containerization’ and microservices architecture. To this end, Google Anthos has been shortlisted as a platform for container orchestration and end-to-end management of Kubernetes cluster fleets.

“Undoubtedly, one of the keys to the success of this Big Data & Analytics platform has been the joint work of Omega Peripherals and Eroski to define and build a project that meets the initial requirements set by both the business and the architecture teams. and design”, comments Manuel Oleagoitia, director of the delegation in the northern area of ​​Omega Peripherals. “It is the result of 18 years of mutual trust and a proactive vision proposing new technologies that help Eroski to establish itself as a leader in its sector”