Integr8, an established leading provider of managed ICT services, has completed a complex, enterprise-wide virtual server and storage infrastructure integration project for global multi-disciplinary engineering company Mota-Engil. Africa is a natural market for the Mota-Engil Group given its presence in the continent for more than 6 decades. As Mota-Engil Africa it has been building a reputation of excellence working in an extensive range of activities such as engineering and construction, environment and services, transportation concessions and mining.

As a result of its IT Infrastructure investment with Integr8, Mota-Engil Africa now has in place a state-of-the-art, virtualisedredundant system for hassle-free connectivity between its South African headquarters, its new central project office in Malawi, and Portugal. The high-tech project was divided into two phases – the first was focused on the provision of virtualised Dell infrastructure at the company’s head office in South Africa incorporating VMWare for storage, as well as Dell server infrastructure and EqualLogic storage. This hardware was used to establish a virtual private network to connect to its offices in Portugal.

The office’s core virtualisation infrastructure was optimised to bring it up to the latest versions of VMware and base hardwarefirmware. The second phase involved the deployment of infrastructure at Mota-Engil Malawi Central Office, the company’s Nacala Project in Malawi. This infrastructure allows users on site to work on a centralised system and enjoy access to email, Electronic Resource Planning and documentmanagement systems. A number of core requirements had to be addressed, including the provision of localised infrastructure services to support VSAT connectivity and the provision of systems with at least two years longevity.

One of the main priorities was to implement a solution that would be solid and scalable. This would enable future growth and improvements at a marginal increase in costs. Another advantage is the ease of manageability and flexibility of the new infrastructure. This will improve the ease with which maintenance can be performed on an ongoing basis so that there is little degradation of the environment. Spokesperson for Mota-Engil Africa Information Technology Area, Bernard Ochieng, says the project was a large undertaking and that Integr8 delivered.

“Integr8 is a professional outfit, with the necessary skills and passion. We have been very impressed with Integr8 from the outset and the technical expertise and quality product that has been invested in this upgrade, means that we now have in place a superb core network system that is able to grow as we do.”