Worksmart deploys a multi-site solution supporting high value, mission critical communications for Seven Investment Management.
The Client
Bringing investment, marketing, technology and client service expertise together, Seven Investment Management Limited (7IM) takes a fresh approach to personal investment planning and financial affairs, providing investment advice, management and services to Wealth Managers and their clients.
The Challenge
Following a restructuring of the original business, 7IM relocated at the end of 2007 to two new premises, one in Edinburgh, the other in London. With the benefit of a blank canvas, 7IM decided to deploy all core operating services centrally in a Managed Data Centre outside Edinburgh. The centre is linked to the two office sites via 100mb/s LES circuits, delivering voice and data connections.
7IM wanted to operate with 0207 telephone numbers for all users, regardless of their geographical location and all PSTN feeds were to be delivered to the Edinburgh data centre. Furthermore they needed to have a good strategy for disaster recovery in place to maintain voice communications.
In order to stay in line with industry best practice 7IM requested that all calls, in and out of the offices, be recorded and that a robust means of archiving these recorded calls for several years be implemented.
The set up of the LAN infrastructures at the two sites kept the voice and data devices on separate networks, with the phones being supported on edge switches that deliver Power Over Ethernet. In the core of the network, voice is prioritised and separated from the data via configuration of the ISP’s managed routers.
The Solution
Worksmart Technology Ltd. took on the task of designing and implementing a Mitel® based solution for the 7IM. “7IM’s list of requirements was very clear and we immediately knew that a Mitel® Integrated Communications Platform would deliver on all counts.” commented Joel Bramwell, Worksmart’s Sales Director.
As Mitel® Gold Accredited Solution Providers, Worksmart have extensive experience in delivering the many simple and cost-effective benefits offered by a single integrated network, and the flexibility of the Mitel® system meant that the solution could be tailored to 7IM’s exact needs.
Joel Bramwell explains Worksmart’s solution: “Based on the outlined requirements we proposed the use of a Mitel® based IP Voice infrastructure with core telephony and voice recording equipment being installed in to the racks in the data centre.
We deployed a Mitel® 3300 MXe controller to support the voice services. This unit delivers RAID and dual power supplies to ensure adequate resiliency and has the capacity to deal with over 1,000 connections at full operating capacity. The Mitel® controller was connected to a primary rate ISDN bearer, delivered by Worksmart using our C&W wholesale account. Cable & Wireless have delivered a direct connection from their network to the data centre which delivers voice calls with an inbound/outbound ‘0207’ number range. To provide for the voice recording solution we will utilised a Delma voice recording unit. This system records the calls across the ISDN bearers and integrates with the Mitel® system via a CTI link in order to index and reference calls to individual extensions. The recordings can then be archived and stored for extended periods of time.
The voice signalling runs across the 100mb/s LAN extension services from the data centre to each of the sites. The handsets use the G7.11 codec, giving excellent call quality with 100kb/s of bandwidth taken up for each call in progress. We also recommended that the ISP separates the voice and data traffic on their circuit and that the voice packets be tagged to give priority over data.
In each of the offices the handsets are connected via HP Procurve network switches to the core ISP switch (router). These network switches deliver the required power for the IP handsets and ensure reliable service.”
Graham Stott, 7IM’s IT Director, had this to say about Worksmart’s performance: “WorkSmart worked closely with 7IM through all phases of the project. They provided all of the installation services and support during the go-live phase. Training was arranged for all users on the first go-live day in each office and then extensive training for all products was arranged for super users within 7IM. All the project objectives were met and in some cases our expectations were exceeded.
Tom Sheridan, 7IM’s C.E.O. added: “7IM now benefits from reduced cost of ownership and increased efficiency as well as free calls between our offices. Crucially, our clients now enjoy even higher support levels from us. With staff travelling regularly between our two offices the ability to hot-desk has greatly helped increase our efficiency. We are really very satisfied indeed with Worksmart’s support, professionalism and technical expertise.”
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