March 23, 2022

Comms Centre partners with a well-established bank to update their data centres in 180 UK branches

The company is a well-established bank with hundreds of branches across the UK, and an extensive international network of branches and offices in 65 countries worldwide.

Customer

Problem

The customer needed to update their network across all their branches and comms rooms.

There were roughly 180 branches with different rooms featuring different designs and sizes. The existing infrastructure was outdated and needed to be replaced, which was going to be a significant project given the number of branches and lack of uniformity.

The customer wanted to try and standardise their comms rooms with a certain product that would fit the needs of every room. This would simplify the procurement and installation process, ensuring consistency across the organisation.

The equipment within the customer’s comms rooms was fundamental to the ATM and network within the branch; meaning that any work to the network had to be done either out of hours or within restricted times.

Solution

After discussions with the customer, we needed to find products with short lead times or secure areas where the customer could store products until required.

The materials had to be readily available because the customer needed the cabinets installed often within a small time window and short notice. Hence, they wanted a partner that could be flexible and reactive, with the capacity to hold large quantities of stock.

The customer was supplied with data cabinets and networked power distribution products that allowed them to remotely switch the equipment in the cabinet. They could also monitor the power delivered by each power distribution unit, track equipment power draw and minimise the risk of equipment, potentially network failure.

Outcome

The standardisation of the network across branches is one of the biggest benefits to the bank. This makes it much easier when ordering and installing new products as all equipment within the comms rooms is now standard, whereas previously differing equipment caused engineer delays. Engineers now know exactly what to expect when they visit one of the bank’s branches, meaning they can carry out repair work quickly and efficiently.

We consulted with the customer and researched to find the best product for their specific needs and requirements. Our solution offers flexibility and should lead to long-term tangible cost savings for the company.

Was there any requirement for you to do any build work offsite so they could get the job done more quickly on-site?

Pre-staging wasn’t an option on this project due to some data centre rooms being too small to take in fully assembled cabinets.

This meant we had to choose a cabinet that could arrive flat-packed so it could be taken into the room and built inside. For some branches, this was the only way that the cabinets could be placed within the comms rooms.

We inspected all the flat-pack products when they arrived at our head office to make sure there was no damage during transit. These items were then repackaged before being delivered to the customer.

Who contracted you to engage in this project? Was it a larger engineering company or was it a client?

The bank contacted us directly and asked us to work on the project. After our company and products were chosen, we coordinated with the engineering firm on-site who were responsible for building it out.