Case Study | Retail & CPG
A logistics giant harnesses cloud technology to eliminate waste and feed the world.
A leading temperature-controlled logistics solutions innovates for good
With its network of over 300 facilities and 16,000+ team member, this logistics giant is focussed on transforming the food supply chain to eliminate waste and help feed the world. The company has been investing in technology to drive customer value, expand service capability and make a global impact.
However, the company’s innovation agenda was facing hurdles for its inability to scale IT infrastructure at speed – provisioning servers needed additional time and effort. Besides, server racks, electricity, security gadgets, licenses, labour for guarding the server room and other requirements to maintain the physical datacentre resulted in escalating total cost of ownership. To add to the complexity, a slew of mergers and acquisitions of local warehouses added to the burden. The infrastructure had built up to include 3 colocation datacentres spread across the United States with over 500 servers. The legacy system was becoming unstable and increasingly difficult to maintain. To ensure continuity of operations, IT infrastructure needed to be stable and uniform across.
The logistics provider turned to Brillio for a consolidation strategy. Having worked with the client for over 6 years, Brillio was well-positioned to provide advisory services based on in-depth knowledge of client’s business, IT infrastructure, application landscape, culture coupled with demonstrated expertise in cloud-network migrations, governance and support. It was collaboratively decided that on-premises datacentres will be decommissioned and moved to hybrid cloud.
The world leader in logistics went from legacy to latest by migrating some servers to AWS and others to SDDC in VMware. This aligned with client’s need to migrate VMs as-is without re-designing the code or application. Additionally, Brillio provided a tech refresh by replacing wireless Meraki with Aruba, WAN connections with SD-Wan (Fortigate) and monthly device upgrades with non-vulnerable firmware.
Leveraging the IaaS model, a ‘lift and shift’ was done by using VMware HCX and AWS application service migration tool to ensure greater control and shorter downtime for critical workloads. Security vulnerabilities were kept under check through robust IT governance, risk and compliance protocols. Brillio adopted a multi-staged, iterative migration model for rapid & zero risk migration.
The logistics company was responsible for managing over 8000 network devices scattered across North America. They were committed to efficiency and cost-saving, diligently identifying potential opportunities to decommission circuits or devices that were no longer needed. To achieve this, automation tools were implemented, making their operations smoother and quicker.
By designing and implementing network infrastructure of merged or acquired companies as per industry & client standards, Brillio ironed out the creases and filled the gaps for smooth infrastructure functioning. Additionally, network automation helped reduce manual intervention helping improve efficiency and productivity. Tier3 & Tier 4 support was provided for network infrastructure including routing & switching, firewall, SD-Wan, wireless, proxy & DDI.
The client made a bold move and diverted all their traffic communications to the secure and reliable AWS Data Centres, bidding farewell to their old physical data centre. To bolster their connections, individual ISP connections were migrated to state-of-the-art SD-WAN connections, complete with multiple backup standards, ensuring seamless and uninterrupted connectivity. Zero trust policies were processed with security firewalls, leaving no room for compromise across new applications and remote locations.
In the world of logistics, time and precision are of the essence. To keep everything organized and accessible, runbooks and a centralized repository of data were created, along with a comprehensive disaster recovery plan. One of the smarter decisions was to maintain all network devices with N-1 firmware versions, mitigating variability and ensuring uniformity in their operations. Change management process was streamlined and optimized ensuring that each update or improvement was carried out seamlessly.
Smooth transition from capital expense to operating expense
The logistics giant embraced the power of cloud technology to ensure their customers needs were met promptly while reducing cost of licensing, hardware, software maintenance and support. With their network operations transformed and modernized, downtime was minimized for thousands of retail facilities relying on their network.
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