The customer is an innovative educational complex located in a large public space in Moscow comprising exhibition spaces, conference rooms and high-tech classrooms. The complex is designed for teaching children, supplementary education and advanced training of adults.
In early 2019 the company was just in the process of building the complex and was planning to cover its entire territory with Wi-Fi access, install high-tech equipment in the classrooms and integrate all workplaces into a single network. The system integration was performed by ICL Services specialists.
In early 2019 the company was just in the process of building the complex and was planning to cover its entire territory with Wi-Fi access, install high-tech equipment in the classrooms and integrate all workplaces into a single network. The system integration was performed by ICL Services specialists.
Key Challenges
- Design and implementation of the educational centre’s IT infrastructure
Solution
Implemented our solution
- At stage one, based on the customer’s requests, ICL Services engineers performed an examination of the project: preliminary statement of work was set considering number of visitors (the complex was designed to receive as many as 100,000 people every month), building parameters and room configuration. Requirements for information systems and network infrastructure equipment were described
- After negotiation of all technical data and corrections linked to the customer’s plan of activities, the ICL Services specialists provided the procurement and shipment of the equipment, its installation and laying of the cable systems onsite.
In a five month period a pilot project including centralized control of access, printing, installation operating systems and network monitoring was implemented. - After launching the pilot project, ICL Services specialists continued developing the IT infrastructure and helping customer manage it. While the transitions from temporary to base equipment took place almost daily, the customer’s business continuity had been maintained. Within a six month period a fail-safe network of two backup circuits was deployed. A system of virtual desktops allowed registered users to launch complex software on any PC, while the installation of operating systems and all software, including antiviral applications, was centralized.
- ICL Services specialists were also able to implement a database cluster, assemble a six-rack data centre and create a data recovery system. Some of the Project Parameters:
- 500 workplaces,
- 6 server racks in the data centre,
- 25 virtual servers running on four blade systems,
- Five 24-drive storage servers,
- An IP telephony system for 50 devices,
- 200 Wi-Fi spots with seamless switching between networks throughout the entire complex.
All systems are interconnected and managed centrally, system administrators grant access to company’s resources. The centralization process allows the customer to maintain a small number of service personnel, as well as to prevent the installation and use of unlicensed and non-specialized software.
- 500 workplaces,
- Computers, servers, printers and other devices are networked together via Active Directory service. Using the service, a customer can manage user access to software, printing and other features based on group policies.
Each system user is assigned a role with a set of permissions for actions. Roles and rules can be combined and extended to multiple users.
All access is granted and managed from one place; there is no need for the IT staff to move between buildings. The system is now maintained by 3 specialists provided by the customer and 5 ICL Services onsite engineers.
Results
- As a result of system integration, the customer received a powerful fail-safe network and can centrally manage user workstations.
- Customer’s employees can deploy workplaces quickly and in large volumes: for example, a 25-place class can be deployed in two days, including installation of the equipment.
- Access centralization allows limited installation of unlicensed software at workplaces that are supported by a small number of IT staff.
- The information system built by ICL Services allowed the customer to shift 80% of the staff to remote work within 2 days due to the self-isolation regime. At the same time, 100% of the services — management, schedule, event description — remain online. Desktop virtualization allows customer to remotely grant users access to software.