In the midst of a growth phase, a young Swiss company’s IT requirements are changing rapidly. Between the opening of new workspaces, the creation of a secure research environment and the arrival of new employees, its initial infrastructure is no longer sufficient to support its development.
To support this development, Qim info has been asked to design a professional IT infrastructure that is secure, reliable and scalable, based on three priorities:
- A segmented network to isolate research environments and reinforce security.
- Affordable, high-performance virtualization for scalability.
- Centralized management of workstations and applications through Microsoft Intune.
In just a few months, Qim info deployed a stable, scalable hybrid infrastructure, designed to support the growth and future development of this innovative company.
Context and innovation: an IT infrastructure at the service of research
On the strength of several technological development projects, this Swiss startup is gradually building up its research and production capacities. Its teams work in demanding environments where the reliability of IT tools determines business continuity and data security.
Faced with this growth, the company decided to completely rethink its IT infrastructure, in order to provide a modern, scalable foundation capable of adapting to its future needs.
To meet these needs, Qim info designs and deploys a hybrid architecture combining performance, security and ease of administration.
Challenges: designing a high-performance, future-proof IT infrastructure
To support its growth and secure its research activities, this innovative company needs an infrastructure capable of evolving rapidly, while maintaining the stability of its systems. The project aims to guarantee data security, continuity of operations and simplicity of day-to-day administration.
The main focus of the rollout is on:
- Setting up a multi-level environment (production, internal, guest) to compartmentalize uses and reinforce security.
- The deployment of a flexible, affordable virtualization solution, tailored to the needs of a growing organization.
- The configuration of a comprehensive, supervised backup system to ensure reliability and rapid data restoration.
- Seamless integration with Azureto efficiently synchronize cloud and local environments.
Finally, centralized management of workstations and applications via Microsoft Intune unifies tools and simplifies equipment administration.
Qim info deployment: hybrid IT architecture and Proxmox virtualization
During the first deployment phase, two Qim info consultants are on hand to lay the foundations of the infrastructure. They install the essential elements that ensure network security and connectivity:
- A Fortinet FortiGate firewall to protect exchanges.
- A FortiSwitch and a FortiAP for network and Wi-Fi management.
- An HP server configured as a license server.
This first stage stabilizes the environment and secures access.
A few months later, as the company grew and requirements increased, Qim info designed a complete, segmented and secure architecture based on Proxmox, an open source virtualization solution. This choice provides flexibility, reliability and cost control, while offering a sustainable alternative to proprietary solutions on the market.
This positioning is directly linked to the evolution of VMware’s business model, acquired by Broadcom, whose new pricing, now calculated per processor core, has driven up costs for many SMEs. In opting for Proxmox, Qim info has opted for a more flexible, stable and cost-effective solution, with annual support at around CHF 500, simplified maintenance and great freedom of administration for virtual servers.
Discover here if Proxmox is the right alternative for your infrastructure.
IT asset management and cloud supervision
On this basis, Qim info deploys the essential building blocks of thehybrid environment:
- Replicated Active Directory with Azure for unified identity management.
- Centralized management of workstations via Microsoft Intune.
- Complete backup of Microsoft 365 services (SharePoint, Exchange, OneDrive and Teams).
The company first moved into the cloud before setting up a local infrastructure to reinforce the security of its research environments. Thanks to Intune, applications are now validated, packaged and deployed remotely, guaranteeing compliance and security across the entire IT estate.
IT maintenance and data backup: continuous, secure monitoring
To guarantee the reliability of the new environment, Qim info has set up a complete backup system based on Veeam and Synology NAS. This configuration ensures data protection, redundancy and rapid restoration in the event of an incident.
Microsoft 365 environments are also subject to dedicated supervision, covering SharePoint, OneDrive, Exchange and Teams. All of this is now managed as part of a managed service contract, which provides ongoing monitoring including:
- Regular checking of backups.
- Server updates.
- Safety checks.
- Global systems supervision.
This model guarantees infrastructure stability and security, while relieving in-house teams of recurring maintenance tasks.
Want to find out more? Read our article : How to back up your data simply.
Results: a solid IT base to support growth
Over a ten-month period, Qim info mobilized some twenty project days to design, deploy and upgrade the infrastructure. The operating environment is now based on reliable, high-performance, future-proof solutions:
| Tools | Objectives |
|---|---|
| FortiGate | to ensure network security and access control. |
| FortiSwitch | to guarantee the performance and reliability of switching between devices. |
| FortiAP | to provide a stable, secure Wi-Fi connection for all employees. |
| Proxmox | to virtualize servers and optimize the use of IT resources. |
| HP servers | dedicated to local hosting of internal applications and services. |
| Veeam | for fast data backup and restoration in the event of an incident. |
| Windows Server | for centralized management of users and network services. |
| NAS Synology | for secure, redundant storage, guaranteeing continuity of data access. |
Find out how Qim info optimized the IT infrastructure of Foyer-Handicap in Geneva.
Scalable IT infrastructure: a solid foundation for the next steps
The collaboration between Qim info and the company continues with the creation of Linux virtual machines dedicated to scientific computing and simulation needs. This development strengthens the infrastructure’s ability to support new research projects and absorb business growth.
The architecture now in place provides a solid, scalable IT foundation, ready for future optimizations and to support the next phases of technological development.
Qim info, IT partner for startups and growing companies
By combining technical rigor, local support and an understanding of the challenges of growth, Qim info helps innovative companies build secure, sustainable IT infrastructures.
Based in Switzerland and France, our team supports startups, SMEs and major corporations in their digital transformation projects and in optimizing their IT environments.
Do you have an infrastructure or modernization project? Contact our experts.
