Mentor Graphics corporate data center in Wilsonville, Oregon, which began as an effort to consolidate Mentor’s local data centers scattered across 35 sites around the world is due to open in December, 2012. PlanNet who has been working on the project since inception, helped develop the strategy and basis of design (BoD), as well as providing project management services for the consolidation effort. With less than a month away to opening, construction has been completed and systems migration is underway.
Mentor’s Europe Middle East Africa Regional Data Center (EMEA RDC) located in Shannon, Ireland, which also came about as part of the consolidation effort opened last January, and has been consolidating systems from Mentor’s many field data centers into their new regional data center since opening.
“I think the most interesting part of the projects was the initial BoD workshops, the “core principles” sessions and the information that came from those sessions and workshops”, states PlanNet’s Patricia Jones who worked on both data center projects. “That information formed the base understanding for all team members as to what the goals of the project were. Throughout the project we referenced the BoD and the core principles to make decisions during design and construction. When there was a dispute about a design element, it was very helpful that everyone had the same understanding of why we had made various decisions. In addition when we went through our value engineering sessions, we made sure we kept the elements that were part of the BoD.”
As a result of PlanNet’s successful project implementation, Mentor Graphics has adopted many of PlanNet’s processes as a foundation for additional strategic projects.
