Focus on convergence: Case study - Hever Castle

With effective communication at the heart of any successful business, convergence is a technology you can’t afford to ignore. Despite its amazing history – this was the childhood home of Anne Boleyn – Hever Castle, in Kent, was in no position to fall behind the times. Now owned by Hever Castle Limited, it is open to the public for nine months of the year and offers luxurious accommodation, dining and conference facilities all year round. It has several sites on its campus, and owns the adjoining Golf Club, home to the Kent PGA championship. Communications integration was vital to open up new possibilities for the company. With separate voice and data networks, and connectivity that did not extend to all its campus locations, convergence had become a business necessity. David James, finance director of Hever Castle Limited (pictured above), explains: ‘We needed to extend our infrastructure to enable access to corporate IT systems from all campus locations. This would support the implementation of new applications and a real-time Electronic Point of Sale (EPOS) system incorporating Chip & PIN card authorisation.’

Making the most of technology

Hever Castle Limited approached two potential vendors and BT was awarded the contract. As James explains: ‘BT tabled an innovative hybrid solution with optical fi bre connections between our campus locations giving far superior performance at a value-for-money price. BT also opened our eyes to the operational benefits of interconnecting the Golf Club.’ The new infrastructure comprised 5e structured cabling and optical fibre connections. The structured cabling was limited to the castle itself and connected the existing Nortel Meridian 1 telephone system with the data centre that houses the active network components; all remote locations were connected with optical fibre cable. Existing cable routes were used where possible, but much new ducting was also required. Cisco Catalyst switches were installed to extend the data network across the campus-wide infrastructure and the existing phone system was upgraded to enable internet protocol (IP) telephony (ie making phone calls over the internet).

Higher productivity, lower costs

The new infrastructure has dramatically improved communications campus-wide and will enable the future rollout of other advanced applications. There have been productivity gains as well, as James points out: ‘With the network now extended across the campus, all locations have desktop access to corporate applications and email. This means that, rather than have to schedule a trip to the central office for routine administration, our staff can conduct these tasks anywhere. On a 600-acre estate this saves many wasted hours.’ In addition, the IP telephony capability has enabled a reduction in telephone call charges – particularly between the golf course and the castle – providing savings on administration and maintenance. All this has been achieved with a 30 per cent decrease in outgoings through the BT Contract Rentals upgrade option, in which a lease is extended, avoiding the need for an up-front capital investment. To complete the transformation, a comprehensive five-year ‘blended maintenance’ package was put in place. This unifies maintenance services for the phone system and LAN in a single contract – they do not have to be managed separately, bringing peace of mind. Hever Castle now has a converged communications infrastructure that will support its business over the long term and will be the enabler for further business improvement. As James sums up: ‘BT’s advice and guidance has been exceptional. The solution has exceeded our expectations, and we calculate that the investment will pay back within two years.’