Sofor's data moved smoothly from Ostrobothnia to Telia Helsinki Data Center

6 min

“When we moved our data from our own center to the Telia Helsinki Data Center, many of our previous maintenance concerns were eliminated. This frees up energy for the development of our services,” says Sami Eerola, Sales Director at Sofor.

For more than 20 years, the IT services company Sofor operated its own data center in Kauhava, next to a knife factory. It was a good solution in its day, but would have been challenging to continue.

“The center was nearing the end of its useful life and would have required major investments in renovation and maintenance,” says Pekka Panula, System Architect at Sofor.

Through competitive bidding, Sofor chose the Telia Helsinki Data Center as its partner. The data of many of Sofor’s customer companies was already located there.

Founded in Kauhava more than 30 years ago, Sofor provides IT solutions and services. With a staff of 50, it serves a variety of companies, such as Finnish global industrial companies, public administration organizations and smaller businesses. Sofor has locations in Kauhava, Helsinki, Tampere and Vaasa.

“It was a good decision to give up our own data center, as its maintenance required a great deal of resources."

"Now we can focus on developing our business operations and service portfolio,” says Sami Eerola, Sales Director at Sofor.

Sofor provides companies with, for example, various remote desktop solutions, where both the physical and logical security of the data center is important. As the service portfolio also includes on-premises work carried out at the data center, it is convenient that the data center is close to the company’s Helsinki location.

Data transfer ran swiftly and smoothly

“We are very happy with the Telia Helsinki Data Center. The data transfer ran very efficiently during the summer, even though the distance is around 400 kilometers,” says Pekka Panula.

The transfer of the necessary equipment from Kauhava to Helsinki took three van trips. Telia’s Wavelength service was a great help in transferring the data.

“We had a direct fiber connection from our Kauhava data center to the new cabinets in the Helsinki Data Center. We were able to move the virtual servers on the fly. The interruptions only lasted for a few minutes, with hardly any impact on our customers. All the network and customer connections were also transferred to the new point very quickly,” Panula explains.

In the Helsinki Data Center, Sofor particularly appreciates information security and the FICIX hub, which enables high-speed connectivity around the world.

Eerola and Panula found the experience of transferring Sofor’s data center to the Helsinki Data Center so good that they are ready to help other companies plan a similar move.

Going global with a South Ostrobothnian attitude

System Architect Pekka Panula and Sales Director Sami Eerola say that the Sofor spirit is reflected in the company’s culture of work. It is based on the South Ostrobothnian attitude: we will do what we promise—and we will succeed.

“We work to be a reliable partner for our customers. We provide advanced and reliable services that help customers automate their processes. Our customers with global operations require uncompromising world-class expertise from us,” says Sami Eerola.

“It’s important for us that security and the related processes in Telia’s data center are taken as far as possible. The data center has Katakri security classifications in place, the use of backup power has been assessed in advance, and preparedness for any unexpected situations is top-notch,” says Pekka Panula.

Sofor has leveraged the benefits of the new secure data center by duplicating its entire infrastructure. The data is duplicated into two rooms with two different connections.

“Many of our maintenance worries were eliminated, which gave us greater peace of mind,” says Pekka Panula.

Listening to your partner is important

Sami Eerola is pleasantly surprised to see how intently Telia listens to the needs of its partners, even smaller companies.

“The people at Telia actively engage in discussions with us, seeking solutions to our challenges. We gained much more than equipment racks for two data center rooms and a reliable environment. Telia turned out to be a potential partner for growing our services,” says Eerola

Tero Niemelä, Data Center Sales Lead, and Eino Airaksinen, B2B Sales Director for Ostrobothnia, confirm that Telia works to be a strong partner for its data center customers—not just a name in the email.

“We want to meet our customers face to face and get to know the company. We want to work in a spirit of cooperation so that the customer feels free to call us whenever they have questions.”

The Telia Helsinki Data Center also helps its customers achieve their carbon neutrality targets. The heat generated by the thousands of computers in the building is used to heat homes and offices in Helsinki.

“This is important information for our customers, as most of them are aiming for carbon neutrality or a significant decrease in carbon dioxide emissions in the coming years,” says Tero Niemelä.

Challenges: Sofor’s old data center in Kauhava came to the end of its useful life. The company had to either make a major investment in upgrading the data center or acquire a new place. After the company had decided to give up the old data center, it needed to find a safe location for its data and transfer the data there as smoothly as possible.

Solutions: The company acquired a dedicated data center room at the Telia Helsinki Data Center. The data of many of Sofor’s customer companies was already located there. All the data is duplicated into two rooms with two different connections.

Benefits: A worry-free comprehensive solution. The new data center provides all the key features in one place: top-class information security and high-speed connections in all directions thanks to the FICIX hub. The Telia Helsinki Data Center is close to Sofor’s Helsinki location, with quick access whenever needed.