Knauf Insulation — Global File Server Retirement Across 20+ Countries
How Summit executed a global on-premises-to-cloud migration across 20+ countries — retiring 400+ file servers over 13 months with zero data loss, including facilities with no internet connectivity.
A seamless global migration — zero data loss, every country accounted for.
Knauf, one of Europe's most recognized manufacturers, partnered with Summit Migrations to modernize its global file storage footprint. With over 400 on-premises file servers spread across 20+ countries — including offline facilities without internet access — this engagement required precise planning, multilingual coordination, and innovative technical solutions.
Through a structured, country-by-country approach, Summit delivered a seamless global migration with zero data loss and complete retirement of all legacy servers.
A global manufacturer with a distributed, aging infrastructure.
Knauf operates across Europe, Asia, and North America, with regional IT structures and multilingual data environments. Their file infrastructure consisted of hundreds of aging file servers distributed across headquarters, regional hubs, and remote manufacturing sites — some of which lacked basic internet access.
Knauf required a global shift to Microsoft OneDrive to standardize collaboration, reduce IT overhead, and prepare for a cloud-first future.
Four problems the standard playbook hadn't solved.
Multilingual Environments
Folder structures, permissions, and stakeholders spanned over a dozen languages, requiring careful coordination without a multilingual team on-site.
Offline Facilities
Several plants had no internet connectivity, making traditional cloud migration tools unusable and requiring a completely different technical approach.
400+ File Servers
The distributed infrastructure demanded rigorous inventory management, phased execution, and strict reconciliation protocols before any server could be retired.
Global Coordination
Approvals and IT stakeholders were dispersed across North America, Europe, and Asia — increasing communication complexity at every stage of the program.
Solving the offline facility challenge with Azure Data Box.
Some remote plants had absolutely no internet access. To solve this, Summit deployed Microsoft Azure Data Box — a physical appliance used to securely transfer data to Azure. Data was copied onsite, the device was shipped to Microsoft for ingestion, and the migrated dataset was integrated into the standard OneDrive pipeline. This rare solution ensured no facility was excluded from the global rollout.
Four phases. Rigorous reconciliation at every step.
- Global discovery and master inventory — every file server, share, permission structure, and owner catalogued across all in-scope countries
- Offline location remediation via Azure Data Box — enabling fully integrated migration pipeline despite absent connectivity
- Phased country-by-country migrations using Microsoft Migration Manager and ShareGate, with dedicated PM coordinating multilingual communications
- Full reconciliation and server retirement — data fidelity, permission accuracy, end-user access checks, and local IT sign-off before any server retired
Purpose-built stack for a global program.
- Microsoft Azure Data Box — offline facility migration
- Microsoft Migration Manager — primary migration tooling
- ShareGate — secondary migration tooling and reconciliation
- OneDrive for Business — destination platform
- PowerShell automation — provisioning and reporting
Every server retired. Every country accounted for.
- Complete retirement of 400+ on-premises servers
- Zero data loss incidents across the entire program
- Offline facilities successfully migrated using Azure Data Box
- Multilingual stakeholder coordination executed without issue
- No timeline disruption during tooling transition from Migration Manager to ShareGate
- All regional IT teams signed off on data fidelity before server retirement
What this engagement demonstrated.
Even the most complex global infrastructures can be migrated cleanly with the right methodology and rigorous planning.
Offline or bandwidth-limited sites require creative engineering solutions — not exclusion from the program.
Global change succeeds when stakeholder alignment is handled proactively, not reactively.
Rigorous reconciliation at every phase is the backbone of a zero-loss migration at any scale.