Exchange Hybrid Migration to Office 365 for a Large Manufacturing Firm

03 April 2023

The Client

Our client, a prominent HVAC manufacturer headquartered in Germany, operates globally, serving clients across different regions.

The Need

The client faced a challenge with their existing email infrastructure. They had a complex setup with a mix of Exchange and Office 365, which needed to be streamlined into a unified environment. Their specific requirements were to:

1. 1. Consolidate their Office 365 deployment across multiple European countries, which involved managing four different domains and domain controllers.
   2. Migrate 1000+ users who were on Office 365 and 500 users on Exchange 2013 to a single Office 365 tenant. This consolidation aimed to simplify maintenance and ensure compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

The Challenge

1. 1. The client had operations in five different countries, each with its own domain and setup, all associated with a primary domain controller.
   2. Users in the United States were exclusively using Office 365, while users in different regions relied on Microsoft Teams, which also needed to be migrated.
   3. The complexity of the project involved planning the migration meticulously. This meant coordinating the migration of users across different time zones and locations to establish a unified Office 365 tenant.

Solution

Our experienced Microsoft 365 consultants devised a comprehensive solution to address these challenges:

1. 1. Phased migration: Users from various countries were migrated in phases using batch migration methods. For the 1000+ users on Office 365, a tenant-to-tenant migration was employed.
   2. Setting up an Office 365 tenant in Germany: This allowed the migration of users from the United States and integration with Active Directory through Azure Active Directory (AD) Connect.
   3. Hybrid migration: Approximately 600 users were migrated in batches, with hybrid migration methods used for each Office 365 deployment.
   4. Successful migration of user teams, conversations, files (including SharePoint and Teams/OneDrive data), and the implementation of additional security measures, such as the Barracuda spam filter, to enhance data protection and backup.
   5. GDPR compliance: The client’s Office 365 tenant was audited to ensure compliance with GDPR. Security rules and policies were established to safeguard data, and retention policies were set up in line with approved guidelines.
   6. Training and support: we provided training and support to ensure the client’s smooth migration to Office 365.

Benefits

The implementation of this solution resulted in several key benefits for the client:

1. 1. System Consolidation: Multiple systems were successfully consolidated into a single tenant, simplifying management, and reducing complexity.
   2. Enhanced Security: The setup included robust security measures, ensuring compliance with GDPR and data protection regulations.
   3. Ease of Management: The unified system improved governance and made it easier to manage all users efficiently.

Technology Used

• • Microsoft 365​
  • Azure cloud​
  • Azure active directory
  • Barracuda
  • Exchange 2013
  • Cloudiway Migration Tool

If you have a similar exchange hybrid migration to Microsoft 365 requirement or would like to discuss your project needs, feel free to contact us. We are here to assist you in achieving your technology goals and ensuring a seamless transition to Microsoft solutions.