Social Care Provider

Social Care Charity Switches to Secure SD-WAN

The customer

A large UK charity specialising in care for the elderly, the customer has over 500 employees and supports residents at over 30 sites. It has been awarded a number of government contracts to supply social care services.

The challenge

Technological: Its wide area network (WAN) lacked sufficient bandwidth and resilience
Business: As a charity, money was tight, and the organisation had only a small internal IT team supporting users at dozens of sites. The organisation was increasingly dependent on cloud services, so needed a WAN that would be reliable enough to be trusted with telephone calls and data backups
Functional: Many smaller sites had limited connectivity options
Human: The sites to be connected were care homes for the elderly, so installation needed to be carried out with sensitivity. Residents, staff, guests, and IoT devices would need different traffic filtering settings.

The solution

Syntura helped the client understand its options at each location and in terms of the overall solution design. Syntura helped the charity understand that it could get its own dedicated links to the cloud. Syntura won the work under a UK government procurement framework.

Design: Sites were classified into Gold, Silver and Bronze tiers, with different bandwidth and resilience choices for each tier. Pragmatic choices were made over connectivity options at smaller sites – with full-fibre, part-fibre and mobile broadband used depending on which was the best local option. High-capacity firewalls were set up in multiple data centres to guarantee high-availability of filtering services.
Implementation: Leased lines were installed at major sites, with FTTP, FTTC or mobile broadband for smaller sites. There was a private link to the organisation’s disaster recovery environment. Syntura worked closely with the client and its prior connectivity supplier to ensure a smooth transition
Impact: The client gained a network suitable for accessing cloud applications, including telephony
Performance: Network speeds improved, uptime was boosted, and the client was able to fine-tune performance by applying traffic policies across its 30+ sites
Compliance: Visibility and control over network traffic supports the charity’s successful effort to retain its Cyber Essentials certification

Why Syntura?

A combination of reasons, primarily:

Tender Requirements Met: The custom solution Syntura proposed met the client’s detailed tender requirements
Experience: The charity sought an experienced service provider and Syntura had over 20 years of experience
Cost-Effectiveness: Value-for-money was important to the charity, a UK government supplier delivering services on tight margins
Single Supplier: The client wanted a supplier able to deliver leased lines, various types of broadband, managed firewalls, and a private link to Azure
Futureproofing: Syntura’s proposal allowed the charity to upgrade to an SD-WAN when ready, without any changes to network equipment, in return for a slightly longer contract. This delivered “leading-edge technology” while keeping the solution affordable
24/7 Support: Care home residents are always on site, so the client sought a supplier offering 24/7 support for critical network faults

Benefits

Syntura’s solution has offered significant benefits:

Faster Data Transfer – Users at major sites can download and upload data faster, thanks to higher-capacity connections
Improved Network Reliability – Important sites have multiple connections, so phone calls and digital workflows are protected against individual connection failures
Improved Security – Malicious websites and phishing sites are detected and blocked by the firewalls, protecting users at 30+ sites.
Visibility & Control over Network Use – Syntura provides the charity with a monthly report on how it’s network is used. At the client’s request, Syntura can throttle, block, or deprioritise problematic traffic. Different policies can be applied to residents, staff, guests and IoT devices.
Disaster Preparedness – The client has a fast, private connection to their disaster recovery environment in Azure
Improved Support – Syntura was easier to work with than the charity’s previous network service provider
Environmental Sustainability – The firewalls and core SD-WAN equipment are powered by green electricity, helping reduce the charity’s scope 3 carbon emissions. As a bidder and winner of government contracts, the charity has to be environmentally responsible

Customer story