Zero-downtime storage modernization with Hitachi Vantara - Automotive case study

Executive summary

In six months, Eywo designed, migrated, and launched a highly available Hitachi Vantara storage platform for a European automaker moving all data off legacy arrays with zero unplanned downtime.

About Client

A leading European automotive manufacturer running round-the-clock production, where storage availability directly affects the production line.

The challenge

The client's IT department ran on legacy Huawei storage arrays that could no longer meet growing high-availability demands. The upgrade had to deliver:

• A complete technology refresh to maximise high availability.
• A controlled, seamless data migration with zero production impact.
• Proactive operational support, robust monitoring, and strict SLA compliance.

The solution

Eywo designed a hybrid storage architecture on Hitachi Vantara: a VSP 5600 as primary storage plus Hitachi Vantara midrange storage. Delivery covered the full stack:

• Design & implementation: tailored hardware architecture, installation, and integration into the Hitachi Vantara management platform (disk domains and pools).
• SAN optimization: reconfiguring the existing SAN for performance and path redundancy.
• Physical & logical setup: new fibre-optic cabling (including tension testing) and migration of advanced snapshot functionality.
• Data migration: seamless migration of all data from the legacy Huawei arrays to the new Hitachi Vantara systems.
• Monitoring & documentation: integration into the client's SC3 monitoring platform, with the environment fully documented in the client's internal wiki and FNT.

Results

• Zero unplanned downtime across the entire migration.
• 99.99% availability sustained on the new platform.
• Delivered end to end in six months.

Lessons learned

• Disciplined change management all migrations and temporary outages inside strict maintenance windows delivered zero business disruption.
• Proactive daily checks, preventative maintenance, and automated monitoring are what sustain 99.99% availability in practice.
• End-to-end ownership, from physical cabling to high-level SAN configuration, removed handoff friction and de-risked the cutover.