A few months ago our team was involved in a big migration project, strictly related to Microsoft technologies. In October 2014 we had the chance to spend some days in Paris, in order to migrate the basic servers’ infrastructure and the e-mail infrastructure of the well-known and famous Le Bristol Paris. The hotel is located on the prestigious rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré at the heart of Paris’ fashion and arts district, where it has been welcoming its esteemed guests since 1925.
Tough project really, because we had to make the migration with limited downtime, so to do not interrupt the hotel’s normal operation. Endless sleepless nights, because we had to make it quick, using that specific part of the day when the hotel staff is at home. If you ever got involved in IT projects you know what I mean: you have to work when everybody else sleeps.
We should mention that the hotel’s IT staff guys were more than professionals: they were absolutely fabulous. So everything went smoothly, completing the project one day ahead of our estimated schedule, so we had the time to hang around in Paris!
The next challenge: Eden Rock Hotel St Barths
It seems that we are attracted by the hotel and tourism industry, because in September 2015 we started our next project: Eden Rock Hotel at St Barths. As they describe this stunning hotel and location at their website:
“French Art de vivre in the Heart of The Caribbean: Eden Rock – St Barths is ‘beyond perfect’.”
And it really is. The bad thing is that we have to focus on the job and forget about the environment. Again we had to be quick and prepared. So we asked the IT staff to prepare the hardware in advance, so we should not loose time to create virtual machines, install operating systems and so on.
We had to upgrade the basic infrastructure that nowadays is normal to be found in every modern business environment: DHCP, DNS, Active Directory, File Services to name a few. And since we build a new infrastructure, is a good idea to implement some interesting new features that the Windows Server OS has to offer: advanced Group Policy settings, Deduplication, PowerShell scripts that can do the job quickly and effectively, again just to name a few.
Another step of the project was to upgrade the communication infrastructure of the hotel. This is probably very crucial for a high-class hotel of this kind, especially if you consider that all reservations are made using e-mail (and other specialized hotel software). Downtime here is unacceptable: a single reservation missed could cost to the hotel a 5-digit number of euros or maybe more, if you consider the price of a villa, a suite or a beach house. Good preparation and planning is the key to a successful implementation.
So if you think that we can help your company to invest in proven Microsoft technologies by real experts, we are here to help.
You can take a look at our case studies here, learn more about us here, and don’t hesitate to contact us by using the info you can find here.
(All hotel photos are located at http://www.edenrockhotel.com)
