Posted on Tue, Dec 08, 2009
Data Center Migration Service Provider Completes Critical Systems Facility Move in less than 36 Hours. Las Vegas, CA, Dublin, CA - November, 2009 - SilverBack Migration Solutions has successfully completed a complex data center move for Convexity Capital Management LP, a Boston-based institutional investment management firm. The migration, which involved moving a Convexity facility from the Eastern Seaboard to a larger site nearly 3,000 miles away, was accomplished from power-off to power-on in under 36-hours.
Additionally, SilverBack 
worked closely with Convexity and the new data center facility to devise a more efficient power design for Convexity's environment. This restructuring has allowed them to reduce their cabinet footprint by almost 30 percent while maintaining the same high level of service to their customers.
Mike Tiberio, IT director for Convexity, notes several reasons for choosing SilverBack to execute their migration. "They really took the time to get a clear understanding of our specific requirements in moving critical systems equipment - as if it were their own data center. We were impressed with their alacrity, flexibility and in-depth knowledge of logistical preparations and analysis. Also, Team SilverBack's expertise in hardware provisioning, transport, assembly methods and industry standard wire management was a definite plus."
Because of delays with network providers, Convexity's inventory of equipment changed up until the last minute, carving precious hours off their downtime window. "We had to move everything across the country overnight, reconnect and be ready to test within 48 hours of taking our systems down," explains Tiberio. To ensure a seamless migration, SilverBack continually updated Convexity's inventory lists and cable maps and arranged to keep the same crew for both the de-install and re-install. At the new site, they procured the correct PDUs and set their configurations before starting to rack and connect servers.
"Our job is in no way limited to simply moving data center equipment from Point A to Point B. As part of SilverBack's fully managed solution, it's our responsibility to closely evaluate each client's needs, not just during the migration, but also in the planning and layout of their new facility," points out Ken Jamaca, president of SilverBack. "For example, to effectively handle Convexity's high density and diverse cable types, we bundled each functional group of cables (i.e., fibre, network, serial, etc.) separately for a cleaner and more manageable environment that will be easy to expand and modify to meet their needs going forward."
Convexity IT management was unable to be on-hand to supervise set-up. SilverBack installed everything based on their meticulous documentation, getting it 100 percent correct the first time. "We were back up-and-running 12 hours sooner than our deadline. I did not imagine such a smooth migration was possible." Tiberio continues.
About SilverBack Migration Solutions, Inc.
SilverBack Migration Solutions is a world class provider of data center migration services for enterprise customers. With end-to-end planning, vendor coordination, staffing and execution, SilverBack's full-scale, seamless solutions enable clients to focus on their core business, not on multi-vendor management. Their key services include: fully managed datacenter migrations (MDCM), technical project management, datacenter engineering and continuity of business planning. Headquartered in Northern California, SilverBack Migration Solutions has operations throughout the U.S. More information is available at www.teamsilverback.com.
###
Posted on Sun, Jun 21, 2009
Data Center Migration Service Provider Completes 1,600 Mile Data Center Transfer and Consolidation in 96 Hour Time Frame. Walnut Creek, CA, Seattle, WA - June 22, 2009 - SilverBack Migration Solutions has successfully completed a full-scale data center move for Shopzilla, Inc., a leading provider of shopping search and price comparison online, based in Los Angeles. The project included physically migrating over 600 devices 1,600 miles from Shopzilla®'s company data center in Southern California, to a new co-location facility in Seattle.
The move covered a number of production and network storage devices as well as core business infrastructure applications. Jim Caldwell, director of infrastructure service engineering for Shopzilla® says that SilverBack did an outstanding job executing their data center relocation. "SilverBack president Ken Jamaca's energy level and his ingenuity for dealing with obstacles were very impressive. You always expect some attrition of equipment in a migration of this magnitude. SilverBack's handling of our devices and the extra mile that they went to making sure everything was installed properly and in working order was first-rate. We didn't have any significant hardware attrition due to the move. That's pretty unheard of in any move, much less one this big."
SilverBack also consulted with manufacturers of equipment to 
ensure that each component was packaged correctly thus maintaining its original warranty. "As part of our fully managed solution, we ensure that any equipment we move will maintain its manufacturer's warranty," notes Jamaca.
