Knauf Insulation — Global File Server Retirement Across 20+ Countries
A 13-month global program to retire 400+ on-premises file servers across Europe, Asia, and North America — including offline facilities with no internet connectivity — with zero data loss.
One of the most complex global migration programs Summit has executed.
Knauf, one of Europe's most recognized manufacturers, needed to modernize its global file storage footprint — retiring hundreds of aging on-premises servers distributed across headquarters, regional hubs, and remote manufacturing sites spanning more than twenty countries.
Summit served as the sole migration specialist on the engagement, coordinating a phased country-by-country program that required multilingual stakeholder management, innovative technical solutions for offline facilities, and rigorous reconciliation before any server was retired.
The standard playbook wasn't enough.
- Multilingual environments across a dozen regions — folder structures, permissions, and stakeholders spanned over a dozen languages
- Offline facilities with zero internet connectivity, making conventional cloud migration tools completely unusable
- 400+ distributed file servers requiring rigorous inventory management and phased execution
- Decision-makers dispersed across North America, Europe, and Asia adding coordination complexity
- Mid-program tooling transition from Migration Manager to ShareGate without timeline disruption
Solving the offline facility challenge.
Several remote manufacturing plants had absolutely no internet access — making a conventional cloud migration approach unworkable. Summit deployed Microsoft Azure Data Box devices to each offline site. Data was copied locally onto the physical appliance, shipped to Microsoft for ingestion into Azure, and the migrated dataset was integrated into the standard OneDrive pipeline. No facility was excluded from the global rollout.
Methodical. Country by country. Zero shortcuts.
- 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 full migration pipeline despite absent connectivity
- Phased country-by-country migrations using Microsoft Migration Manager and ShareGate
- Multilingual stakeholder coordination and approval management throughout
- Full reconciliation per country before server retirement — data fidelity, permissions, end-user access, local IT sign-off
Every server. Every country. Zero loss.
- Complete retirement of 400+ on-premises servers across 20+ countries
- Zero data loss incidents across the entire 13-month program
- Offline facilities successfully migrated using Azure Data Box
- Multilingual stakeholder coordination executed without issue
- No timeline disruption during mid-program tooling transition