East Thames Group has moved its ICT systems to Redstone’s OneNet intelligent building infrastructure.
When East Thames decided to move 800 employees from two separate offices into a new building to gain space, it used the move to resolve problems it had with its existing IT and telephony infrastructure by introducing a unified communications system and updated workflow. Jeff Solomon, head of ICT, East Thames, said, “One of our core themes is to deliver value for money. Despite moving to a new building and making a fresh start, we still needed to make full use of existing resources, particularly IT hardware.”
Redstone was chosen to advise on all technical elements of the IT infrastructure and the implementation of the complete ICT build. The core of East Thames’ new building is Redstone’s OneNet, an integrated network architecture which supports intelligent buildings by providing a common IP infrastructure for all building management and communications systems.
Solomon said, “The roll out of the unified communications system went very smoothly. We deployed department by department, with people being trained as we went along. The reaction to new features, such as the ability to remotely manage calendars and integrate with Outlook to schedule call-backs, has been extremely positive.”
Redstone also supplied the building-wide structured cabling system and security system, comprising door-access controls, CCTV, intruder alarms and turnstiles.
East Thames’ 40+ satellite offices can also now access the full features available at the headquarters, cutting costs as calls are routed across an internal network. East Thames expects to see significant cost benefits from having an integrated IP system and a structured cabling system, which will mean lower infrastructure costs and lower management overheads.
Solomon concluded, “Using the IPFX unified communications system installed by Redstone, we gain greater mobility and integration between office services and the front line. For example, our agents now have the facility to take office calls and even monitor the help desk from their mobile phones, transferring calls where appropriate, which makes our operation far more flexible.”
