The Challenge

After a considerable effort to split the clients General lines business, after its sale to Alllianz, LV= was running over 6 months behind on a DC migration needing completion prior to bulldozer coming in to demolish the hosted Data Centre in March 2021.  Heavyweight command and control, programme leadership and DC migration experience was required, the client  turned to CSX to assist.  CSX worked with the client to accelerate the programme and drive the correct level of diligence and control across multiple vendors and internal teams.  

7 days a week working, shifts, thorough test framework, command and control function and significant  business support helped deliver.  

With the great support of  the infrastructure partner Wipro providing the majority of the implementation, a very aggressive programme was executed and delivered successfully.

What we did.

1350 servers, 300 applications were to be planned, migrated and tested in less than 5 months with meticulous planning, full transparency of risks, and an event driven approach. CSX
established an “as is” status in the source data centres along with an inventory of all “as is” data assets. We then created a clear catalogue of what is to be migrated and what can be deleted- this was known as the Master Gold List. A time-bound migration plan was created based on grouping the build into manageable tranches.

•       Migration traffic was passed over dedicated 10GB cross site links, which, in effect, created a 4 DC temporary build

•       Targets for decommissioning were identified during the migration phase

•       Partner delivery mechanism ensuring Client/CSX combined leadership could drive inter-partner activities and ensure any friction removed swiftly and effectively

•       Programme leadership to drive migration programme on a backdrop of previous industrial strength experience

•       Command & Control function built to run an Air Traffic Control across business, technical, partner and testing teams to drive a precision-led activity plan allowing a much higher level of risk and volume to be accepted per migration event

•       Deep dive storage rationalisation to rectify the baseline then target reductions across multiple areas including orphaned volumes, backup and snapshots, re-tiering and data retention

On time, on budget…..

•       Successful migration successfully avoiding millions of additional costs through Data Centre extension/delay costs and license exposure

•       Successful migration avoiding huge and potentially high impact business disruption

•       Improved reputation for the Technology function in the organisation

•       Improved relationships with partners

•       Better Business engagement and communications resulting in improved relationships and awareness

•       Clearly defined test strategy including business accountability

•       Assured, well architected designs and migration treatments

•       Clear gap analysis of WiPro vs Client. Client company Future state model fit for purpose

•       Tactical coverage of Wipro service

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