The leadership team at BLG were concerned about the resilience and effectiveness of their IT infrastructure. Distributed applications spread across user workstations was an unwieldy management burden because of inconsistent versions and incomplete security patching. Aging hardware posed reliability risks and single points of failure threatened staff efficiency. The Partners at BLG engaged Huon IT, who specialise in technology for professional services firms, to provide strategic advice.

Reducing Risk

After an intensive needs analysis, Huon IT designed and installed a HP high-availability server and storage infrastructure solution that would deliver mission critical service levels and reduce business risk. Systems could be managed and monitored remotely to guarantee that performance and availability goals were met. The new and energy-efficient hardware delivered by Huon IT meant that BLG would also benefit from lower operating costs.

Project Delivery Without Business Interruption

“Huon IT delivered the system upgrade during our busiest period of the year (the end of the Financial Year). Thanks to the precise collaborative planning between Huon IT and our people, many employees were unaware the project was being implemented. Huon IT met the tight deadlines without any interruption to daily operations.”

Disaster Recovery

“A key goal was to make sure we had a disaster recovery plan in place. We have seen clients struggle to rebuild their business after an unplanned event.” – Scott Brodie explained. Huon IT recommended Veeam’s Backup Essentials – a proven performer offering complete functionality out of the box whilst meeting BLG’s business recovery needs.

Confidentiality – Multi-Factor Authentication

“Like all business owners the Partners were adamant about protecting our clients’ confidential information. The added protection of the SafeWord Tokens really impresses our clients and gives us bank-grade security. It was definitely worth the investment,” said founding partner Scott Brodie.

License Challenges

A wide diversity of hardware models and software versions had added complexity to BLG’s IT infrastructure. Service desk support was complicated because problems were difficult to diagnose and fix remotely. Huon IT’s solution was to implement Citrix’s XenApp virtualisation platform and mitigate this risk by consolidating applications on their refreshed HP server cluster.

Future Proofing IT

Citrix’s thin client (Xenapp) deployed across the organisation delivered many business benefits

• Secure access on any device, anywhere.
• Faster connectivity.
• Improved customer service levels.
• Enhanced security via policy enforcement.
• Reduced IT administration.
• Cost efficiency.

Huon IT wrapped an end-to-end high-availability infrastructure in a practical and affordable design combined with a seamless and well executed project delivery plan.

Infrastructure

• HP DL360p 8th Generation Servers – HP High Availability server cluster.
• HP MSA Storage Area Network – High Performance storage solution.
• Extreme Networks X460 Switching – High Performance virtualisation interconnectivity.

IT Security

• Compliance Rules – Users are forced to save files on the server.
• Multi-factor Authentication – SafeWord tokens that integrate with existing back-end system.
• Citrix XenApp – Secure encrypted connections to server based computing.

Business Continuity

• Veeam Backup Essentials including automated backups and a complete disaster recovery solution.
• Microsoft Hyper-V – Full server failover in the event of disruption.
• Synology NAS server – Fast and reliable disk to disk backup.
• APC Smart UPS – Uninterruptible power for safe shutdown.

Mobility

• Citrix XenApp – Higher performance over remote connections (improves user productivity). Any device at any location permits staff to work securely whether at work or in transit.

• Secure Access on any device, anywhere.
• Faster Connectivity.
• Improved Customer Service Levels.
• Enhanced IT Security.
• Reduced IT Administration.
• Cost Efficiencies.