The Challenge
Cisco required a full decommission across two data halls in Europe, where over 1,000 devices needed to be decommissioned, cleaned, packaged and shipped securely to their international head office depot in The Netherlands.
- They requested all Cisco switches, servers and storage to be de-racked, and cable removal across an 80-rack hosting environment.
- Technimove were required to visit Amsterdam to decommission, clean and relocate over 735 devices and to travel to Beire to remove over 372 devices.
- This request was logistically and operationally challenging as both had to run simultaneously and be completed within 5 days.
The Solution
Planning and Project Management
The Project Management discovery phases gathered detailed information and time frames to complete this large-scale transformation programme.
Understanding the time constraints to complete this transformation programme was identified as being critical to its success. A Senior Project Manager was assigned and engaged with Cisco to capture the full schedule and scope of works. It was then that a full understanding of the requirements and challenges were identified to complete the work.
The Migration
The teams working in the hosting Data Centre facilities removed all equipment in-scope and de-racked all devices ranging from 1U to 24U in size, placing into flight cases ready for transport.
Scanning and barcoding the devices to record all asset information onto a database to confirm and cross check with the client’s check list was undertaken. Each device was individually wrapped in anti-static bubble wrap and placed into the dedicated foam lined wooden shipping crate, secured and labelled.
All other devices, cables or equipment was palletised and shrink wrapped, and loaded into dedicated air suspension trucks securely and checked by the client. Technimove’s pre-fuelled GPS tracked vehicles then travelled directly to the destination site via the safest and shortest pre-planned route.
The Result
Planning and dedicated resources ensured that the project was completed without any issues, within the 5-day timeline and completed in line with the customers’ expectations.
The Project Management & Coordination focus and attention to detail were fully aligned to the programme of work tasks. All 1,000+ devices across each site were safely, securely and completely transformed and transported in line with customer requirements and expectations.
Technimove undertook final checks before handing the equipment in-scope over to the client for the full and final checks & testing to commence ahead of schedule.
The feedback received from those involved across Cisco was positive all round and the project was a complete success. Cisco commented;
“Thank you so much for your patience, help, and support on this programme of work. I am glad everything has been completed as detailed within the Project Management scope and picked up and is on the way back to Cisco. Great work from everybody! Thank you.’’
“Hopefully we have the chance to work together again in the future!”
Technology / Project Management – Server Migration