Email, multimedia applications, and Internet usage have all contributed to the increasing burden being placed on organisations’ networks. It is not surprising, therefore, that organisations continue to keep networks at the top of the IT agenda, even in times of economic uncertainty. According to research from Z/Yen Aspect, nearly three-quarters of UK companies continuously invest in their networks, with infrastructure projects topping the priority list.

Networks are also becoming just as much a priority for the public sector, thanks to the upsurge in online activity sparked by various e-government initiatives. The Greater London Authority recognised the growing need for reliable networks within government organisations, and took the opportunity of a move to its new headquarters to deploy a high-performance network that would enable the authority to embrace various new technologies. To deploy the network infrastructure, the GLA turned to Computacenter.

The Greater London Authority’s new headquarters at City Hall adjacent to Tower Bridge opened in the summer of 2002. From this location, the Mayor of London, the London Assembly and GLA staff will deliver their mandate to develop London-wide strategies for major public services, such as transport, fire, policing, health, and the environment.
The building incorporates many ‘green’ energy-saving innovations – cooling, for example, is achieved by pumping cold water from the water table via boreholes underneath City Hall. This theme of innovation was also applied to the development of the building’s new IT environment, and in particular its network infrastructure. According to Manny Lewis, Executive Director for Corporate Services at the GLA, the City Hall development provided the authority with an unrivalled opportunity to specify a modern, future-proofed IT environment.

“We had very specific requirements for fast, integrated communication channels both nationally and internationally, which could also support mobile and remote working. We required links to our Brussels office and connections to our partnership cities of New York, Moscow, Tokyo, Paris and Berlin,” comments Manny.

A network to rely on

The GLA had already chosen to use technology from Foundry Networks to underpin the new network, and to deploy and integrate this technology it turned to Computacenter. The GLA had an existing relationship with Computacenter, as Manny explains. “Computacenter had been supplying us with IT equipment through the GCat [Government procurement catalogue] system, and based on its performance in this area we had every confidence in its ability to deliver IT services. We didn’t have the technical expertise in-house for such a roll-out – and, to be honest, neither should we expect to,“ he adds. “Trying to internally replicate the extensive range of skills and resources available from Computacenter would be impossible for an organisation of our scale.”

The project began to take shape in the latter months of 2001, when the GLA and Computacenter started to formulate the network specifications with the Government Office of London, which was responsible for project managing the City Hall development. “Reliability of the network was crucial. The legacy environment was antiquated, and caused a lot of frustration, as there was too much downtime. For us, 99.99% availability wasn’t a ‘nice-to-have’, but paramount,” comments Manny.

This availability comes in the form of a network core based on two Foundry BigIron Layer 3 switches linked by trunked Gigabit Ethernet. The connectivity for the staff, housed on nine floors, is provided by 15 FastIron Layer 2 edge switches with 10/100MB copper to the desktop. This combination provides a highly scalable solution, as John Thornton, network consultant at Computacenter, explains: “The BigIron and FastIron ranges are modular, so it’s easy to swap and change blades if you want to add capacity and scale up. Foundry technology is also 10 Gigabit Ethernet ready so it’s an easy upgrade should the GLA need extra capacity.”

Laying the foundations

Scalability was also a key factor in deploying the cabling infrastructure that would underpin the GLA’s new network - an area where Computacenter’s cabling expertise came to the fore.

As part of the City Hall construction, the building had already been equipped with a CAT5e structured cabling infrastructure. The building, however, still required extensive patching, as Oliver Wells, who project managed the cabling implementation for Computacenter, explains: “Individual patches were needed to link the desk modules with the PC and phones, plus the main communications room need to be patched in to provide connectivity to the systems. In the end we integrated around 2.100 patches which will serve the existing 700 users, while also enabling the GLA to expand its capacity.”

The City Hall development also gave the GLA a chance to take full ownership of its communications, and replace the legacy telephony system with a more convenient, cost-effective and manageable voice solution.

A voice for the future

Initially, the GLA considered installing a single network solution, integrating both voice and data traffic using Internet protocol (IP). Instead a migratory approach has been adopted, with Computacenter deploying a solution from Mitel Networks that can be easily upgraded to incorporate voice-over-IP in the future.

“The GLA had the option to install a standard PABX [private branch exchange] but this wouldn’t have provided future IP capability within the same platform. It just didn’t make commercial sense to go through the time, effort and expense of a ‘fork lift’ upgrade later on when a solution offering the best of both worlds could be installed today,” adds Graham Bevington, Mitel’s Managing Director for EMEA.

The solution is formed of three Mitel Networks 3300 Integrated Communications Platforms, which are clustered together to provide resilience across the network in conjunction with the Foundry switches. Additional applications from Mitel enable the GLA to have a speech-recognition enabled switchboard, and access to various call load statistics to improve customer interaction.

The final piece of the voice jigsaw puzzle is a multi-media contact centre. This is also supported by technology from Mitel, which links the 10 contact centre agents to automatic call distribution software. This enables the GLA to effectively route and distribute calls based on caller identity, meaning that queries can be addressed far faster while also ensuring that callers can talk direct with an agent when necessary.

Managing the detail

The deployment and integration of all these technologies had to be project managed extremely efficiently to ensure the GLA was ready for the July opening of City Hall. Using PRIDE, Computacenter’s project management methodology, the implementation team were able to co-ordinate the roll-outs, and ensure that the project goals were achieved in time and to budget.

“The biggest risk on this project has been slippage. We made a commitment that we would be ready for a move date of mid July, and Computacenter, Foundry and Mitel have all worked extremely hard to ensure we were on track, given that contracts were only signed in January 2003. Six months later, everything has been delivered, installed, tested and is working – a testament to product quality and professionalism of the three IT companies,” comments Manny.

Thanks to this project, and a separate Microsoft Windows 2000/XP infrastructure roll-out implemented by Computacenter, the GLA will be able to reduce the costs associated with managing its IT infrastructure. According to Manny, cost savings, are not the only benefit being enjoyed by the GLA as a result of the projects: “There have been a lot of benefits, many of them hidden to users and the outside world. For example the IT team are finding it much easier to do fixes, the network is more reliable and we expect to see a reduction in our IT support costs. We had also planned for an IT staff of 23, but only need 20 – a saving of about £75,000 per year in terms of salary costs.”

These benefits and Computacenter’s successful implementation of the projects have sealed the future of the relationship between the two organisations. “Computacenter was absolutely the right partner to deliver the project given its size and expertise. Also, as Computacenter is GCat approved, we didn’t need to go through competitive EU tendering which would have meant our aggressive implementation timescales would not have been met. In terms of managing a major IT project, I would have no qualms in working with Computacenter again. Overall we were very pleased with the outcome, and expect to have an ongoing relationship with Computacenter,” concludes Manny.

 

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