Aggreko

Logicalis bolsters Aggreko's growth in Asia Pacific 　

Aggreko

Aggreko is the kind of company that keeps the world moving, even if we're not necessarily familiar with it as a household name.

Aggreko is a world leader in providing temporary power supply and temperature control solutions to customers who need them either very quickly, or for a short length of time, from over 190 service centres and offices, located in more than 45 countries.

The solutions it provides range from the very large and complex, to the very simple.

Large and complex projects may include keeping the lights on in entire countries when their existing grid cannot cope with demand, or designing and providing critical power infrastructure for broadcasting, security and field-of-play lighting for major sporting events such as the Olympic Games and the FIFA World Cup.

Simple projects may include the provision of temperature control in an office building after the air-conditioning has broken down.

In either scenario, robust systems, processes, infrastructure and expertise are mandatory to run this large, successful company which has been in operation since 1962.

Challenges

Aggreko was experiencing strong growth in the region with 21 offices across 10 countries such as Singapore, China, India, Thailand, Philippines, Vietnam, Japan and South Korea. To cope with the expansion, it agreed to a global directive to centralise operations in a new regional hub in Singapore.

Not least, the company had outgrown its current single-storey office within just four years, and financial modelling showed that the projected growth at current rental rates in Singapore would not be sustainable.

Aggreko embarked on a search for land upon which to construct its own purpose-built state-of-the-art APAC regional hub to accommodate 100 permanent staff, and to host international teams, customers and prospects, along with its centralised warehouse, service centre and industrial training facility. With space going at a premium in Singapore, this will ensure significant savings on leasing costs in the long term and present a physical face that aligns with the success of the company.

Once this decision had been made, the next phase was to design, construct and equip the office with next-generation technologies to suit its increasingly tech-centric workforce. For example, the previous facilities lacked modern technology features such as videoconferencing, IT-enabled meeting rooms, intelligent building management systems etc.

Solution

Building a facility from ground up requires in-depth consideration and planning. Taking inspiration from Aggreko’s Technology team (ATS), headquartered in Scotland, and aided by a large team in Dubai, the design in Singapore was led by Mr Mukul Dole, Aggreko’s APAC Infrastructure Manager.

Aggreko led the tendering process for the design and build consultancy, training and equipment provider and assessed prospective partners using a scoring matrix, based on a number of key criteria, including a focus on people.

Aggreko chose Logicalis, the international technology and business consultancy due to its considerable experience across Asia Pacific, existing vendor and client relationships, and notably, the agility of its team to deliver an innovative project.

As Mr Dole explained, "This is an important milestone for the APAC region, and is critical for the growth of a key region for us. We evaluated prospective partners extensively and seriously, and were impressed by Logicalis’ experience and commitment to delivering the best possible outcomes."

As a sales, marketing, service, support, operations and regional management organisation, Aggreko’s new infrastructure needed to support a myriad of functions and technology systems, ranging from communications and security to enterprise resource planning, in a secure and cost-effective way. Logicalis recommended a new network infrastructure to support the new building located along Buroh Street as Aggreko’s APAC regional hub. The core IT infrastructure built for the new facility included the supply, deployment and commissioning of Cisco Unified Communications (UC) and Collaboration system, networking, servers, wireless solutions (Cisco AP & ISE), WAN optimiser (Bluecoat), phone billing report system (Smart Billing Software), comprehensive security solutions including Websense and Cisco ASA, and APC UPS backup equipment.

Successful Outcomes

Completion of the facility and the subsequent move were completed in just 12 months, led by Mr Dole, Mr. Togi Thomas (from the Technology department) along with his team from ATS and that from Logicalis. The organisation moved from its single-storey facility into the new state-of-the-art office in June this year, on time and within budget. It also adhered to the rigourous compliance and regulations required by a publicly listed company.

"We would highly recommend Logicalis for the company’s support and customer service. Its knowledge and agility in delivering our project were outstanding and went beyond our expectations. We’re delighted with the infrastructure that now supports the Aggreko team in our new home, both here in Singapore and around Asia Pacific," concluded Mr Dole.