Enhanced Security and Minimal Downtime for Office Relocation

CHALLENGE

For The Energy Authority (TEA), a firm that trades energy and manages assets to support public power utilities, it was crucial to figure out a streamlined plan for relocating their headquarters, including two data center relocations. The goal was to ensure top-notch security while moving technology that handles sensitive data, all within a tight timeline while navigating complex relocation needs.

Before TEA officially moved to its new three-level office space in downtown Jacksonville, FL, there was the task of relocating computer equipment, including an offsite data center. The challenge was to do this without causing disruptions to the daily operations and the 24-hour live trading demand. The trickiest part? Moving TEA’s onsite data center to the top floor where there’s no access to an elevator.

SOLUTION

As a leading commercial moving company serving Jacksonville for more than 100 years, Suddath offered a complete solution, including partnering with our sister companies Phase Integration and Perdue Office Interiors to streamline TEA’s headquarters relocation project from start to finish.

To streamline the office relocation process, Suddath’s expert commercial movers mapped a relocation plan, ensuring strict control over high-level security computer equipment, data centers and workstations. The office move and data center moves were executed in five phases, all expertly coordinated to ensure minimal downtime and disruption to employees and business operations.

Desktop equipment and accessories were disconnected and moved in phases based on priority, leaving day trading computer equipment active until the final phase. As the project progressed, Suddath’s office move technology enabled greater visibility into the status of workstations, ensuring employees would be ready to immediately begin working in their new space.  

Because Suddath has performed thousands of data center relocations, our trained teams ensured best practices were followed for both data center moves, including comprehensive inventory and labeling process for proper reconnection and packing techniques to ensure no equipment was damaged in transit. We assisted in transporting TEA’s emergency data center to Cologix, an offsite facility built to withstand natural disasters and other disruptions that could significantly impact TEA’s operations. 

Relocating TEA’s secondary data center involved extra care and an onsite IT team to hoist the large equipment to the top level. Through an opening in the floor, the equipment was securely anchored to a platform, strapped, and craned from the under level. The data center was then quickly installed with minimum downtime and risk.

RESULTS