CASE STUDY

Fugro UK

Operating critical 24×7 services from their data centre, Fugro requires reliable power infrastructure to maintain business continuity. Legacy UPS systems were failing to meet the demands of their evolving infrastructure, whilst unpredictable power availability at their market town location was creating additional challenges.

Fugro turned to Advania to deliver a comprehensive power infrastructure modernisation project.

Fugro surveys new business continuity solution

Fugro UK is part of the world’s largest integrated supplier of survey and geotechnical related services. They collect, process, and interpret geodata from measurements taken around the world, helping clients conduct safer, more sustainable operations.

Industry:

Utilities

Organisation size:

10,000+ employees

Solutions:

Cloud solutions, data centre & networking

The challenge

Fugro’s 15-year-old legacy UPS systems were showing their age, neither meeting the response times required by the business nor the power demands of their sizeable infrastructure. Combined with unpredictable local power supply issues, the business was facing unacceptable levels of downtime.

When the legacy UPS systems failed, the whole IT system would be brought offline, requiring hours of work to return to business as usual.

This poor performance was adversely affecting service levels and had the potential to undermine confidence from companies needing to connect to the facility.

The demand was simple: add further resiliency by incorporating a separate generator to keep the data centre operational for extended periods and update the UPS systems to improve reliability. However, budget constraints meant they weren’t sure if they could afford both UPS replacement and generator backup whilst ensuring instant switchover for their 24×7 operations.

The approach

Fugro turned to long-time IT partner Advania for advice on sizing and deploying new power infrastructure. Three networks were running from Fugro’s Wallingford data centre, two of which could not afford any downtime.

Advania recognised that most UPS manufacturers don’t specialise in external generators, so delivering a solution based on two separate vendors could add risk through responsibility and ownership issues. Adding a generator would also substantially increase project costs.

However, Advania had established a relationship with Borri, who specialise in complete uninterruptible power solutions including external generators. New to the UK market, they were hungry to win customers and establish themselves.

Advania presented two options: a conventional UPS-only solution and a second end-to-end option from Borri that would meet their budget whilst delivering enhanced capability.

The solution

Advania delivered a comprehensive power infrastructure modernisation project, including:

A complete site survey to identify UPS appliance requirements, device sizing and optimal locations for future expansion planning.
End-to-end solution design combining UPS systems with an external generator backup from a single manufacturer to eliminate vendor integration risks.
Eight-week consultation process with extensive engagement between Advania, Borri and Fugro to establish optimal solution design.
Future-proofed capacity planning, providing higher-rated appliances with spare capacity for anticipated 12-24 month growth plans.
Rolling support contract ensuring rapid response for any component failures or maintenance requirements.

The final proposal delivered a complete solution including external generator, higher-rated appliances and more backup power capacity than currently required, all for a comparable price of established UPS-only solutions.

The outcome

The power infrastructure upgrade delivered exceptional results:

Achieved 80% more power capacity than original UPS units whilst freeing up valuable data centre space for future growth.
Eliminated regular downtime through reliable UPS performance and generator backup providing extended operational capability.
Supported data centre growth from 40% to 70% capacity utilisation within 12 months.
Established valuable vendor relationship with Borri providing ongoing support and maintenance capabilities.
Delivered future-ready resilience with spare capacity accommodating medium-term growth without additional infrastructure investment.
Provided 24×7 support assurance with rapid response capability, including out-of-hours emergency support.

The solution proved its worth during early component failures caused by environmental factors, with Borri mobilising quickly for rapid resolution, including out-of-hours support when required.

“What Advania was proposing was effectively more back-up power for our money. We knew we would grow our systems in the medium-term, but we couldn’t easily say if that would be by 10, 20, or 30%. The Borri system proposed had significant spare capacity – basically removing this headache. And the fact that we were going to get the whole solution from one manufacturer is really what clinched it for us.”

Martin Harrow

IT Manager, Fugro

The future

Following the successful implementation at Wallingford, Fugro is now looking to replicate the power infrastructure setup in their second data centre in Great Yarmouth.

The comprehensive nature of the solution has provided Fugro with reliable, future-ready power infrastructure that supports their continued growth and maintains the 24×7 service levels critical to their global operations.

Our impact

80% power boost

Zero-touch cloud provisioning enabling remote access point configuration..

Single-vendor path

Complete network visibility through single management dashboard .

Growth-ready site

Site survey facilitated future expansion planning.

24x7 rapid support

24×7 emergency support with rapid response capability .

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