CDW

Challenge

CDW is headquartered in Chicago, but back in 2010, its closest data center facility was in Madison.

“We were taking our Chicago-area clients on tours up in Wisconsin. The drives were painfully long.”

Andy Kusler Project Manager at CDW

CDW decided to ask Digital Realty (then DuPont Fabros Technology) for a recommendation on local colocation space. Aside from wanting to be closer to Chicago, CDW wanted to do away with CapEx and instead focus on the OpEx of using someone else’s facility. Digital Realty introduced CDW to Deft, and the companies were an instant fit:

“When we were looking at providers, Deft was the only one to run their data centers the way CDW wanted. Our clients expect the same level of service they get at CDW facilities, and man do they get it at Deft.”

Andy Kusler Project Manager at CDW

Solution

Deft provides CDW with a first-class data center facility located much closer to its headquarters. In addition to premium Colocation space, Deft provides 10 hours/month of Remote Hands services to CDW.

“We had a lot of clients that weren’t traditionally services clients until we moved in with Deft. They wanted the benefit of services provided in a first-class data center.”

Andy Kusler Project Manager at CDW

Any time CDW needs a server component swapped out or upgraded, Deft already has replacement parts on site and a team ready to do the work.

“Deft keeps a huge amount of spare equipment on site, like cabling and PDUs. Partnering with somebody who can give us sparing, cabling, and Remote Hands assistance is important to us.”

Andy Kusler Project Manager at CDW

Results

“We’ve never had a request that Deft couldn’t meet. Sometimes it feels like we’re coaching other providers. But with Deft’s staff, we just hand it over.”  

Andy Kusler Project Manager at CDW

CDW is constantly growing its services business in Chicago and expects to continue its long relationship with Deft.