Commercial Vehicle Manufacturer Consolidates SMTP Traffic via Retarus
A major truck manufacturer has consolidated its global outbound email traffic using Retarus’ SMTP Concentrators and Transactional Email services. The solution, designed in collaboration with an Indian IT service provider, supports not only modern cloud applications but also internal legacy systems, printers, and even applications without Internet access.
Initial Situation: Multiple Regional SMTP Solutions
The client company has a history spanning more than 125 years, employs more than 100,000 people worldwide, and has a presence around the globe.
The holding company operates as an independent, publicly traded company.
The truck manufacturer’s global IT organization aims to establish group-wide standards, thereby reducing complexity while simultaneously providing modern, secure, and scalable IT services. Before the project began, there were still several regional SMTP solutions in place, some of which were legacy systems. This resulted in high complexity, security risks, and a lack of transparency.
Objective: Group-Wide Centralized Email Solution for Application-Based Communication
The aim was therefore to introduce a central SMTP solution for the entire Group. A very specific catalog of requirements was formulated for this purpose. It focused on scalability, security, cloud capability and the ability to map different technical scenarios (cloud, on-prem, legacy) in a standardized architecture.
Retarus, together with the IT service provider, was awarded the contract because it was able to convincingly demonstrate its ability to meet the high technical and time-sensitive requirements and to scale the solution specifically to the customer’s needs. From the outset, the approach was explicitly designed not as a custom solution, but as a fundamentally sound, scalable, and robust SMTP architecture.
The support provided by Retarus (in collaboration with the service provider) was consistently excellent. Without this close and professional collaboration, the implementation would not have been possible in this form. Escalations could be initiated easily at any time—for example, via direct Firefight chats—and were resolved quickly.
Specific Challenges / Approach: Global Gateway, Regional Concentrators
A centralized SMTP concept was developed in collaboration with Retarus. Its core components are a global SMTP gateway in the cloud and supporting regional “concentrators” (e.g., EMEA, APAC, Americas). Cloud-based applications send messages directly to the central gateway. Internal systems such as printers, legacy applications, or systems without direct Internet access use the regional concentrators—a term that was jointly developed and established as part of the project—which in turn forward the email traffic in batches to the central solution.
Not all of the required functions were available at the start of the project. The solution was continuously developed together with Retarus in an agile, iterative process. This enabled Retarus to react flexibly and quickly to new requirements.
The commercial vehicle manufacturer implemented the new SMTP concept in a pragmatic and user-oriented manner. In addition to global communication via central communities and influencers, the onboarding process was kept as simple as possible: Users entered their relevant data and were then connected. The SMTP onboarding took place via ServiceNow both before and after the implementation of the Retarus solution. As a result, there were hardly any process changes for the business units.
Benefits and Advantages: Greater Security, Modern Architecture
The solution was developed with a strong focus on security right from the start. Compared to the previous situation, which was partly based on an open gateway principle, a significantly higher level of security has been achieved. Authentication takes place via defined, secure mechanisms and complies with modern security standards.
The SMTP solution is used worldwide today. Several hundred applications are connected. Typical application scenarios include
- Central connection of all printers
- Shipping from legacy and on-premise applications
- Direct SMTP dispatch from cloud-based services
Key Facts
- SMTP Concentrators in interaction with Transactional Email
- Secure connection of internal legacy systems, printers, and applications without Internet access
- Central, stable and highly available SMTP platform
Conclusion
The project objectives were achieved in full. Processes were simplified, security was significantly increased and a central, stable and highly available SMTP platform was established. User acceptance is high. Any reservations were addressed through targeted change management. Separate training courses were not required.
With the implementation of the Retarus SMTP Concentrator solution, the customer was able to establish a uniform, secure, and scalable SMTP architecture for the entire corporate group. The solution addresses both modern cloud scenarios and traditional legacy requirements, providing a stable foundation for global email delivery from applications.
We greatly value our partnership with Retarus and the Indian service provider. We would particularly like to highlight their quick response times, technical expertise, and pragmatic collaboration as equals.
More Scenarios
Retarus Cloud Services: Communication Solutions for the “Internet of Things”
Digitalization is finding its way into more and more factories and private households. Under the guise of keywords like “Industry 4.0” or “Internet of Things” (IoT) people are increasingly counting on “intelligent” machines and devices.