The Problem

Amey, a leading provider of infrastructure services, was facing a significant challenge in managing their vast amount of data. Over the years, the company had accumulated a large amount of data in a legacy Sybase database, which was becoming increasingly difficult to support. The outdated technology was no longer receiving regular updates, and newer application frameworks and data access libraries such as Entity Framework were not providing support for Sybase.

As a result, Amey was in need of a solution that would help them modernize their data storage and support their ongoing operations. They sought out the services of multiple experienced service providers to help them with this task. The goal was to find a solution that would allow them to access and utilize their data more efficiently and effectively while also migrating all of the applications and services onto a new platform in a different location, while ensuring security & integrity of the systems with as little disruption to the users as possible.

The Solution

As one of the chosen a service providers, I had the opportunity to work on this complex data migration project. The goal of the project was to move large quantities of data & files from a legacy Sybase database and SAN to a MS SQL database and new SAN in a new data centre, while maintaining web application continuity and ensuring seamless access to the data.

My primary responsibility was to manage the continuity of the company's web applications during this transition and to oversee the testing of the migrated data. This involved moving the services from a site in Lancashire to a location in Liverpool, all while keeping the data updated and in sync across the two sites.

To meet the constraints of security considerations, I created a custom Windows service that ran on the Lancashire and Liverpool servers. This service kept track of which files had been updated and synced them over a secure SSL connection, ensuring that the data at both locations was always identical, ensuring that during the migration the most up to date data was always available.

The project was completed successfully, on time and within budget, providing a significant cost savings to the client. The successful outcome of this project is a testament to my ability to deliver high-quality solutions in a fast-paced and demanding environment.