THE GLOBAL MARKET CHECKS IN TO TEST It needs to be admitted that from a world market leaderyouwould expect to sponsor theOlympicGames or toflyinto space. But the services of OMICRON are priceless andmuchmore helpful than international stardom: They have been taking care of conformity with regulations, safety, and stability in the testing field of the energy sector since the beginning of the 1990s. “At your own home there is a fuse boxwith a FI circuit breaker that you should push once a month to check that it is functioning properly,” starts Wolfgang Senoner. “OMICRON does the same, but on a larger scale: we are simulating failures.” It is too late when you only find out that the automatic switch-off at fault currents works when a tree hits the power line – this must be regularly checked beforehand. OMICRON develops and produces testing devices exactly for scenarios like this. PARTNER IN PRIME Even though the network know-how is found to a large extent in-house, one is pleased to have NTS as a reliable partner (and Cisco expert) on site for several years already, as telecommunication has entered the daily routine of testing devices. “In the past, somebodyhad tovisit the customer for device training, veryoften to the farthest corners of theworld. Todaywe are staging video live sessions almost continuouslythroughout the day.” Bytheway: It was recently proven in an especially innovative cooperation that you can rely on NTS and that you can crack nuts with them: OMICRON and NTS have joint forRegional products are a megatrend. However, the team of OMICRON in Vorarlberg does not manufacture culinary delights, but they fulfill the highest demands regarding testing technology – and they export this all over the globe. Words and photo by: Harald Müller ces and offer cross-industrial security solutions for the IT and OT sector. A STRONG TEAM OMICRON is offering “innovation out of passion” not only for its customers, but they also follow their founder’s slogan, who was killed in a plane crash in 2009. Self-organization, team awareness and quality of life maintain top priorities. This is for example apparent from the presence of a climbing park on the roof of the headquarter, from the (voluntary) kitchen team of 200 employees or from the three-day party for the entire OMICRON staff that is held every 5 years. “It is also a part of the high level of self-responsibility that you can separate the job fromyour private life,” reckons Senoner. Of course, he does not disclose how he does it, but he reveals as much: He never pushes the circuit breaker at his home either.” SUCCESS STORY FACTS E stablished in 1984 by Rainer Aberer A round 1,100 employees 2 5 subsidiaries and service centers globally C ustomers in more than 160 countries Product trainings are offered globally and live out of Vorarlberg. SUCCESS STORY Spun off in 2004 as an independent university, theMedical University Innsbruck is the major medical research and education institution in Western Austria. The complete formation of their own IT department was one of the biggest challenges for the newlyestablished university. Today as the head of IT, Christoph Wild, who was tasked by the university management in 2004 with this mission, takes care, together with a team of 32, of highly available IT services and infrastructure for almost 3,400 students and 2,200 employees. The 48-year-old is of course repeatedly involved in general strategic discussions, as the feasibility and the information security during the development of processes as well as organization play an even greater role. A longstanding partnership that goes back to theverybeginnings links NTS and Cisco with the Medical University Innsbruck. In this relationship, it is especially the same perspective on innovation, stability and service that plays an important role. “The living and working environment of scientists and students and hence the challenges are changing faster than ever. We are moving into a strong conflict area between innovation and transformation on the one hand side, and to stable services and the requirements to governance on the other hand,” saysWild. “Therefore, it is crucial for successful projects to have partners that are agile and that address us as a university in all relevant aspects.” In March 2020 it was possible in this constellation to conduct a complete roll-out of the Webex platform from a test with single users within only twoweeks. They are currently collaborating on the development of a HPC cluster for medical research. Furthermore, it is a very good precondition for the successful partnership that NTS has a strong local presence on site and that they invest in a further increase of it: “Many companies are continuously scaling back their on-site activities. Key people are only present centrally at a few locations and they have to be flown in. The direct human contact is however an indispensable basis for the long-termdevelopment of mutual trust and for a sustainable collaboration,” explainsWild. SYSTEM CREATION AT THE HIGHEST LEVEL Christoph Wild expects from an IT engineer the characteristics of analytic thinking and above all the motivation to deal with new things again and again. There is no exception for business partners – not a problem for NTS. Words by: Harald Müller Photo by: Medizinische Universität Innsbruck/David Bullock Supporting medical top-level research: Christoph Wild, Head of IT at the Medical University Innsbruck. FACTS Founded in 2004 as an independent university Around 2,200 employees and 2,400 students Global allocation by the Austrian government: appr. 194 million Euros per year Third party funds: appr. 50 million Euros per year www.i-med.ac.at 45 44
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