Author: Alistair Mackenzie.
Within a year of the Berlin Wall coming down, two former East German soldiers set about building a new business. Fuelled by the optimism of the era and a passion for technology, ADICOM© was born. 35 years later, it’s one of the most innovative storage and backup businesses in Germany, leading the way with ground-breaking recovery assurance services.
This week I took some time out to reconnect with two people that continue to drive the ADICOM© business forward every day. Chris Hogrefe [IT System Specialist] and Ralf Brummack [Chief Marketing Officer] told me the story behind ADICOM© and explained how they have embraced the bold optimism of the founders.
The Story Begins
Frank Lasinski and Peter Schulz met during their time in the military. They shared an interest in technology and studied computer science during this time. By the time Germany was reunified in 1990, the pair had become firm friends. Within a year of the Berlin Wall coming down, they had left the army to set up their own technology business in the south of Berlin.
In the early years, ADICOM© was a technology broker, specialising in reconditioning and selling the big IBM enterprise systems of the day – like Mainframe and AS/400.
More skills. More recognition. More customers
As the team grew, so did its expertise. The company’s ambitions grew too. By 1995, ADICOM© was recognised as a leading expert in IBM technology and became an authorised IBM Business Partner in Germany, authorized for AS/400, IBM Storage, IBM INTEL based servers and IBM Printing systems.
The team began reselling new IBM systems to medium and large enterprises in Berlin and beyond, expanding their capabilities to incorporate IBM AIX and Power systems.
Ralf Brummack explained: “Frank and Peter have always been quick to recognise new opportunities and move fast. They encourage us to do the same. We’re proud to be early adopters of innovative technologies that we know will make a difference to our customers.”
When IBM moved into the backup software space with the acquisition of Tivoli, including TSM (Tivoli Storage Manager), ADICOM© was right there.
As well as reselling TSM (later renamed as IBM Storage Protect) ADICOM© launched managed backup and recovery services with TSM under the hood. Led by Chris Hogrefe, ADICOM©’s backup service offerings have proven to be popular with existing ADICOM© customers and have helped the business attract new clients too.
Evolution with Predatar
Backup sales and services were a great driver for growth at ADICOM© for more than a decade, but times have changed. “You can no longer grow a business selling backup products and services” Chris explains. “Today everyone has a backup solution in place, and for big businesses, moving to a different one is really hard and, in most cases, too expensive.”
Always looking for the next evolution, Chris was actively searching for ways to move ADICOM©’s backup services forward – to add more value for customers, and more differentiation in the marketplace. When he discovered Predatar at IBM Storage Expert event in Augsburg (Germany) in 2022 he knew it would be the beginning of something exciting.
Following an intensive hands-on technical bootcamp with the Predatar Team in UK, Chris and his team wasted no time in building the ADICOM© Data Resiliency Service (ADRS).
Data Resiliency with ADICOM©
ADRS, powered by Predatar is available to businesses that use IBM Storage Protect or IBM Defender Data Protect backup software. Additionally, ADICOM© can also deliver this unique service for Veeam users too.
With ADRS, ADICOM© will take care of the day-to-day maintenance of your backup environment, ensure that all of your backup runs are successful, and fix any problems. But the real differentiation comes in ADICOM©’s ability to run continual recovery tests and malware interrogation. This capability is achieved with the Predatar Recovery Assurance platform and gives ADICOM© customers complete confidence in their ability to recover quickly, cleanly and completely in the event of a cyber incident.
What’s next for ADICOM© ?
35 years on, the original founders of ADICOM©, Frank Lasinski and Peter Schulz remain active in their leadership of the business, and it’s clear from my conversations with Ralf and Chris that their bold approach to innovation, their passion for technology and their optimism for the future has become infused into culture at ADICOM©.
When I asked, “what’s next for ADICOM©?” the answer was simple. Chris explained “We’ll keep on innovating with a very clear focus. We want to be the best at what we do. We want to offer the very best storage and recovery solutions to tackle the challenges facing businesses in Germany today.”
Boost your data resiliency with ADICOM©
If boosting resiliency in your business is a priority, you can find out more about ADICOM© at www.adicom.group or email the team at consulting@adicom-group.de
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