Swisslog has switched to Green for high performance and greater flexibility
Swisslog
As part of the KUKA Group, Swisslog designs automated logistics solutions throughout the world. To improve the efficiency of its customers’ logistics processes, the company, whose roots are in the canton of Aargau, puts its trust in data-driven and robot-driven automation technology. Its portfolio includes industrial solutions and software systems, as well as production and logistics robots. For its business applications, the company is dependent on a reliable IT infrastructure and an excellent network between the locations.
New model heralds progress
In the last few years, Swisslog had used the data center infrastructure of a large full outsourcing service provider. While the size of the provider facilitated high performance and professional offerings, it simultaneously impeded direct communication and simple solutions for individual problems. A new start with a more flexible company was therefore called for.
“We wanted to run our systems ourselves again,” says Roland Krätschmar, Vice President Infrastructure at Swisslog, explaining the decision to switch to an insourcing colocation model. The company still wanted to run their IT in an external data center but manage it themselves in the future.
Powerful data center with human qualities
In 2019, Swisslog thus began their search for a new partner with high-performance data centers that had a more personal approach to customer contact. In the evaluation process, Green came out on top with the performance of its data centers, its close geographical location and its interpersonal qualities.
A productive atmosphere was evident as early as during initial fact finding meetings with the Pre-sales department, the Account Manager and the CEO. The staff at Green were prepared to take the time to understand the situation and Swisslog’s specific requirements. “Our points of contact were dedicated experts,” remembers Krätschmar. The data center also fulfilled the company’s high expectations. “The data center provides the state-of-the-art housing technology that is indispensable for our projects.”
Precisely set up IT environment
Swisslog therefore decided to purchase colocation infrastructure from Green in the future. The relocation was planned and carried out after comprehensive fact finding during a visit to the data center. The meticulous organization of the migration of the Swisslog IT to the new data center environment played a key role.
Green drew up the project schedule for the IT relocation, ordered data lines and supplied the bandwidth. An experienced Project Manager from the Deployment Team was responsible for coordination between Swisslog and the engineers at the Green data center, thus ensuring that the migration did not disrupt operation
Global network for upcoming projects
The relocation was completed in six weeks and the new IT environment started operation in compliance with the customer’s specifications. “The implementation went without a hitch,” summarizes Krätschmar. In order that it also runs without a hitch in the future, Swisslog is relying on Green’s local customer service provision. It is available around the clock at more than twenty Swisslog locations throughout the world and ensures excellent levels of availability.
The Swisslog IT will continue to be developed in the future – other IT projects will follow. Next, as Krätschmar explaines, the automation specialists want to implement a hybrid hosting strategy. “Colocation will play an increasingly important role.”
Scope
- Project management
- Colocation
- Rack connection
- Redundant data lines between the data centers
- 24/7 support service