Case Studies
BROUGHTON MANOR
Broughton Manor School is an independent mixed prep school based in Milton Keynes. It has over two hundred students housed in a mixture of buildings on a pleasant site with an 18th Century Manor House at its centre. The schools IT infrastructure and network had grown organically over several years with Wi-Fi being provided by a small number of low-quality access points and no network links between buildings. The main classroom annexe with 20+ plus classrooms had 3 access points and multiple switches located in cupboards or classrooms to extend the network. This lack of planned infrastructure and reliability, meant that staff had no confidence in delivering lessons using on-line resources or embedding IT into the curriculum.
CHATSWORTH SCHOOLS
Chatsworth Schools acquired the school in January 2023 and conducted an IT audit as part of their overall effectiveness survey. Following the IT audit they asked ICTn to survey the school and provide recommendations. ICTn completed an exhaustive survey which looked at wired and wireless connectivity, switches, broadband, filtering, inter-building links, on-site storage, phone systems, security, end user devices. The survey showed that staff were struggling with ineffective and in-secure IT equipment with poor reliability. The use of IT in the classroom was limited and much of the IT was provided as a standalone lesson in the small computer suite. The four main buildings were effectively all running separate networks or had no network provision. ICTn provided an extensive design document recommending a major upgrade of the IT infrastructure including improved Wi-Fi, a fibre backbone standardised switch provision plus security and backup improvements.
SOLUTION
Chatsworth Schools took on-board the recommendations and engaged ICTn to carry out the works in the summer of 2023. ICTn Identified that the school would benefit from a new central comms cabinet with fibre links provided in a star topology to edge cabinets in all of the buildings. This provides a 10Gb fibre backbone (with an option to improve this in the future if needed). The works provided over 100 new data points, 27 Aruba internal access points and 3 external access points, meaning staff can use the extensive grounds as a learning environment. The Aruba switches (also deployed in other Chatsworth schools) allows Chatsworth and ICTn engineers to provide high quality remote and onsite support to all schools in the Chatsworth family. Part of the overall upgrade was the commissioning of a new 3CX voip system giving the school site wide telecoms plus major savings on their previous contract. Finally, but critically, security, filtering and backup has been provided using Heimdal, Fortinet and cloud storage to ensure that the KCSIE agenda is fully met.
“ICTn are a trusted partner and their recommendations have ensured that Broughton Manor has an efficient and secure network which allows staff to deliver a modern and exciting curriculum.”
Andrew Greenaway Director of Information for Chatsworth Schools .
RGS WORCESTER
RGS Worcester is a large grammar school encompasing two nearby prep schools. It’s a school with a reputation for providing its pupils with the best equipment as well as the best standard of education. RGS is a conventional network with Apple client devices. Rob Berry, Director of Computing and IT, balances the dual roles of running the academic IT department and having responsibility for the school’s IT services and technicians. ICTn have been at RGS Worcester since 1997. ICTn went in for a job back then which took three days and we are still there over 25 years later!
A SYSTEM BUILT TO LAST
Ten years ago, wireless was ‘nice to have’, but not having it wasn’t the end of the world. Now, if the wireless network is down for five minutes, it’s pandemonium. In RGS Worcester every student and teacher has two devices so losing the network can be catastrophic. The pro-active monitoring system that ICTn use, works very well for RGS Worcester. The systems have to be resilient – we have just upgraded the email server and put in two exchange boxes to offer resilience.
ICTn actively monitor the network and respond to what is found. It’s important that things are fixed before the users are even inconvenienced.
SKILLED EXPERTISE
Most lessons are now IT orientated. ICTn combines the experience of other customers with specialist knowledge of education, understanding that the workplace, the constraints and pressures faced are why systems implemented must make lives easier, not more complicated. The Marches has experienced working with the ICTn to be one which is cost-effective and a time saving way of accessing expertise. With tailored advice, we understand what IT in schools will look like in five years and how to help develop a unique plan to keep the Marches on track.
THE RESULT
RGS Worcester have found that ICTn understand the unique marketplace and its requirements – they get it. Instead of spending three days looking into something, after a short phone call it all becomes clear. Working with ICTn has become cost effective and time saving for RGS Worcester.
THE IT TEAM
The Marches School is the largest secondary school in Shropshire with 1,243 pupils split across two sites, including a thriving sixth form. The team of three IT technicians are based on site and are managed by ICTn. ICTn help to develop our IT strategy; As they are responsible for implementation, they ensure there is no downtime and that the IT provision is a silent service for the school.
