Background

Our client is a global company with over 9,000 customers worldwide. The company has a presence in 31 countries, employing over 26 thousand people, generated in excess of 7 billion euros of revenue in 2018, and has received external recognition for its sustainability performance.

ITSD have been providing IT services to the client since 2010, working under the direction of, and in unison with, the internal IT department.

The Network and MPLS Challenge

The client’s MPLS network had previously been supported by a third party. With the contract up for renewal, they decided to switch suppliers for their MPLS infrastructure.

As part of this project, the internal IT department asked us to assist with design, implementation and support for a new resilient switching and wireless system for their Addlestone offices. The solution needed to offer complete redundancy and minimal downtime to the business.

The Solution

Working closely with and under the direction of senior IT management and the internal networking team, ITSD were able to add our significant insight and experience to the decision-making process and helped produced the design for the UK LAN and WLAN network along with the delivery plan for installation.

Redundancy and resilience for the MPLS network was a critical component, so the design incorporated multi path failover and availability. Each element of the network is replicated ensuring that any failure in the network is automatically re-routed to an alternate path.

The structured cabling network in the building had been installed prior to ITSD’s engagement and it was decided an audit, test and port re-label would be beneficial, as part of the project and ITSD provided this service. Every desk and working location in the building now has two physical network connections, primary and backup, as well as Wi-Fi.

Another key requirement of the project was that it needed to be delivered without interruption to the business. The team designed the project plan that successfully delivered the new network, within the timeframes agreed and no downtime or loss of service was experienced.

On-going support for the solution is provided by ITSD, utilising our networking engineers for day to day system support and manufacturer support on the hardware.

The Results

ITSD played a key role in successfully designing and delivering a modern, reliable and robust LAN infrastructure upgrade, without interruption to the business.

Network performance, reliability, user experience and satisfaction have been greatly improved.

The client can rely on network services being provided within the UK office, even in the event of hardware failure, with standby equipment ready to automatically take over. An ITSD IT support contract is also in place for any change requests and to resolve issues.

The Future

We work continuously with all our clients to ensure their systems and staff are supported to the highest standards and enjoy a great working relationship with their staff and internal IT department.

To date, we have been involved with many other IT projects for this particular group and look forward to assisting with many more in the future.