Online Gaming Giant - Yorkshire to Gilbratar Move
1. Gibraltar, as well as Cyprus, Malta and Sweden are popular hosting destinations for the worlds leading online gaming and sports betting companies. DataMove has worked on behalf of the biggest sports-betting companies globally in all of these locations.
2. DataMove were asked to move £250,000 worth of vital processing servers and associated equipment from two sites – Harrogate and Newport in the UK – to GibTel in Gibraltar – the British Overseas Territory.
Being high value and not to mention data sensitive equipment, the client required a dedicated van service – door to door and full rack, stack and patch both ends.
3. Project Manager Alex established a clear plan and immediately lodged an import record for the manifested goods with HM Customs Gibraltar with our preferred partner on the ground in Gib.
Prepayment of import taxes is important so as not to delay shipments into Gibraltar. Alex assigned two engineers and one of our euro spec Sprinters to carry out the work door to door in four days.
T1 documents were logged with HMRC and all paperwork’s were in place. This was a bit easier before Brexit but nonetheless standard for us now – we carry out cross border shipments weekly. Before or after Brexit, entry into Gibraltar has always been entertaining.
4. The Team carried out a full audit and port map at point of de-rack as these devices would have different elevations at the destination site. Between the two sites, there were 28 HP DL360 G10 devices and a handful of networking devices also being transported to the destination.
After a night stop at a secure compound near Folkestone, the team collected documentation near Ashford and boarded the tunnel for France. Gibraltar is a two to three day drive.
A few days later… cleared customs at La Línea de la Concepción and into Gibraltar. A relatively simple rack and stack and final ports map followed by a couple of hours remote troubleshooting to ensure our client was fully online and all devices visible.
5. Our skilled engineers ensured that this fast paced high security job was carried out in a timely and professional fashion.
Data Centres aren’t exactly glamorous but it can be nice to swing by the sunny climes of Gibraltar and Spain once in a while !
After the job was completed, this client usually has our engineers on standby for 24 hours or one full working day in case any problems arise or they require any further patching and this time it was no different.
Once this was completed, our team were back on the road and even took in a bit of sightseeing on the way back – admiring the beautiful Norman Foster creation – the Millau Bridge. What a sight to behold!
For more information about our cross border data centre relocations, contact us today!
