Equity Investment
Industry IT Experience
Freedom’s IT Consultancy experience ranges throughout various public and private sector customers. From server or security health check audits, to infrastructure redesign and mid to long term network strategic planning.
The client is a newly formed equity investment business backed by partnerships with the UK’s biggest banks. The take-off of the business followed an announced government initiative to finance private sector recovery and help drive sustainable growth of the economy.
CHALLENGE
In October 2010, Freedom Communications were approached by the client to discuss the possibility of delivering an IT infrastructure in a short amount of time. As a new business with no existing IT setup, Freedom Communications were tasked with designing an IT system that would deliver the results the business needed, both at the outset of the company and also going forward.
Discussing the strategy of the client’s business plan was essential in our understanding of what we would recommend to them. Ultimately, the client had to put their complete faith in Freedom Communications to deliver the correct solution.
Having spent nearly a decade working with growing businesses, Freedom Communications were perfectly suited to be the client’s IT partner showing a breadth of knowledge and first-hand experience in how businesses grow and what effect this has on IT. This client needed a scalable system that could cope with a fast growing organisation, as well as the very latest technology to ensure business continuity, top level security and 1st class technical support.
THE SOLUTION
Freedom Communications designed and implemented a multi-site network using the very latest in server technology. At the core of the infrastructure is a HP server farm using VMware technology and 3 tier security through active/passive Cisco security appliances.
The server farm was built to provide upwards of 10 servers to the client, each one having a critical role in the day to day running of the business. The VMware and server farm provides the redundancy needed for the business to ensure maximum uptime. The high level resilience of the infrastructure is achieved through a multi- site Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity solution.
The core setup of the network is as follows:
• Head Office in Birmingham – housing the primary server infrastructure
• Off-site secure hosting centre – hosting an exact replication of the servers
• Multiple UK wide satellite offices – consultancy offices around the country
Utilising a terminal server solution implemented by Freedom Communications, each user on the network can securely log into the network and access services and data, centrally stored on the servers. This secure and resilient way of working allows end users to access the IT systems from multiple machines, from anywhere in the world.
Going forward, the scalable IT infrastructure has been designed for growth allowing the business to take on hundreds of users. The managed services that Freedom Communications have delivered are vital in keeping the IT system running smoothly.
Freedom Communications designed and implemented the solution for the client and also provide on-going technical support & strategic advice. Our managed services model provides the client with a complete “IT department” in which all their users can gain access to the knowledge and skill-base of our support team. Our daily activities include the proactive monitoring of all hardware, as well as dealing with user enquiries and technical issues.