After Shopzilla® reviewed the offerings of competing data center migration service providers, it became clear that SilverBack was the right choice for the project. "These guys aren't just movers; they KNOW data centers and systems; and are admins in their own right." adds Caldwell.
"Being able to supplement a customer's System Administrator staff with SilverBack system administrators is a huge help in most cases. For example, Shopzilla used SilverBack to validate configuration changes to newly moved systems to ensure all of the systems were accessible remotely," Jamaca continues.
Due to the nature of data center migrations, there are often tight timelines to get equipment and services back online. This project was no exception. SilverBack completed this migration in under 96 hours, including 26 hours of travel time for the equipment. "We understand the importance of getting customers' environments back up and running as quick as possible. This project took several months of planning, both from Jim's (Caldwell) team, and ours." states Jamaca.
The logistical planning for this relocation project included two tractor trailers with staggered start times, different travel paths and different arrival times for disaster mitigation; all of which was managed by SilverBack. "The logistical challenges of a migration project are quite daunting. Luckily for Shopzilla®, they didn't have to worry about those; they just called SilverBack!" finishes Jamaca.
Burzin Engineer, vice president of infrastructure services for Shopzilla®, also praises SilverBack's performance, noting that they were critical to the success of their data center consolidation. "The adage ‘The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry,' is never truer than with a data center move. Ken Jamaca and Team Silverback know this and bring with them an endless bag of creative solutions to the types of problems that cannot easily be anticipated. They are results oriented and helped us meet an aggressive timeline."
About Shopzilla, Inc.
Shopzilla, Inc. is one of the largest and most comprehensive online shopping networks on the web. Through our leading comparison shopping sites, BizRate.com® and Shopzilla.com®, Shopzilla helps shoppers find the best value for virtually anything they want to buy from thousands of online retailers. Based in Los Angeles, Shopzilla operates sites in the United Kingdom, France and Germany. The company is owned by Scripps Networks Interactive, Inc. (NSYE:SNI), which include national lifestyle TV networks such as HGTV, The Food Network, Fine Living and more. For more information, please visit www.shopzilla.com.
About SilverBack Migration Solutions, Inc.
SilverBack Migration Solutions is a world class provider of data center migration services for enterprise customers. With end-to-end planning, vendor coordination, staffing and execution, SilverBack's full-scale, seamless solutions enable clients to focus on their core business, not on multi-vendor management. Their key services include: fully managed datacenter migrations (MDCM), technical project management, datacenter engineering and continuity of business planning. Headquartered in Northern California, SilverBack Migration Solutions has operations throughout the U.S. More information is available at www.teamsilverback.com.
###
Posted on Thu, Jun 19, 2008
SilverBack's expertise, efficiency, speed and quality are all referenced in this
Techworld.com.au article.
Posted on Tue, Jun 17, 2008
Infoworld.com profile of SilverBack Migration Solutions, after the 'Pimp my datacenter' project at the University of Hawaii SOEST data center migration project.
Posted on Tue, Jun 17, 2008
SilverBack had the rare opportunity to donate our time and energy to the University of Hawaii for a project they were working on. Infoworld took up their plight and wrote about the project...
What happens when you build the datacenter you really want?
Posted on Mon, Jun 09, 2008
Stacy Collett mentions SilverBack Migration Solutions, Inc in an article she wrote for computerworld.com.
See the full text of that article here.
Posted on Tue, May 22, 2007
ZANTAZ, Inc. Chooses SilverBack Migration Solutions
for Full Scale Data Center MigrationData Center Migration Service Provider Executes Facility Move with Zero Downtime for End Users.
Walnut Creek, CA - May 22, 2007 - SilverBack Migration Solutions has successfully completed a major data center move for ZANTAZ, Inc., a leading content archiving and electronic discovery company based in Pleasanton, CA. The new 9,000-square-foot data center build-out covered the migration of 1,200 devices, including corporate IT, engineering development, quality assurance, operations, networking and audit infrastructures and three tape labs, and was executed flawlessly over several weekends, with no downtime for customers to contend with during business hours.
With a rapidly expanding client base of 1,000-plus companies and a tremendous volume of archived electronic data, ZANTAZ had outgrown its corporate headquarters and needed to move into a much larger facility and data center. During initial planning, ZANTAZ' IT management team brought in the experienced industry specialists from SilverBack to consult on the design and build-out of the new facility, which features state-of-the-art environmental controls and high availability, fully redundant systems. SilverBack also acted as a liaison between IT and finance, coordinated all vendor efforts and managed subcontractor activities.
