Consolidating Data Center Operations with Zero Business Disruption

The program management approach used to deliver this initiative led by PM Solutions has now become the worldwide standard for large scale programs and projects across the client’s organization.

Company

A global company providing land, sea, and air power solutions worldwide. The Company has established leading positions in civil aerospace, defense, marine, and energy markets.

Challenge

With an aging data center and a long-term lease expiring, this company desired to implement a new state-of-the-art data center for its entire North American operations capable of supporting strategic growth and expansion. After securing $6 million in funding approval and identifying an 8,000 square foot new facility location, they were still lacking a proven resource with prior data center move experience to lead this 10-month, timesensitive initiative. The Company did not have an in-house resource with these capabilities and knew they needed the right person to manage this high-visibility data center move that would serve as the cornerstone of their future efforts to consolidate other data centers worldwide and modernize their infrastructure.

Solution

With an established vendor relationship already in place, the company turned to PM Solutions who provided an expert program manager with extensive data center move experience. PM Solutions’ program manager led a team of technical IT and engineering resources, working with additional external resources involved in the program. The fi rst course of action taken by PM Solutions’ program manager was to divide the 10-month program into four distinct components with clear objectives as follows:

  • Build-out a new state of the art 8,000 square foot facility
  • Relocate 225 physical and virtual servers along with the supporting network infrastructure to the new data center
  • Perform leasehold improvements on the existing offi ce space and relocate 70 employees from the old data center to their new office space in the Company’s main office campus
  • De-commission the old data center and return it to the landlord

PM Solutions’ program manager reported directly to the head of the Company’s Global Program Management Offi ce (PMO), and worked closely with the Company’s Chief Technology Offi cer for North America as the project sponsor of the initiative. A key attribute of PM Solutions’ program manager was the ability to work with all groups – from construction trades, to union staff, to senior executives – possessing a genuine understanding of what each group was doing to accomplish the objectives of the program.

Results

The new 8,000 square foot data center was delivered on time and within its $6 million budget. All objectives were met and there was zero business disruption during the entire 10 months of the project. The Company now has a modern data center with the capacity to grow by an additional 33%, allowing for further consolidation of operations in the future. The program management approach used to deliver this initiative led by PM Solutions has been recognized for its professionalism and now becomes the worldwide standard for large-scale programs and projects across the client’s organization.

PM Solutions continues to be an invaluable project management partner to this company, and is currently engaged in other highvisibility projects within its North American division.


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