KÜS Data GmbH stabilises its data centre network by migrating to EVPN-VXLAN

KÜS DATA GmbH, based in Losheim am See in Saarland, is the IT service provider of the KÜS group of companies. With a state-of-the-art, certified data centre and tailored high-availability and cloud solutions, the company provides the technological foundation for reliable and secure IT operations. Maximum resilience, data protection and the continuous availability of services are at the heart of everything it does.

The Challenge

 In its previous infrastructure, KÜS DATA GmbH relied on a Virtual Chassis architecture in its data centre. Due to the technological limitations of this legacy architecture, the network repeatedly suffered from instability. Minor hardware or link faults (such as the failure of individual optics) disrupted the entire Virtual Chassis. To safeguard the reliability of its data centre services for the long term, the customer needed a fundamental realignment of its network architecture.

The project´s core objectives:

• Platform stabilisation: Elimination of single points of failure in the data centre core.
• Architecture modernisation: Replacement of the fault-prone Virtual Chassis structure.
• Maximum resilience: Fail-safe isolation of partial faults without impact on overall operations.
• Relief for the IT team: Fewer ad hoc troubleshooting interventions during live operations.

The Solution

In close collaboration with the network experts at Xantaro, KÜS DATA decided to migrate to a modern, standards-based EVPN-VXLAN Data Center Fabric.

The hardware foundation was provided by high-performance Juniper QFX switches, complemented by Juniper MX204 edge routers. By moving from a monolithic stack logic (Virtual Chassis) to an interconnected leaf-spine architecture using EVPN-VXLAN, the control plane and data plane could be decoupled.

Key Project Components

• Architecture redesign: Design of the new EVPN-VXLAN fabric.
• Targeted migration: Conversion of the existing Juniper QFX/EX systems with minimal downtime.
• Decoupling of paths: Improved load balancing and isolation of individual faults between spines and border routers (MX204).
• Hands-on support: Close personal support and partnership throughout the entire transition phase.
  

The Result

Since the new fabric went live, the KÜS DATA GmbH data centre has been running with complete stability and without disruption. Where minor defects once triggered chain reactions, the EVPN-VXLAN architecture now absorbs failures fully transparently.

The key benefits:

• High operational reliability & resilience: Individual hardware failures (e.g. defective optics) are compensated for automatically – with no noticeable impact on customers or users.
• Seamless monitoring: Faults are now flagged by automatic alerts in the monitoring system, not by users reporting problems.
• Future-proof, standards-based architecture: Scalable EVPN-VXLAN technology instead of a vendor-specific black box.
• Peace of mind for the IT team: Significantly lower stress levels and reliable operations around the clock.

Customer Testimonial

“With Xantaro’s support, we successfully implemented our new data centre fabric based on EVPN-VXLAN. Since going live, the environment has been running exactly as we envisaged.

Even when links failed, the problem went completely unnoticed by our users and customers – only our monitoring registered the events. Compared with our previous infrastructure, we now benefit from considerably greater stability, resilience and operational reliability. Working with the Xantaro team was professional and collaborative at all times.”

Timo Lichtmeß, Team Lead IT TechAdmin, KÜS DATA GmbH