Success Stories
Leeds Castle Case Study
"The Buffalo Technology High Power wireless network does its job very well and we have coverage in all the areas we wanted."
Andrew Payne, IT Manager, Leeds Castle
BACKGROUND
Dating back to the 13 th century, Leeds Castle is four miles southeast of Maidstone in Kent. A royal home for over three centuries, the castle and its grounds are now a popular leisure, educational, and business destination. Owned by the Leeds Castle Foundation, it's regularly used for board meetings, residential conferences, and banquets. Leeds Castle has a number of separate buildings within the moated enclosure as well as in the surrounding grounds. According to IT Manager Andrew Payne, only the administration centre was networked for internet access. Leeds Castle wanted to offer more than this but only had a partial solution.
OBJECTIVE
"In the castle and conference areas, all we had was a stand-alone PC and printer with a couple of ISDN lines. People booking conferences kept asking if there was broadband access," said Payne.
Providing such access for meetings, conferences, and business guests throughout conference areas and bedrooms seemed easier said than done. Any solution had to be totally inconspicuous yet expandable to meet future needs. The castle and estate have a variety of conference rooms in different areas, each holding between eight and 100 people along with 35 bedrooms, 20 of which are in the castle itself. The idea of running Ethernet cables through Grade 1 listed buildings with thick stone walls seemed impossible.
Despite these challenges, Leeds Castle drew up a list of requirements. Any network had to be easy for IT staff to manage via links from the existing administration building through a Microsoft ISA server. The guests had to connect easily yet not have access to the castle's internal IT systems. Three potential suppliers were approached in Autumn 2005.
There were two novel suggestions for power line networking, involving the use of the castle's electrical wiring. But after closer scrutiny, the idea was rejected because of high cost, new standards, and restricted access. Leeds Castle then turned to its existing IT supplier, Computer Assist (UK) Limited.
A ten-year working relationship had included file and e-mail servers, upgrades, networking, support, and hardware maintenance. Computer Assist, supported by Buffalo Technology account managers, made visits to Leeds Castle and suggested a cost-effective and scalable Wi-Fi solution that would be viable to install and manage.
"The Wi-Fi solution that Computer Assist proposed was the best option and gave us the freedom we wanted. They showed us that the Buffalo Technology hardware was powerful enough to meet our requirements and provide an expandable solution," said Payne.
SOLUTION
A detailed site survey by Computer Assist's specialist wi-fi networking engineers established the optimum position for two 2MB incoming broadband connections. It also decided on the precise location for the wireless access points and demonstrated where wireless bridges were needed. After designing the network, Computer Assist pre-configured the Buffalo equipment offsite before installation in February 2006.
The 802.11g (125*Mbps) network is based on Buffalo AirStation (TM) High Power high-performance wireless product (WHR-HP-G54) which offers 3-in-1 functionality and so can be easily switched from router to access point or bridge. The high power technology allows up to a 70 percent increase in range and a 50 percent increase in speed.
Fewer access points are needed to cover the large areas required. Two Buffalo antennae - one external and one internal - provide coverage in a courtyard and bridge between two buildings via a walkway. Training was given to IT staff and the existing hardware support contract extended.
Thanks to Computer Assist's extensive experience with Buffalo wireless technology, the on-site installation work took only a few days.
"The solution that Computer Assist gave us perfectly met our objectives. They worked very closely with us and the project was implemented on time and to budget," said Payne. "The Buffalo Technology High Power wireless network does its job very well and we have excellent coverage in all the areas we wanted."
IMPACT
Keeping simplicity of use in mind, business visitors are now loaned Buffalo USB keychain adapters with simple auto install software for wireless access. This allows Leeds Castle to control usage as access is only possible through the numbered adapters. Visitors are also prevented from reaching the castle's internal IT systems while any management changes to the access points are easily made from the wired network inside the administration centre.
The result is complete internet access and wireless connectivity throughout the various conference areas, an outside courtyard, and in all the bedrooms. Visitors have simple, quick and easy-to-use e-mail, virtual private networking to their offices and, if required, voice over IP. Buffalo Technology's high-power wireless technology not only overcomes the difficult conditions - thick walls and multiple conference areas - with ease but has also added an important selling-point to attract more conference business.
Leeds Castle has perfectly exploited this 21st century technology to offer wireless networking throughout without harming any of its medieval walls or ambience. It's now looking to expand the use of its new high-power Buffalo wireless network with a range of applications from Computer Assist such as piped background music, adding wireless coverage to other parts of the castle and even installing some wireless digital surveillance cameras. Thanks to Buffalo Technology and the expertise of Computer Assist, Leeds Castle has now become an even more attractive place for business visitors.
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