Geraud UK Ltd is the British arm of Groupe Geraud, Europe’s largest private operator of local authority markets. Established in 1998, they have a wealth of knowledge in the market industry and currently manage markets throughout the United Kingdom, France, Sweden and Denmark. Groupe Geraud has specialised in the development and regeneration of community retail markets since 1880. In the United Kingdom, Geraud UK Limited operates 4,700 market days each year across its subsidiaries providing indoor and outdoor markets, International Street Markets, Christmas Markets and Food and Drink Festivals for public and private sector clients.
What was the problem?
Our client Geraud UK Ltd decided to move to a new HQ in Merseyside. They needed to accommodate their staff to work both in the office and from home, and at the same time took the decision to address their aging servers and network infrastructure.
How did Q2Q assist?
Q2Q prepared a matching server setup in the cloud within the Amazon Web Services (AWS) platform, and “lifted and shifted” their physical servers, as a digital version, to the AWS environment.
All staff machines were re-pointed at the new cloud servers, and they were moved to a newer, easier to use VPN service for access to shared drives when at home or out of the office.
Staff at outreach sites were assisted remotely using our state-of-the-art remote support software and over the phone to ensure as little downtime as possible.
Q2Q engineers were then able to attend their old site, and decommission the old physical servers, network switches, routers and UPS battery technology kit, for storage, and eventual secure destruction.
What effect did it have for the client?
Staff are now at home in the new HQ and have access to much more up to date and faster server infrastructure. Their VPN is now so much simpler to connect and use.
The server OS’s have all been updated to the very latest versions, and this, combined with the migration to Microsoft 365 for email and office systems earlier in the year, means they are in a much better place from a security and future proof perspective.
Fun facts about AWS
- AWS has more than 1 million active users in 190 countries.
- AWS Marketplace offers a digital catalogue of more than 7,000 data products and software listings.
- AWS only charges for what you use, as you use it. This means internet usage, storage, and performance can be throttled up and down at times of need, and nothing is paid for that is sat idle.
- Our engineers tell me they were listening to Pink Floyd during the migration work – ‘The great gig in the sky’, or ‘Welcome to the machine’ perhaps? 😉
