A global financial services organization initiated a data center consolidation project to centralize critical infrastructure into a single secure facility. The goal was to reduce ongoing facility expenses, simplify support operations, improve response times, and strengthen physical security controls.
The project involved relocating racks of production infrastructure, including network switches, servers, storage systems, and patch panels, from multiple locations into a centralized data center environment. The consolidation was designed to improve operational efficiency while maintaining continuous access to
critical business applications.
The Challenge: When Legacy Tech Meets Modern Demands
The organization was supporting infrastructure across multiple facilities, resulting in increased operational costs and added complexity for IT support teams. Technicians were required to service multiple locations, creating inefficiencies and longer response times when addressing technical issues. The migration presented several significant challenges:
• Maintaining business continuity throughout the relocation process.
• Ensuring critical systems remained available during transportation and migration activities.
• Coordinating schedules and requirements across multiple internal departments.
• Preserving network connectivity and data accessibility throughout the transition.
• Providing reliable remote hands support to execute the project requirements on-site.
• Completing the project during lean hours to minimize disruption to business operations and end users.
• Minimizing user disruption during the cutover.
• Safely transporting and reinstalling production servers, storage, and network equipment.
Given the mission-critical nature of the systems involved, careful planning and execution were essential to avoid downtime and operational risk.
The Solution:
BMT developed a comprehensive data center migration and consolidation strategy focused on minimizing disruption while ensuring a seamless transition. The engagement included:
- Detailed assessment and documentation of existing infrastructure.
- Migration planning and project coordination across stakeholder groups.
- Physical decommissioning of two equipment racks.
- Secure transportation of:
- Production servers
- Network switches
- Storage platforms
- Patch panels
- Associated rack and connectivity infrastructure
- Reinstallation and cable management within the new data center environment
- Network reconfiguration and connectivity validation
- System testing and operational verification following migration
- Coordination of migration activities to maintain system availability during the transition.
The migration was executed in phases to reduce risk and ensure all critical business services remained operational throughout the process.
The Outcome: Assess, Plan, Migrate
Successful data center consolidations require more than moving equipment. BMT follows a structured methodology designed to minimize risk and maintain operational continuity throughout the migration process.
The firm now benefits from:
- A predictable, user-friendly meeting experience
- Faster meeting start times and reduced setup
- Improved reliability with high-quality video and audio
- Greater independence for attorneys and staff
