4it Solved This Client’s Complex International Data Center Problem
Say you need properly built and configured data center equipment set up here in the US and then shipped overseas—how would you go about it?
You would need a very specific space with the right facilities to house the infrastructure, and the right team to handle its setup. It’s a lot to ask of your general IT company, which is why so many wouldn’t be able to accommodate the request.
This is precisely the issue that we solved for a client of ours. After all, one of 4it’s core values is to willingly assist our clients even when the request is outside the scope of our standard services. When this client brought us this challenge, we tackled it head-on.
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This Client Came To Us With A Unique Problem…
In 2014, one of our clients presented a very specific challenge they were facing and needed help addressing. They were involved in the configuration and setup of a small data center that was to be permanently installed at an international hospital in West Africa.
Here’s the issue—they couldn’t build the data center on location at the hospital. About eight racks worth of networking, server, and storage hardware needed to be installed into the racks, configured, and tested here in the US, after which it would be shipped to the destination country as fully installed racks. As if that wasn’t complicated enough, it was made more complex by the power requirements for each rack: 220V twist-lock receptacles.
To summarize, in order to complete this project, this client needed:
- Adequate space to build the data center
- Reliable and fast Internet access
- Power
- A/C
That’s why they asked us for help.
4it Found An Equally Unique Solution
Luckily for this client, 4it leases and manages a data center in South Florida as part of a contract to provide co-location space for tenants and manage the internal network in the building. This data center was uniquely qualified to address this client’s needs as it is designed to handle the movement of racks, coming complete with a hydraulic lift, freight elevator, and loading dock in the building.
With the right space selected, we then negotiated a very affordable co-location fee for the month-to-month agreement. Seeing that their needs would be met at a reasonable price, the client chose to use our data center. Even better, the engineering team responsible for installing and configuring all the equipment was also based in South Florida; using our data center kept travel costs low over the course of the build project.
Furthermore, the freight forwarder that was responsible for shipping the finished racks to their eventual destination was also in South Florida which made the transportation of the finished racks very simple and much less expensive.
4it Saved This Client Money And Stress
In the end, we found an ideal space for this client’s infrastructure project. It met each of the needs of their plan and was located close to both the engineering team and the intended point of departure. Our client was thrilled at the cost savings, convenience, and overall professional handling of a complicated international data center project.
This client, like our other clients, learned that we can come up with creative solutions to solve a technical or logistics challenge, or at least point them in the right direction to find a solution.
Do you have an IT problem you don’t know how to deal with? Get in touch with the 4it team—you’d be surprised what we can solve for you.
