Case Study
“Axon has deployed a reliable IT infrastructure tailored precisely to our business requirements. The technology brought in by the team has resulted in a huge boost in staff productivity and has vastly improved our customer offering by providing us with a solid and dependable network on which to run the business.”
The Challenge
Bolton Arena runs a state of the art leisure complex in the North West. With some 25 admin staff and a substantial number of shift based sports staff the arena offers elite sporting events and activities as well as fully equipped business facilities including offices, meeting rooms, and exhibition space. In order to keep all these facilities running smoothly it was vital that the IT infrastructure was sound, so Bolton Arena called in Axon to implement up-to-date systems to keep the business running.
axon was presented with a network that consisted of an OEM NT4 server and a suite of unbranded OEM desktop PCs and laptops running Windows 2000 Professional. The network was out of date and at a point of collapse. The server rarely ran for 24 hours without some form of IT intervention and the backup system had never run correctly. There was no system fault tolerance and the desktops and laptops were of such low build quality that system failure was common place. All of this resulted in hugely frustrated and largely ineffectual staff and with all the financial, admin and marketing systems relying upon IT to function, it was crucial that something was done to rectify the situation, fast.
“A seriously out of date IT infrastructure was causing problems on a daily basis. Not only were these problems frustrating to staff and customers, but they were costing the business money so something needed to be done fast to improve our systems and enable us to run the business smoothly and properly.”
The Solution
axon immediately set about the implementation of a reliable and effective network to support the business. The solution was built around Microsoft Small Business Server (SBS) 2003 Premium edition and Windows XP Professional. All the hardware was purchased from Dell with next day business support for the PowerEdge server and all the Optiplex desktop PCs. An Active Directory Domain was created to lever all of the features available to a Microsoft network. All of the SBS features were implemented to provide security, messaging and collaboration including;
- ISA Firewall for industry strength security
- SQL Database to store and reference relational data
- Exchange email to provide messaging and collaboration
- Electronic faxing from the desktop to reduce on printed paper costs
- Intranet to facilitate information sharing across the business
- File sharing
- Internet filtering and monitoring
axon also deployed a second Dell PowerEdge server to run a state of art gymnasium that allowed complete interaction between users and staff via the gym equipment enabling staff to monitor and amend customers gym routines electronically with all information fed back to touch screen stations around the gym. This system was integrated into the SBS network.
The Result
By carrying out a complete system upgrade Axon successfully replaced an ineffective and non-functioning infrastructure with state of the art stable and secure technology to enable consistent running of the business. Bolton Arena is now able to provide the latest modern facilities to the general public without fear of failing IT systems and the upgrade has helped to improve staff moral and efficiency with a significantly reduced number of technical faults and user frustrations.
“A seriously out of date IT infrastructure was causing problems on a daily basis. Not only were these problems frustrating to staff and customers, but they were costing the business money so something needed to be done fast to improve our systems and enable us to run the business smoothly and properly.”