UPDATED AND FIT FOR PURPOSE
ICTn has provided new equipment, upgrades and support for the Marches, everything recommended was thoughtfully selected and always fit for purpose. IT is changing rapidly and the advice given to the Marches has been invaluable for them. The ICTn team has also provided positive insights to the IT strategy, sharing knowledge of the industry, where IT is heading and how to best provide for the students and their future.
Continual Support and advice
Most lessons are now IT orienated. ICTn combines the experience of other customers with specialist knowledge of education, understanding that the workplace, the cosntraints and pressures faced are why systems implemented must make lives easier, not more complicated. The Marches has experienced working with the ICTn to be one which is cost-effective and a time saving way of accessing expertise. With tailored advice, we understand what IT in schools will look like in five years and how to help develop a unique plan to keep the Marches on track.
TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT
The ICTn in-house technician works closely with the technicians at the Marches to oversee their training and personal development. This ensures the Marches is keeping up to date with the outside world and also brings a different slant to any issues they have.
THE NEW POSTAL MUSEUM
Opened in 2017 to celebrate the rich history of the postal service in the UK. The Postal Museum in Clerkenwell, London, includes 0.62 miles (1 km) stretch of underground track which was part of London’s “Mail Rail” network. This underground railway was the world’s first driverless electric railway!
ICTn was commissioned to design and install services for the wired, wireless, VOIP and server infrastructure. The server infrastructure was designed to handle large amounts of digitised historical documents and GPO film from the 1930s. The wireless infrastructure had a unique challenge with requirements for full access throughout the museum including the tunnels.
IGH AVAILABILITY AS STANDARD
Due to the requirements of the postal museum, the server, wireless, firewall and internet infrastructure were all built from the ground up with high availability and redundancy.
The servers were built in a high availability cluster with near real-time replication to a backup server located in a separate building.
The FortiGate wireless and firewall controllers are both paired with a redundant unit, again located in separate building.
PART OF THE TEAM
Working with the skilled onsite IT Team, ICTn provide 3rd line support. Sharing our high level knowledge across IT systems we ensure the smooth running of the museum.
In the background we monitor the on-premises system and where required perform maintenance out of hours to keep the museum running with no down-time.
As part of our ongoing support, ICTn will be working with the postal museum to replace their existing Server, SAN and backup infrastructure with a hybrid cloud solution as they look to refresh their IT systems to handle developing demands.
The Business
P.J. Nicholls Ltd. was established in 1984 by Philip Nicholls as a Ford Dealership in Pershore, Worcestershire. The company remains family owned and run with Philip’s two sons, Tom and Adam, managing the business. Since 1984 the company has expanded across two Counties (Gloucestershire and Herefordshire) with branches at Pershore, Tewkesbury, Evesham, Malvern and Ledbury. They offer main dealership services for Ford and SsangYong, HiQ Service centres and have retail partnerships with Nisa and Spar plus selling and fitting the vehicle roof mounted tents Tentbox.
Site Audits
As in all businesses IT systems have become essential in the automotive trade and support for these services across multiple locations was becoming difficult. The organisation was looking to standardise the on-site infrastructure and to enable remote support. ICTn conducted audits at all sites and a comprehensive solution proposed. The solution looked to cover all aspects of the infrastructure:
- Broadband
- Firewall
- Comms Cabinets
- Switches
- Data Point Provision
- WiFi
- Security
- Backup
- Telecoms
Solution
Following the audits a detailed proposition was put to the directors with expected costs and timescales.
Following the installs each site has high speed broadband with a Fortinet firewall. Switching and Wi-Fi services are done through Aruba devices and security is covered using Heimdal. Many of the old data points were installed piecemeal and so new cat 6 cable was installed to central cabinets with clear labelling. Desktop productivity is provided through subscription to MS 365. This standardisation has given stability to all sites and allows for easier on-site and remote support.
“We have been using ICTn for IT and telecommunication services for several years. The support team is extremely professional, knowledgeable, helpful and supportive both on the phone and in person. They have provided us with a secure networking solution to ensure our operations run smoothly and efficiently.
They are excellent at providing transparent solutions with sensible costs without the worry of lengthy contracts and ongoing expenses which many IT companies adopt.
I would recommend ICTn to any company who wants a no fuss professional IT solution.”
Liz Barr – General Manager
P J Nicholls Ltd
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