Lend Lease transforms infrastructure with Logicalis

Logicalis has designed and implemented a core network for international property developer and infrastructure group Lend Lease, it has announced today. Replacing its aging data centre, Logicalis’ infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) will help Lend Lease align IT to business strategy and free in-house resource to develop IT programmes that can generate new revenue streams and support business expansion.

Lend Lease’s existing data centre in Harrow was approaching ten years old, meaning an infrastructure renewal was just around the corner. Chris Lemon, Regional Infrastructure Manager EMEA at Lend Lease, sought a partner to support the migration to a more agile infrastructure that would scale to the business’ needs. He explains:  “We wanted to focus on innovation in the business rather than just keeping the lights on. We knew we didn't want to build from scratch, the business case just didn't stack up, so we chose to explore an Infrastructure-as-a-Service model. We sought a partnership where we could retain in-house what we needed to make our speed of delivery right and stay agile, but let the experts take care of the rest. Logicalis’ experience, service portfolio and proposed solution met all our objectives, they have proved the ideal partner.”

Logicalis worked with the Lend Lease team to design and migrate Lend Lease’s infrastructure into Logicalis’ Optimal Managed Service model. This included the re-platforming of legacy applications, implementation of a cloud model, co-location, and a range of managed services. Lemon continues, “Logicalis created a robust, low risk transition and service transfer plan, and the migration was completed with minimal business disruption.”
The contract is less than half of what it would cost Lend Lease to build a new data centre and, over the next three years, is expected to deliver further savings on IT resource, management and energy bills, says Lemon: “Not only are we making a substantial saving on energy costs, we’ve also moved out of a costly refresh lifecycle. Moreover, Logicalis has enabled us to repurpose IT resource on business innovation rather than just day-to-day maintenance. We already have plans in place to look at ways to optimise storage and back-up, collaboration and shared drive options.”

Lemon concludes, “During this project we got exactly what we were looking for; a long term relationship. It’s about how you work together in partnership to overcome any issues, which really counts. Logicalis is upfront and open with us, and we see its flexibility both commercially and technology-wise as critical to our goals of driving business value through IT.”

Mark Starkey, Managing Director of Logicalis UK, concludes: “This is a great example of a strategic IT partnership that successfully marries both the commercial and technology needs of the client, enabling IT to focus on innovation and delivering core business objectives.

Seeking to maintain speed of delivery, as well as saving money and freeing up valuable resource, Lend Lease has created the right balance to owning, operating and funding the infrastructure and IT resources they need to achieve the service maturity and agility necessary in today’s enterprise."