We would be unable to provide food to our community without access to our data centers, which were at risk of being destroyed. We had one meeting [with Meridian and Skytap], and the next day our systems were being migrated.
Greg Hay
Group Technology Operations and IT Executive, SPAR
About SPAR
With over 13,000 stores worldwide and over 2,000 stores in South Africa, SPAR is the world’s leading voluntary food retail chain. At the core of SPAR’s mission is its dedication to consistency and close co-operation of its retailers and wholesalers at a local level. In South Africa alone, SPAR connects the country’s 58 million residents with the best quality products at affordable prices.
- 14 Million Daily Customers
- 13,320 Stores Worldwide
- 10,000+ Employees
Industry: Retail
The Challenge: Protecting Operations Amid Civil Unrest
When civil unrest erupted in South Africa, SPAR’s data centers were directly threatened, putting its ability to supply food to communities at risk. Engineers couldn’t physically access mission-critical IBM Power Systems, and every minute of downtime risked disrupting deliveries across the country.
SPAR urgently needed a solution to:
- Migrate critical workloads away from the at-risk data center
- Preserve business continuity despite remote-only access
- Ensure data integrity across thousands of retail locations
With customer trust and supply chains on the line, SPAR turned to Meridian and Skytap for an immediate, expert response.
How Meridian and Skytap Delivered Rapid Cloud Migration
Meridian and Skytap mobilized instantly, combining their technical expertise with a proven, repeatable migration process.
Using Meridian’s mProtect Flex™ powered by Commvault and its mPowerCloud Migration Factory™, the team remotely migrated 10 IBM i LPARs from SPAR’s on-premises IBM Power Systems to Skytap on Azure—all without on-site access.
The result was a fast, secure migration that preserved every workload and kept operations running without interruption.
Results: Business Continuity Without Compromise
SPAR’s migration to Skytap on Azure was completed quickly and securely, ensuring no loss of critical systems or data.
Results at a glance:
- Rapid Cloud Migration — 10 IBM i LPARs moved to Skytap on Azure with zero disruption.
- Disaster Recovery Ready — Instantaneous failover recovery point in Azure using Commvault 1-Touch and live replication.
- Operational Flexibility — SPAR only pays for the DR zone when used, optimizing IT spend.
- Future-Ready Infrastructure — IBM Power workloads now support modernization and digital transformation initiatives.
“Meridian fits into our team seamlessly. They’re IBM Power Systems and Commvault experts and they know these systems inside and out.”
– Seán Hadfield, Support Specialist, SPAR
About Meridian
Meridian Group International is a leading global information technology services and equipment leasing company. Meridian combines deep business process and technical expertise with leading technologies to help clients solve complex business, technology, and finance challenges. Unlock the promise of technology at www.themeridian.com.
About Skytap
Skytap on Azure is a cloud service that natively runs IBM Power and x86 workloads in Azure. The fast and flexible solution enables business operations to quickly move IBM Power-based workloads to the cloud without refactoring, rewriting, and rearchitecting, preserving prior investments in IBM Power-based, mission-critical applications. Learn more at www.skytap.com.
