Daniel Walendy, Chief Information Officer
Background
The Gotec Group operates in 12 countries, with each of its 17 subsidiaries having historically had its own IT policy for infrastructure procurement, management and administration. However, this decentralized approach was often inefficient, time-consuming, and problematic. Thus, the primary requirement from the customer was to centralize infrastructure and access to the corporate IT strategy. We proposed a complete migration of their IT environment to the cloud as the most suitable solution.
The customer contacted our office in Poland directly regarding several projects that needed to be addressed. Gotec Group was looking for a reliable provider capable of overseeing multiple areas simultaneously while also providing IT consulting. Thanks to our broad portfolio of services and solutions, we were able to meet these needs and consult on individual parts. Additionally, our similar geographical coverage also contributed to Gotec choosing us as a partner.
In terms of infrastructure projects, it is one of our first customers to migrate the majority of its infrastructure to the cloud.
Project implementation process
The migration to the cloud was conducted in several phases. The customer chose the company headquarters in Wülfrath, Germany, as the pilot office for the complete migration. The US and China offices followed next.
The migration of the German headquarters was preceded by an audit of the internal IT environment, which included summarizing the various individual infrastructure elements, backup processes, disaster recovery plan, network infrastructure, monitoring, applications, databases, security systems, and existing cloud solutions. This was followed by a comprehensive analysis of the customer’s IT environment and its readiness for cloud migration.
Based on the findings, we developed a solution design and a detailed migration plan to the AZURE cloud environment. After completing the preparatory phase regarding their existing infrastructure, the actual migration began.
A similar approach was applied to the migration of the IT environment of the US branch. An interesting aspect of the project that involved the Chinese branch was the creation of Microsoft Azure, which is isolated from the rest of the Microsoft Azure infrastructure.
All tasks of the preparatory phase as well as the migration itself were conducted remotely.
The project of migrating the IT infrastructure to the cloud was also noteworthy as it brought together know-how from our multiple specialist departments. The joint efforts of our colleagues from the Infrastructure department (servers, Active Directory, synchronization of local solutions to the cloud), Security (Fortinet Firewall, VPN access, access management), Networking (infrastructure segmentation and communication), Outsourcing, and the Smart Solution division led to the successful completion of the project and satisfaction of our client.
As part of the security solutions for the AZURE CLOUD, we offered the customer the option to classify and protect all documents and emails using content labelling. In addition to the migration, we also assist Gotec Group in developing their own ERP applications.
Results and benefits
simplified infrastructure management
better overview of resources in use
enhanced security
access to modern services
Customer Profile
The GOTEC Group is the world’s leading specialist for surface treatments and application of bonding agents for rubber-metal and plastic parts. It is an important partner for the international automotive industry. Presently, the company has 17 offices in 12 different countries across Europe, America, with headquarters in Wülfrath, Germany.
Technologies used
Microsoft Azure IaaS
Microsoft Azure China IaaS
Fortinet Firewall in Microsoft Azure