In 2014, faced with the threat of a 7-day system shutdown—a crippling disaster by any measure—Prime Downline turned to Global IP Networks for help.
Global IP took fast action and assembled their team of IT experts with specific, relevant experience to help Prime Downline mitigate the impact of a shutdown.
The solution was a rapid download of data, a fast onboarding process, an expedited installation of on-site hardware, and all-new routing and connectivity solutions.
This fast action reduced Prime Downline’s network shutdown from 7 days to only 3 hours.
THE PROBLEM
Prime Downline’s adaptability was put to the test in 2014. Prime Downline had been renting building space in Dallas, TX, from a recently changed ownership. The new owners sought to upgrade many of the building’s internal electrical systems to support efficiency.
An update of this magnitude would require Prime Downline’s system to be taken offline for a minimum of seven days, with no more than four days’ notice given from the new building owners.
“Downtime is measured in minutes—not hours,” said Ron England, President and CTO of Prime Downline, a subsidiary of Succotash. “If you’re down for even 30 minutes, it’s a problem.”
Seven days of downtime would be lethal for nearly any company. Prime Downline had over 300 non-virtualized systems running in tandem that needed consideration, and little time to find solutions. The clock was ticking.
THE SOLUTION
When looking for a company with the commitment and expertise to turn things around, Prime Download contacted Global IP for support.
Global IP assembled their team of disaster response and preparation experts to develop an emergency response plan. The team’s primary directive: Maintain as much uptime as possible. Prime Downline managed to postpone the building shutdown by several days, which bought Global IP time to implement and deploy a suite of new solutions.
The Global IP team produced a comprehensive solution that gave Prime Downline everything it needed to stay online and operational within a new data center:
- Utilize more rack space and storage
- Add Tier 1 & 2 connectivity services and redundancies
- Additional managed services for load balancing and routing
- Establish internal data routing to reduce latency and support efficiency
- Ongoing support and consulting from the Global IP team
THE RESULTS
Through their tenacious preparation, Global IP’s team transferred all of Prime Downline’s data needs with only three hours of downtime. This produced immeasurable cost savings for the company.
The Global IP Strategy Team provided a fast onboarding process that could accommodate Prime Downline’s unworkable deadline. Even before the contracts were finalized, Global IP’s Support Team worked with Prime Downline to begin moving hardware on-site.
“They showed us—from the very first minute we spoke—that they were interested in making sure our business was taken care of,” said England.
Global IP’s tenacious team of IT experts did more than preserve uptime; they helped streamline Prime Downline’s infrastructure in several critical ways. With new connectivity and routing solutions, Prime Downline could better manage services for international clients, reduce latency across communications, and serve customers far faster than their previous system of single-tier signaling.
In this way, Prime Downline didn’t just duck disaster. They gained a new system of IT management that would support the company for years to come.