With its 13 specialist clinics and 2 outpatient therapy centers in Bavaria, Berlin, Hesse and North Rhine-Westphalia, the Medical Park group is a renowned clinic group and premium provider of medical rehabilitation and prevention in Germany. Under the motto "Get well in a dream location", the clinics specialize in the indications of neurology, orthopedics / traumatology / sports medicine, internal medicine/cardiology, oncology, and psychosomatics. Around 3,500 employees of the family-owned company take care of the well-being and recovery of the approximately 70,000 patients each year.
Medical Park had been looking for a forward-looking concept for its IT infrastructure for some time. They wanted to gather comprehensive information to set the course for a future IT strategy. Currently, the group relies on a cost-intensive cloud solution. Since they wanted to store their data on premises, independent of the provider, they decided to conduct an in-depth analysis of the possibilities and requirements of a local solution. This included the associated costs, the construction aspects, and the personnel requirements of an in-house data center.
"In our search for a consulting service provider for a potential project, we found Data Center Group’s lineup particularly interesting because it brings the entire value chain of services to the table", emphasizes Andreas Kudilek, IT Manager at Medical Park.
The Data Center Group (DCG) was discovered via online research. After the first contact, a concept was developed within about three months. For this purpose, the Data Center Consulting (business unit of DCG) determined the customer's requirements and needs. In close consultation with the Medical Park team, a concept showing the different options was then created.
"In the clinical environment, a lot of sensitive data is generated, which makes functioning documentation indispensable", Kudilek emphasizes. "We therefore need a healthy IT infrastructure that guarantees the availability and protection of our sensitive data. That's why we brought DCG's expertise in-house to get professional advice. Various options were presented and explained to us. We provided the required information and DCG implemented their concept on this basis. Even though we ultimately decided against operating our own data center, we had a sound concept as a possible alternative."
The Data Center Consulting team designed a data center solution for Medical Park that was precisely tailored to the customer's individual requirements: a redundant setup to prevent failures and a placement that provides for a sufficient and uninterruptible power supply. The concept also considered certification and included all parameters to ensure that each data center is DIN EN 50600 compliant. The assumptions were calculated for a period of 10 years to provide a cost comparison with the current situation.
To meet the demand for high availability, two new data centers are to be built as part of a data center network strategy, according to the DCG analysis. This strategy allows an availability class (AC) of 2 to be considered for each individual site. In total, the evaluation of both data centers results in an availability level equivalent to VK 3. Each site is to be designed and built for the key trades of power supply and refrigeration for maintenance during operation.
All calculations were used to estimate energy, cooling, and space requirements. A comprehensive security concept with access control system, video system and a comprehensive fire protection concept were also worked out. In the end, Kudilek and his team decided against operating their own data center. Nevertheless, both sides draw a very positive conclusion.
"The cooperation with Mr. Kudilek and his team was very trusting and transparent. Due to Corona, we mainly exchanged information digitally. Nevertheless, we managed to establish a close and cooperative partnership",
emphasizes Navina Schüler (Area Sales Manager DCG, Central-South / Rhine-Main).
IT Manager Kudilek sums up: "The consultation went very well. We received sound and comprehensive advice and are very satisfied with the cooperation. We now know which factors we have to plan and calculate with. In the end, we decided against data center in-house operation. Nevertheless, we now know which details we would have to consider in case of realizing our own data center solution."
