ProPac

Situation - BT Payphones is one of UK’s premier payphone companies, managing a network of more than 141,000 payphones nationwide. It has experienced dramatic market growth, in recent years and is in the process of growing and developing its networking infrastructure in order to service its demanding customers. The rollout of a new networking environment for its numerous sites is therefore essential for maintaining its competitive edge.

Problem - A change in personnel had left BT Payphones with limited support and in-house skills to maintain and develop a network that was, in the main, completely un-documented.

Implication - The lack of adequate resource with sufficient understanding of the network environment was affecting the rollout of new sites. This was, in turn, impacting project deadlines and overall service delivery to the business user.

Need - The need for comprehensive and coherent documentation was essential in order to protect their intellectual investment and deliver against tight deadlines. 3net Ltd was engaged to bridge this gap and provide a coherent and manageable documentation set for current and future personnel thus reducing the exposure to the business by such knowledge migration.

Business Solutions

Scope - One of the main pieces of information not impacted by the knowledge migration was related to the device specific passwords. This information had fortunately been communicated to the remaining staff. 3net’s on-site consultants began by accessing the core routing services using such passwords. By processing their inherent configuration files each remote sites could be contacted. Those that did not respond were identified to the client and investigations undertaken to determine their status and validity within the corporate infrastructure.

Solution - 3net combined its specialist infrastructure knowledge with discovery techniques in order to build a picture of the network and begin its documentation. As with most infrastructures, BT Payphone’s environment consisted of a mixture of very old, unsupported, device software releases, with new releases. This resulted in the utilisation of a mixture of configuration techniques, which led to devices supporting various degrees of operation.

Deliverables - Once a detailed picture of the current infrastructure had been achieved 3net were able to propose a consolidation path to provide a network structure that was both fully supportable and maintainable. A plan was developed to consolidate the network onto current software versions, and standardise the configuration techniques, in order to make better use of existing network equipment.

Working with BT Payphones support staff, and closely following the consolidation plan, the network was gradually migrated to a new core routing structure. With coherent documentation in place to guide the team, information of the most appropriate remote sites requiring upgrade was made available to management in order to prioritise activities reflecting the business drivers and cost limitations.

Business Benefits

3net, through application of its resources and knowledge, delivered an environment that improved network resilience, supportability and scalability. 3net’s fully documented deliverables helped transfer knowledge to BT Payphone personnel at all stages of the phased approach and provided guidance on troubleshooting techniques and a methodology for the addition of new sites.

3net delivered real value-add to BT Payphones by helping them achieve a fully documented, supportable network with a framework for future scalability. The specialist knowledge gained by 3net consultants of its clients operating infrastructure was seen as an extension to their own IT operation and helped cement a close working relationship.

3net is regarded as a trusted advisor to BT Payphones and retained to help with future network strategy issues. This has helped reduce the exposure of the business from future threats of knowledge migration.