Conception, planning, control and execution of a data center move with production-critical infrastructure

BITS organized and coordinated the relocation of the IT landscape from one data center to a new data center for a globally active corporation in the automotive industry (data center migration). The project comprised around 150 applications and 600 servers, some of which had production-relevant effects, and was supported by us over a period of 3 years.

datacenter migration rechenzenrum umzug BITS GmbH

As part of the project, the IT project managers and IT consultants at BITS coordinated around 30 specialist departments within the Group and around 20 external service providers, in some cases over a period of several months. BITS took care of all facets of the move, from architecture to reordering to optimizing the new environment.

100% Production Critical

Relocation of production-critical infrastructure.

3 years project duration

Planning, relocation and commissioning over 3 years.

> 50 specialist departments and service providers

Coordinate a variety of departments and service providers.

Successful implementation with the IT experts at BITS

“The successful implementation of the project was only possible thanks to the dedicated and competent team of the MAN IT departments involved and their service providers, as well as the DCNext project team at BITS. The new data center and the optimized processes form a solid basis for the future and are an important step towards digitalization and innovation. After several months of operation of the new data center, it is clear that the technical and organizational optimizations achieved are paying off and that all the departments and partners involved have settled in very well. I would like to thank the entire team for their outstanding performance and congratulate them on this successful project!”

Thomas Gibis, Vice President - IT Infrastructure Services, MAN Truck & Bus SE

Challenge

The challenge in this project was to move the IT infrastructure of a corporate data center from one site to another without affecting ongoing operations and production.

Another challenge was to plan and define the target infrastructure.

The applications, databases and IT systems to be moved were used by around 30 specialist departments in the Group and developed or supported by around 20 external service providers. Coordinating and aligning all participants with each other to ensure a smooth move was another challenge in this project.

Compatibility between the old and new infrastructure had to be ensured or prepared for so that the applications would run smoothly at the new location.

Partly production-critical infrastructure
Numerous applications and servers
Partial adaptation of individual applications necessary

A variety of internal and external contacts
Tight budget and schedule
Optimal quality and transparency of the ordering process

Realization

In a preliminary project, about 1 year before the actual move began, the current infrastructure was analyzed and the target infrastructure was designed. At the same time, the procedure for the move was planned and coordinated with all parties involved.

Network analyses, security concepts, capacities and sizing were topics that the BITS experts dealt with as well as finding the right contacts, organizing and coordinating the procedure.

Once the preliminary project had been completed and the procedure agreed, the actual move took place. This was organized and coordinated in several waves by several Move managers from BITS over a 2-year period.

In addition to the pure relocation, system adjustments were also planned and implemented in part to meet future requirements for security, risk minimization and scalability at the new location. At the same time, the processes for reordering, maintaining and adapting the systems were optimized, making them routine tasks.

BITS took on various IT roles during the implementation, from IT design and IT project management to commissioning at the new site.

1 year preliminary project
2 years Implementation of the move and commissioning at the new location
Analysis of the actual and conception of the target environment partly with upgrade scenarios
Process optimization for system ordering and maintenance

Adjustment of the system for risk minimization
Organization, coordination and control of all internal and external participants, as well as all participating service providers
Order process and delivery in time
Ongoing reporting with escalation processes

Outlook

Following the successful completion of the IT infrastructure move, the SAP systems are now being relocated. The new challenge is very gladly accepted by the experts at BITS.

We are looking forward to successfully realizing this move for our customer as well.