Success Story of Accarda AG


«It’s a brilliant feeling every time we enter our own room in the Swisscom Data Center.»

Burkhard Kapferer,
Head of IT Operations, Accarda AG




The trump card for maximum data security.


Accarda AG is a leader in customer cards, payment solutions and customer loyalty. Sensitive data of more than two million end customers enjoys maximum security in the Swisscom Data Center.

The challenge: zero error tolerance in terms of availability and security

Major trade and multimedia groups successfully rely on the card solutions and services provided by Accarda. The range of offers includes customer cards with payment function, mobile payment, purchase on account, gift cards and bonus programmes. Accarda manages sensitive data of more than two million end customers. “When it comes to data security and availability, we offer our customers de facto banking standards,” says Burkhard Kapferer, Head of IT Operations, describing the company’s high claims. “For this reason, a few years ago we started looking for a technically reliable enhancement to our in-house data centre that would also be profitable to run. Since we didn’t want to build and monitor the infrastructure ourselves, we were looking for a reliable partner to do this for us. We wanted this partner to be based in Switzerland and to have sufficient resources to guarantee long-term continuity and maximum availability.”



The solution: risks are banned.

With Telehousing metro, Swisscom offers an extremely secure home for Accarda’s servers. The company has rented its own room in the nearby Swisscom Data Center. Here, its IT infrastructure is optimally protected against fire, sabotage, unauthorised access and power failure. A multi-level biometric system is used to control access, and emergency power generators offer superior bridging of any power failures. Specialists from Swisscom monitor the data centre 24/7 and provide expert support to Accarda employees on-site. Swisscom uses Opticallink Services, LAN-I and Internet IP-Plus to provide the secure, redundant connections between the data centre and the Accarda Group Headquarters.



The result: problem-free processes and satisfied customers.

Accarda recently extended its contract for Telehousing metro by five years. Burkhard Kapferer has good reasons for this: “Our core processes are available around the clock, with no downtimes. To cope with peak times – e.g. our customers’ Christmas business – we are able to flexibly expand our server capacities and process extremely high volumes. This is very important to our customers. Swisscom tests the data centre infrastructure regularly, guaranteeing maximum security. And the advice we receive from the Swisscom experts is particularly useful: they aren’t only interested in sales, but actually want to offer us added value.”





This product is used by Accarda AG