Multi-site infrastructure across 14 countries

Context

• Organisations in fourteen countries needed predictable collaboration and file access without turning each site into a one-off architecture.
• Legacy PABX and storage patterns varied by region; leadership wanted a coherent standard with room for local constraints.

Problem

• Replication and voice integrations introduced failure modes that local IT teams could not diagnose quickly.
• Security and data residency expectations differed by jurisdiction while the operating model required shared workflows.

Approach

• Established reference designs per site class (hub, branch, regulated) with non-negotiable security baselines.
• Staged rollouts with measurable quality gates: backup/restore drills, replication lag budgets, and voice failover tests.
• Documented runbooks and escalation paths so operations did not depend on individual heroes.

System / architecture

• Hub-and-spoke networking with segmented zones; monitored replication pipelines and integrity checks.
• Integrated PABX and unified communications where required, with clear demarcation between voice and application layers.

Outcome

• More predictable cross-border operations and fewer emergency bridges built from ad hoc VPNs and shared drives.
• A maintainable standard new sites could adopt instead of reinventing connectivity each time.

Representative large-scale infrastructure programme; geography count and technologies are described at a high level without client identification.