Description

COSMOS SPORTS SA started its activities in September 1991 with the creation of the first Cosmos Sport - store, selling sportwear in Heraklion, Crete, while today numbers 18 stores.

It is the first sports retail company in the region of Crete and one of the three biggest in the country.

The need

As part of company's development, an e-shop was designed and developed (www.cosmossport.gr), in order to expand its customer base throughout the country.

Then, after the success of the first online store of the company, a new idea was integrated in the family of COSMOS SPORTS SA, the sneaker10, an online store for the specialized sale of sneaker shoes and clothing of the same culture.

The operational requirements of the requested system were the same as those of cosmossport.gr:

• The products actually available in the warehouse should be displayed to the consumer in the online store

• The commitment of the products should be done directly from the warehouses

• Orders to be processed in the minimum time

• The system to respond when in high demand

The solution

The solution had already been provided by Microsoft with all its products and services as they were implemented for cosmossport.gr.

• Windows Azure Content Delivery Network (CDN). With this we released the photographic material of the products from being given through the website. High availability and high-speed data transmission lines are translated into an advantage for the online store.

• Windows Azure SQL Database + DataSync Service (PaaS). In order to  achieve complete update of the website from the Cloud with information about the pricelist - availability of products and by taking orders and synchronizing this information with the ERP of the company.

• Windows Azure Virtual Machines. The e-store was designed and implemented using Java Servlet technology with Tomcat container on Linux OS. This was not an obstacle because with Windows Azure Virtual Machines (IaaS) technology we managed to set up a Linux Virtual Machine. Now we can configure in real-time the availability of the computing power or the memory of the Virtual Machine.

• Windows Azure. The most important is that with Microsoft's Cloud technology we elliminate the costs mentioned above in an On Premise installation.

Benefits

The biggest benefit for the company is that it acquired in its potential, another e-shop with minimal costs and without the need for new infrastructure.

Now COSMOS SPORTS SA can:

• focus on its sales and the quality of its products and services, having the confidence that the information system will operate continuously 24/7 365 days a year.
• use the costs from the operating costs he has saved, by moving to the Cloud, in the development of the company.