Lives on the Line: How Covenco Delivered a Seamless Data Center Migration for the Northern Care Alliance

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A High-Stakes Data Centre Migration for the Northern Care Alliance NHS trust.

The bustling medical centres of the Northern Care Alliance (NCA) in North West England serve over a million people. Every tick of the clock, every whirring machine, and every diagnostic image plays a crucial role in patient care.

Yet, beneath the surface, a silent but vital battle was brewing within the NCA’s IT infrastructure. Their existing data centre, while reliable, was reaching its capacity and needed more scalability to support the growing demands of the healthcare system. In 2022, the NCA embarked on a critical mission: migrating its entire data centre operation to a brand-new facility at the Royal Oldham Hospital, while the old data centre (NMGH) was restructured for another NHS trust.

This seemingly routine procedure, however, was far from ordinary. The NCA’s data centre housed a complex set of IT systems, forming the lifeblood of its operations. These systems, from Electronic Patient Records (EPR) to pathology and radiology applications, were all mission-critical. Any downtime, even a minor hiccup, could disrupt patient care with life-altering consequences.

About this case study:

The customer was the Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust (NCA), which combines staff and services from the Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust and The Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust. The NCA is one of the largest NHS providers in the United Kingdom.  The NCA’s operations extended to 15 petabytes across four large network sites and an extensive community setting in the Manchester area.  The solutions employed by Covenco included Fibre channel Networks, Data Centre Migration, Backup and DR Solutions, Server and Storage Allocation and Data Centre Commissioning.

Enter Covenco: A trusted partner for a daunting task.

Recognising the gravity of the situation, the NCA looked to their trusted IT partner, Covenco, for a solution. Covenco has a proven track record of site-move success, having previously implemented a high-availability storage solution for the NCA’s vital SQL clusters at North Manchester General Hospital based upon IBM’s latest generation of FlashSystems. This experience instilled immense confidence in the NCA, making Covenco the natural choice for the upcoming data centre migration.

The roadblocks: Technical hurdles and budgetary constraints.

The migration presented several formidable obstacles: Firstly, the new data centre at Oldham needed more infrastructure to seamlessly integrate with the NCA’s existing Fiber Channel technology, a crucial component for high-speed data transfer between storage devices and servers. Secondly, budgetary constraints ruled out the option of building a completely new environment from scratch at the new location. These restrictions meant Covenco had to develop a creative solution that minimised downtime, maximised efficiency, and stayed within budget.

Covenco’s expertise in data centre migration and infrastructure services

Covenco’s extensive experience in data centre migrations and its access to cutting-edge technology resources allowed it to deliver a solution that met the NCA’s unique requirements. Furthermore, Covenco’s commitment to building strong partnerships with its clients was evident throughout the project.

The successful completion of the NCA migration strengthens Covenco’s reputation as a reliable and innovative IT partner for healthcare organisations. This project adds to Covenco’s growing portfolio of successful data centre migrations, further establishing its expertise in this critical area.

Get in touch if you are considering a data centre relocation or a restructuring of your existing site. Contact the team at Covenco to discuss your options for a seamless experience. We can guide you on the latest best practice procedures and project plans to ensure a smooth transition. Call: 01753 732 000 Email: [email protected].