MH Alshaya Group DC Migration
Consolidating and Migrating a Retail Group’s Data Centers
Industry
Retail & Franchise Operations
Region
Kuwait / Middle East
Solution Category
Data Center Migration & Consolidation
Engagement Type
Professional Services & Infrastructure Transformation
Client Name
M.H. Alshaya Group
YEAR
2020
Executive Overview
Diyar United Company partnered with M.H. Alshaya Group to execute a large-scale data center consolidation and migration initiative, transitioning critical workloads from the legacy HO and OSAMA data centers to a modern facility hosted at Ooredoo. Through a structured and carefully orchestrated approach, Diyar ensured minimal disruption, enhanced infrastructure performance and delivered a scalable, future-ready IT environment aligned with Alshaya’s business growth strategy.
Client Profile
M.H. Alshaya Group is one of the Middle East’s leading retail franchise operators, managing a diverse portfolio of global brands across multiple sectors including fashion, food, health and beauty.
With operations spanning multiple countries and a heavy reliance on IT systems, maintaining high availability, performance and scalability is critical to supporting its business operations.
Business Challenge
Alshaya faced the complex challenge of consolidating and migrating its existing IT infrastructure from legacy data centers into a new, centralized facility without disrupting business operations. Key challenges included:
- Managing mission-critical workloads with near-zero downtime requirements.
- Supporting diverse platforms including VMware, Hyper-V and Solaris.
- Ensuring data integrity and seamless migration across storage environments.
- Upgrading legacy infrastructure while maintaining operational continuity.
- Aligning infrastructure with future scalability and performance demands.
Diyar’s Solution
Diyar delivered a comprehensive end-to-end data center migration and modernization solution, leveraging strategic partnerships with Dell EMC, VMware, Microsoft and Oracle.
Solution Architecture & Design
- Development of High-Level Design (HLD) and Low-Level Design (LLD).
- Workload classification based on business criticality.
- Detailed migration planning and phased execution strategy.
Technology Platform
- Deployment of enterprise storage solutions including PowerMax, Unity, Isilon and Data Domain.
- Implementation of SAN infrastructure with Connectix SAN Directors.
- Deployment of MX7000 blade servers and virtualization platforms (VMware ESXi, Hyper-V).
- Integration of disaster recovery using RecoverPoint.
Integration & Deployment
- Installation, configuration and upgrade of hardware and software systems.
- SAN zoning, replication setup and cross-site connectivity.
- Seamless migration using tools such as Storage vMotion, RecoverPoint and Open Replicator.
- Execution of phased production cutovers with minimal downtime.
Demonstration & Adoption Enablement
- Testing, validation and failover simulations.
- User acceptance testing and migration verification.
- Knowledge transfer and documentation for Alshaya teams.
Results & Business Impact
The migration delivered measurable value across Alshaya's IT estate:
Consolidated Data Center Estate
Multiple data centers successfully consolidated into a centralized, modern facility.
Minimal Business Disruption
Phased cutovers protected operations throughout the migration.
Improved Performance and Resilience
System performance, availability and resilience all strengthened.
Expanded Capacity and Scalability
Enhanced storage capacity and compute scalability for future demand.
Streamlined IT Operations
Reduced infrastructure complexity and simpler day-to-day operations.
Strengthened Disaster Recovery
Integrated replication and failover capability underpin business continuity.
Strategic Value Delivered
The engagement delivered a future-ready IT infrastructure aligned with Alshaya’s business growth, increasing agility in deploying new applications and services and optimizing resource utilization and operational efficiency across the estate.
Beyond the migration itself, the project established strong disaster recovery and business continuity capabilities and strengthened the partnership between Alshaya and Diyar United Company as a foundation for long-term digital transformation.