"Given the extremely complex nature of our data center migration, finding a vendor that could team with ZANTAZ personnel to plan and move our equipment and services with near-zero downtime and minimize business risk was of major importance to us," explained Don Small, senior director of Information Systems and Technology for ZANTAZ. "We wanted a vendor that was highly experienced in multi-faceted data center migrations, price competitive, able to work in strictly controlled maintenance windows, and could meet our high security requirements. SilverBack was a clear choice. They not only met all of our criteria, but have a proven track record of success in large-scale data center migrations."
"Migration of equipment is fairly straightforward, but migration of critical customer services requires extensive planning, in-depth knowledge of the systems being moved and clear communication between all parties involved," noted Kenneth Jamaca, founder and president of SilverBack Migration Solutions. "We understand that our clients run the risk of losing credibility and customer satisfaction if any element of their data center migration isn't executed flawlessly. Our number one goal is to make the transition as seamless as possible, so that end users aren't inconvenienced for even a second."
Once the migration was completed, each component and service was validated for connectivity and correct operation in the new environment. ZANTAZ' Small noted that after the migration, typical comments from end users were "when are you moving into the new data center?" and "how did you do that with no downtime?"
About SilverBack Migration Solutions
SilverBack Migration Solutions is a world class provider of data center migration services for enterprise customers. With end-to-end planning, vendor coordination, staffing and execution, SilverBack's full-scale, seamless solutions enable clients to focus on their core business, not on multi-vendor management. Their key services include: fully managed datacenter migrations (MDCM), technical project management, datacenter engineering and continuity of business planning. Headquartered in Northern California, SilverBack Migration Solutions has operations throughout the U.S. More information is available at www.teamsilverback.com.
Posted on Tue, Mar 20, 2007
SilverBack Migration Solutions Expands Domestic Service Area to Meet Growing Data Center Power Requirements.Up and Coming Data Center Migration Service Provider Offers End-to-End Solutions for Companies in Search of Higher Energy IT Facilities.
Walnut Creek, Calif. - March 20, 2007 - SilverBack Migration Solutions has announced plans to extend their managed migration service area into several co-lo centric metropolitan areas, including: Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles, Buffalo, New York City, Boston and Seattle within the next three months. This expansion is due in large part to corporations having to move power consuming, high density data centers to facilities with more available energy.
"Recent studies show that data center power requirements have doubled in the past few years. As many as 50% of facilities won't have enough power and cooling capacity to meet these tremendous demands," says SilverBack Migration Solutions, President, Kenneth Jamaca. "Many of our customers are being forced to migrate mission critical environments to new facilities with adequate power to meet their business needs."
SilverBack will deploy data center engineering and project management teams in key metropolitan areas across the U.S. to address the high demand for migration services by enterprise clients. "In the past year, our company sustained over 60% growth in resources alone," continued Jamaca. "Everyday, we receive inquiries from companies all over the country."
SilverBack brings experienced industry specialists and engineering expertise to the table in helping data center managers approach all migration phases; from initial planning to final execution. This includes consulting on variables such as site locations; building types, building systems, rack configuration, equipment deployment, and airflow dynamics. "When you consider the overwhelming number of factors involved in the average data center migration, it only makes sense to bring in an experienced consultant," explained Don Small, Senior Director of IS&T for ZANTAZ "A good migration company doesn't just manage the details, but will also offer valuable design recommendations based on industry best practices."
"In our recent move, the SilverBack Team demonstrated in depth knowledge of our operating environments along with outstanding project and vendor management. This allowed us to complete several very complex migrations without any interruption of our core services," said Colin Burns, Sr. Systems Engineer for nSite.
About SilverBack Migration Solutions
SilverBack Migration Solutions is a world class provider of data center migration services for enterprise customers. With end-to-end planning, vendor coordination, staffing and execution, SilverBack's full-scale, seamless solutions enable clients to focus on their core business, not on multi-vendor management. Their key services include: fully managed datacenter migrations (MDCM), technical project management, datacenter engineering and continuity of business planning. Headquartered in Northern California, SilverBack Migration Solutions has operations throughout the U.S. More information is available at www.teamsilverback.com.