Prepared for further growth: All for One optimizes data center architecture

Summary

As a leading SAP consulting and integration company in Germany, the All for One Group needed to expand their data center footprint to cater for current and future growth. Working with our Global Data Centers division they moved their infrastructure including nearly 3,000 virtual client systems, 30 VMware clusters and storage controllers with more than 2.2 petabytes of data to our Tier 3 Frankfurt 1 Data Center in just 98 days with no downtime.

Why All for One needs a new data center location

The growth of the All for One Group is impressive. According to the 'Lünendonk List', the company ranks among the 25 largest IT and systems consulting companies in Germany.

Even with more than 1,800 employees, they've never lost their medium-sized business character. Initially started as an SAP consulting company, All for One today offers a wide range of services that pursue one goal: to strengthen their customer's competitiveness.

A reliable and fast IT infrastructure makes a decisive contribution to this goal. For more than 10 years, they've been using our colocation services. Increasing requirements, however, made a move necessary to a larger data center – offering opportunities for further strategic optimization.

For many medium-sized companies, operating their own data centers is no longer a viable business decision because of the increasing complexity of the IT system landscapes.

Finding suitable experts in medium-sized businesses is also becoming increasingly difficult. At the same time, the gap between software releases is decreasing, while security requirements are increasing. This development is reflected in the growth of the Managed Cloud Services business unit of All for One, which has been achieving double digit growth for years.

In addition, the migration of many companies to SAP/HANA systems has further increased requirements. As a consequence, the previous data center space rented from us was no longer enough.

How All for One optimizes managed services

All for One decided to adopt a new operating model that further leverages the data center services offered by the Global Data Centers division; now at our largest European colocation site – our Frankfurt 1 Data Center (FRA1).

Timo Herzog, Head of Platform Services, took the move as an opportunity to further optimize the high-availability All for One metro cluster. His goal: working with us to completely standardize and pre-install the infrastructure in the cage based on detailed forecast planning. All for One planned and implemented the structured cabling, the number and positioning of the racks as well as the power supply down to the last detail in coordination with our experts.

With a data center area of around 60,000 m² and a power capacity of 120MW, there is nothing standing in the way of future growth for All for One at the FRA1 location. At the same time, the data center, which was built according to tier 3 standards, meets all requirements for availability and security. Other important criteria for All for One were that it is directly connected to the largest global internet node, DE-CIX, and that there is comprehensive connectivity to leading public cloud providers. FRA1 is therefore perfectly suited to become part of the high availability cluster of All for One. In combination with the sophisticated data center architecture and the largely automated processes for workload distribution, the physical move was realized very quickly.

What the new approach brings

Future expansion in the FRA1 All for One data center can be quickly implemented with all communication and power cables, and racks already installed. The hardware is delivered pre-assembled, installed in the assigned racks and connected to the backend. The broadband connection to the Carrier-Meet-Me-Rooms linking to the various internet service providers is also available, so that only cross connects need to be activated. We quickly implemented the basic architecture on site: cage walls and doors were moved, racks installed, cabling installed and tested. After a successful handover, All for One was able to move to the entire data center in only 98 days without any downtime.

Several hundred blade servers, nearly 3,000 virtual client systems, 30 VMware clusters and storage controllers with more than 2.2 petabytes of data were gradually put into operation in the new data center. For Herzog, this speaks to the strong cooperation between the two companies.: "We work on par with Global Data Centers; their helpfulness and expertise can be felt at all levels. All projects are driven forward in a solution-oriented manner, and verbal commitments can always be relied upon." Today, new systems from All for One or contracted service providers are usually pre-configured in an on-site office and then commissioned in the data center. Nothing stands in the way of All for One's further growth.