Migrations rarely fail on the moving day. They fail weeks earlier, in the asset register nobody reconciled, the dependency nobody mapped, or the cross-connect at the far end that was ordered late and is not in yet.
We treat a move as a delivery project rather than a truck booking. The audit comes first, the runbook is written and agreed before anything is unracked, and the move window is rehearsed on paper until the order of operations is boring. The physical work is the easy part by the time we get to it.
We have delivered full site relocations, and we work nationwide from our Auckland base. Transport is handled through specialist freight and 3PL partners under our management, so the vehicle is the right one for the load and the accountability for the whole move stays with us.
Types of move we run
Most jobs are one of these, or a sequence of them run in waves so the business never loses a service entirely.
01
Turnkey relocation
The whole move under one contract. Audit, runbook, decommission, transport, install, recommission, test and handover, with a single point of accountability from first survey to sign-off.
02
Populated rack moves
Cabinets moved with equipment still mounted, where the rack, the load and the route allow it. Fewer disconnections, less reconfiguration and a shorter window, but it demands real assessment before anyone commits to it. See rack relocation and deracking.
03
Lift and shift
Equipment moved as-is into an equivalent design at the far end, with no re-architecture. The fastest path when the platform is staying the same and only the address is changing.
04
Colocation change
Moving between providers or into colocation for the first time. We work to the receiving facility's induction, access and delivery rules, and coordinate cross-connects and remote hands at the new site.
05
Consolidation and refresh
Several rooms collapsed into one, or a move used as the moment to retire legacy hardware. The audit tells you what is actually still in service before you pay to move it.
06
Decommission and make good
The half everyone forgets. Racks stripped, cabling removed, containment taken out, the room handed back to the landlord in the state the lease requires, and retired assets documented out.
How a migration runs
Audit and discovery
Physical audit of every cabinet, device, cable and cross-connect, reconciled against whatever register you already hold. Almost every audit we do finds equipment nobody could account for.
Design the destination
Rack elevations, power, cooling, containment and cabling at the far end confirmed before anything moves. If the destination is not ready, the move date is not real.
Runbook
The written order of operations: what powers down and in what sequence, who does it, what it depends on, what the rollback is, and who signs off each gate.
Prepare and stage
Labelling, pre-cabling and pre-staging at the destination so the move window is spent moving rather than building. New cabinets can be racked and cabled ahead of time.
Decommission and pack
Shutdown to the runbook, disconnection, photographic record of every cabled state, anti-static packing, and asset tags scanned out of the source room.
Transport
Air-ride transport matched to the load, monitored in transit, with custody recorded at each handover. The asset list that left is the asset list that has to arrive.
Install and recommission
Racked, cabled, powered and brought up in the runbook's sequence, with the far-end cabling built to the agreed elevations rather than improvised at 2am.
Test and hand over
Service verification against an agreed checklist, exceptions logged and cleared, and the as-built pack issued: elevations, patching schedule, asset register and photographs.
Hypercare
We stay available after the window closes, because the problems that matter usually surface on the first business day rather than during the move itself.
How the equipment is protected
Chain of custody
Every asset is recorded out of the source room and back in at the destination, against serial numbers rather than descriptions. Custody is recorded at each handover between teams and carriers.
- Serialised asset register, reconciled both ends
- Photographic record of cabling before disconnection
- Signed handover at each custody change
- Exceptions raised the same day, not at the end
Handling and transport
Packing and transport matched to what is actually being moved. A populated cabinet and a shelf of switches are not the same problem, and neither is a move across town and a move down the island.
- Anti-static packing and purpose-built cases
- Air-ride vehicles with load restraint appropriate to the kit
- Access, lift and route surveys at both ends before the day
- Insurance and liability confirmed in writing before the move
What you get
- Reconciled asset register, before and after
- Agreed runbook with sequence, owners, dependencies and rollback
- Rack elevations and patching schedule for the destination
- Photographic record of source cabling and installed state
- Test and verification results against the agreed checklist
- Exceptions log with what was found and how it was closed
- Decommissioning and make-good record for the vacated room
Common questions
How long does a data centre move take?
The move window is usually the shortest part. Planning is measured in weeks and sometimes months depending on the size of the estate and how good the existing documentation is; the physical move is often a single weekend or a series of them. Anyone who quotes you a duration before auditing the estate is guessing.
How much downtime should we plan for?
That is a design decision, not a fixed number. Services that can tolerate an outage move in a window. Services that cannot are moved in waves with capacity standing at both ends, which costs more and takes longer. We work that out with you at the runbook stage, before anything is committed.
Can you move racks with the equipment still in them?
Sometimes. It depends on the cabinet, how it is loaded, the floor and lift capacity at both ends and the route in between. Where it is viable it saves a great deal of time. Where it is not, we will tell you rather than find out on the day.
What happens to equipment we are not taking with us?
It is documented out of the register and dealt with deliberately: returned, redeployed, sold, or disposed of with the appropriate data destruction. The one thing that should not happen is that it quietly stays behind in a room you no longer lease.
Do you handle the old room after we leave?
Yes. Removing racks, cabling and containment and making the space good for handback is part of the scope where you want it to be. It is usually a lease obligation and it is usually underestimated.
Do you work nationwide?
Yes. We are Auckland based and deliver nationwide, using specialist freight and 3PL partners under our management for transport so the vehicle and handling suit the load.
Moving a room, a hall or an estate?
Send the asset list and both site addresses. We will come back with what the move looks like, where the risk sits and what it would take.
Talk to us about a move