The Rieck Group: Modernising IT infrastructure with Logicalis and FlashStack

Background

The Rieck Group, a family-owned company with around 700 employees, offers tailored transport and logistics solutions. Headquartered in Großbeeren, Brandenburg, the group has been delivering services across land transport, air and sea freight, contract logistics/fulfilment, and waste logistics for generations. With thousands of shipments and around 380 truckloads daily, the internationally active company moves over 2,000 tonnes per day by land, sea, and air. Rieck Consulting Services GmbH & Co. 

KG (Rieck), part of the Rieck Group, manages the company’s central IT system across all locations—ensuring seamless integration of customer and partner data. To support this service density, Rieck needed a high-performance, highly available IT infrastructure. In search of an efficient, future-proof solution to meet complex demands, Rieck partnered with Logicalis GmbH to implement FlashStack from Pure Storage and Cisco.

The requirement: A modern system for demanding tasks

By 2020, Rieck faced the challenge of an outdated IT infrastructure and resource-intensive applications. With support for the existing system nearing its end and optimisation overdue, the company decided to rebuild its IT from the ground up. Ensuring uninterrupted operations during the transition was essential. Rieck also aimed to future-proof its setup, create system resources, respond faster to customer needs, and focus on its core business.

“After making that fundamental decision, the key question was: who do we want to partner with for this project?” said Tom Polten, Head of IT at Rieck. “We developed a ranking system with evaluation criteria to help us choose the right partner.”

Winning the bid

Logicalis stood out in several categories and was awarded the contract.

“What impressed us most was how thoroughly Logicalis took the time to understand our company and needs. They analysed our current situation, identified technical debt, and tailored the new solution to our requirements.”

Tom Polten, Head of IT at Rieck

Other deciding factors included Logicalis’ commitment, reliability, and expertise—even during the proposal phase—as well as its strong partner network. “We were especially drawn to their high Oracle partner status,” Polten added.

FlashStack: Maximum performance and flexibility

When Rieck suggested involving Pure Storage, Logicalis responded by recommending FlashStack—a solution combining Cisco UCS, networking, and Pure Storage. It offers unified management across network, server, storage, and virtualisation. The hardware upgrade was followed by several sub-projects: VMware migration, Oracle migration (including version upgrades under OVM), and the transition from Exchange 2010 to Exchange 2019.

The team completed the VMware migration in just 14 days, followed shortly by a successful Oracle migration. “We decommissioned the old systems on time and migrated to the new ones so smoothly that users didn’t even notice,” said Hanna Witsch, Project Lead at Logicalis. The new system allows for live storage updates—saving time and costs. “It’s also much more powerful and intuitive than the previous setup,” Witsch added.

Beyond the scope

What impressed Polten most was Logicalis’ proactive approach: 

“The Logicalis team didn’t just stick to the contract—they looked left and right, offering optimisation tips wherever they saw potential. That’s not something you see every day.” 

Rieck can now handle tasks in-house that previously required external providers. 

“We’re completely satisfied with the project and feel future-ready with a competent partner at our side,” 

Polten concluded.

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