Blue Cross Blue Shield Of Minnesota | Design And Relocation
To Your Health
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota (Blue Cross), the largest health plan provider in Minnesota, administers health coverage to over 2.8 million members. This member base demands a significant amount of reliability from hardware, software, network and communications.
"N'compass managed a difficult task, meeting a tight schedule in complex and everchanging environment. Every question we asked, every issue we faced even the simple ones, were addressed promptly and professionally."
MICHAEL MCKURAS VICE PRESIDENT OF IT
THE CHALLENGE
Blue Cross was faced with an imperative decision regarding their disaster recovery equipment and back-up data center. The clock was ticking on an expiring lease and Blue Cross had to act fast. They confidently selected N’compass knowing they had years of experience and knowledge to seamlessly spearhead this urgent project.
THE SOLUTION
N’compass, a company with 9+ years of data center relocation and design experience was certain they could quickly ramp up for the Blue Cross project. N’compass knew the fundamental questions to ask, identified potential challenges and took a proactive approach to the design, relocation and implementation. There wasn’t a minute to spare knowing that if Blue Cross experiences any problems with their data center, hundreds of thousands of members stand to be negatively affected. N’compass initiated discussions with stakeholders to ensure requirements were fulfilled and expectations met. In conjunction with Blue Cross N’compass developed an overall data center master plan and a Day One build out at the new co-location. The master plan identified areas of risk and growth that included a flexible and scalable design. N’compass managed the project implementation including validation of IT installations, coordination with application owners and technology constraints. N’compass utilized a systematic process to manage the project from beginning to end, ensuring every detail was addressed.
THE RESULTS
In data center relocation projects, the goal is a seamless cut-over. Powering down the old environment, determining equipment relationships, migration of the environment to a new data center is a difficult process with many complex variables. The Blue Cross and N’compass cut-over from the old site to the new was successfully accomplished in just two days. The new Blue Cross data center was designed and built considering their needs in the years to come; support for blade technology, future migration to Cisco Nexus switches and increased power and cooling. N’compass augmented the Blue Cross team, driving an infrastructure built for the future.
