Industry: Charity, Venue, Entertainment
Location: Norwich
About
The Forum is an iconic building in the heart of Norwich. They host an eclectic mix of events and activities, food and drink, shopping, information services and are home to the most popular public library in the UK.
The Forum is the home of the Norfolk and Norwich Millennium Library, the Norfolk Citizens’ Advice Bureau, Norwich Business Improvement Centre, Pizza Express, Café Bar Marzano, On the Stall City and BBC East.
The Forum is managed by The Forum Trust, an independent, self-financing charity. The Forum Trust creates a year-round programme of free events and festivals for everybody to enjoy. The Forum’s spaces are also available to hire, with flexible spaces and affordable prices.
The Forum Trust produces Norwich Science Festival, Norwich Games Festival, Norfolk Makers Festival, and coordinates Norfolk Heritage Open Days, and supports community events including Run Norwich and Norwich Pride.
Client Story
We took over the management and completed the upgrade of The Forum’s wireless internet. Read more in the drop downs below.
Transitioning the management of their wireless to Breakwater means that The Forum now only needs to contact Breakwater for support of their IT, wireless, and other IT services.
Challenge
The Forum’s previous contract for their Wi-Fi was coming to an end. They wanted to bring more of their IT services under one support company, and therefore decided to move their wireless services to Breakwater as their IT support provider.
The Forum needed new wireless access points installed, as well as the work to move and configure the devices under our management. This work was to be carried out ahead of the Norwich Science Festival, a week-long event hosted and organised by The Forum.
Solution
We started by preparing the wireless access points for installation. This included creating wireless networks to match the existing networks, configuring the devices, and documenting them.
The next stage was the installation of the wireless access points. With the festival welcoming thousands of visitors throughout, it was imperative that our work did not disrupt visitors and staff using the wireless.
Our team went onsite to install the equipment and confirm that all devices were online and working correctly. Whilst equipment was replaced, The Forum experienced minimal outages in targeted areas. However, the Atrium, which is accessible to the public, was able to stay online throughout with a temporarily degraded service.
We continued to monitor the networks throughout the Science Festival to ensure the equipment was working. Once the Festival had ended, the network settings from the previous management were removed.
Result
With the upgraded equipment installed, The Forum now have a faster and more reliable wireless network.
Transitioning the management of their wireless to Breakwater means that The Forum now only needs to contact Breakwater for support of their IT, wireless, and other IT services. Additionally, this means faster resolution times for any support required as our team have complete management of their IT and networks.
