Industry: Horse Feed
Location: Thetford, Norfolk
ABOUT
A horse feed company, whose focus is to provide natural, high quality feeds to improve equine nutrition and educate owners. Allen and Page is an innovative, family owned company with over four generations of experience.
It is a continued priority of the company to supply feeds containing only natural, Non-GM ingredients; in addition to this there is an overriding awareness of the impact feed processing has on the environment and therefore products are produced to minimise environmental impact where possible.
CLIENT STORY
We worked with Allen and Page to upgrade their telecoms and server networks to meet the demands of the business. Read all about it below.
Breakwater IT proposed a solution to re-configure our Comms room following a need to bring in more hardware. Following this project, we now have a robust IT and telecoms system in line with the business's needs.
Challenge
Allen and Page were confronted with challenges across both their server and telecoms networks, with each requiring updates to ensure they were performing in line with the demands of the business.
The primary telephone system, the NEC SV8100, had become ‘end of life’, necessitating an upgrade to provide the business with a functioning telecoms solution. The business relies on having a fully operational and efficient phone network to enable clients to enquire about orders and speak directly to the nutritional team, so any upgrade needed to be done resourcefully to minimise disruption.
In addition to a new telephone system, the Comms Room, containing the server and networking equipment, required re-configuring to ensure easy access and transparency of layout should any maintenance or future expansion be required. This incorporated re-patching the server and network equipment to create secure, easy to navigate cabling.
The primary requirement for Allen Page was to create a well-organised Comms Room that protects the servers and network equipment stored there, promoting their performance, energy efficiency and resilience. The new updates and configuration should also provide a platform for growth, built with any business objectives in mind and allowing for easy development.
Solution
Breakwater worked closely with Allen and Page to ascertain their telecom requirements, taking into account present and future opportunities. It was decided that the main telephone system should be upgraded to the latest NEC SV9100, a system that offers all the features needed to expand an organisation’s infrastructure. It is ideally suited to small and medium sized businesses, with an extensive range of mobility applications and devices, a wide range of end points and Multi-line SIP Client and Multi-Carrier Support. In order to make the transition to a new system as cost effective as possible, Breakwater also selected an upgrade that enabled Allen and Page to utilise their current handsets.
NEC MyCalls was installed to ensure Allen and Page had the management solution to provide them with a real-time snapshot of their call capacities. Reports are emailed on a daily, weekly and monthly basis, allowing the business to competently handle call volumes within their desired timeframes, increasing productivity and potentially decreasing outlay.
The MyCall upgrades also allow for encrypted call recording, of value if key details are overlooked during a call, requiring a replay of the conversation. MyCalls, along with the primary phone system, is also a scalable solution, providing that all important opportunity for expansion and adoption of new features as they are available.
In the Comms Room Breakwater wanted to create an organised environment that promoted easy access to the servers and network equipment. New cabinets were installed in which to store the servers, minimising the floor space required and simplifying the cabling amongst components. The servers were ‘re-patched’ to ensure the network was clean and performing to its optimum capacity.
Breakwater worked with cable infrastructure partners Synergy15 who were responsible for the fixed and physical infrastructure. This work included cutting and re-routing fibre cables from the old wall-mounted cabinets to the new free-standing cabinet. Over time, the existing Comms Room had spread into an adjacent room, to simplify the layout and handling of the equipment, the cabling was re-established in one, easy to manage area.
The cabling was also re-terminated to remove 16 port patch panels and replace them with 24 port patch panels, again saving cabinet space. On completion of the fibre and copper re-termination work, all cabling was tested, re-labelled as required and certified. Synergy15 engineers worked closely with Breakwater to clear redundant telecoms and server network equipment and cabling.
The final phase of the project was to re-patch the phones, PC’s, printers, Wi-Fi access points and a site-wide public address system working via the NEC solution. All re-patched equipment was then tested for functionality and network connectivity to ensure Allen and Page were ready to resume operations.
The project commenced at close of play on a Friday and was completed, having been fully tested, on a Sunday afternoon. Support engineers were deployed on-site on Monday morning to ensure help was immediately available should any issues arise.
Result
Breakwater’s capacity to install and upgrade both computer networks and telecoms systems has provided Allen and Page with a well-structured Comms Room, supporting an infrastructure that will grow with the business.
Allen and Page commented that: “Breakwater IT proposed a solution to re-configure our Comms room following a need to bring in more hardware. Following this project, we now have a robust IT and telecoms system in line with the business’s needs.
While we focus on the core business activities, Breakwater IT support and maintain our telecom system, servers including VPN and email access, antivirus, backups and disaster recovery.
Any projects quoted are completed within the given timescale with minimal disruption as the ‘out of hours’ option is available.
The staff are always professional and ready to lend a hand when dealing with our IT needs. I would recommend them to any business.”
Breakwater will operate closely with Allen and Page to ensure their telephone system continues to meet their requirements, suggesting upgrades as and when required. The Comms Room now provides an easily configured base through which to identify any issues within the network, enabling quick and easy resolutions.
