Case Study

Strand Palace Hotel www.strandpalacehotel.co.uk

Synopsis

Vertical: Hotelier

Core activity: Leisure, Tourism, Business

Employees: 40+

Challenge: The Strand Palace Hotel had a requirement to refresh it’s IT Systems and improve Business Continuity.

Solution: Softwerx helped with an IT upgrade, increased resilience by backing –up data to the Cloud and now act as a single point of contact for all IT needs.

The Strand Palace Hotel selected Softwerx to help upgrade their IT Systems and utilise the Cloud for Business Continuity.

The Strand Palace is a beautiful and sympathetically refurbished , exquisite hotel in the heart of London’s entertainment centre. but still adjoined to the City. The Strand Palace has a fascinating history dating back to 1907, when a single room with breakfast would have cost you five shillings and six pence (27 pence in today’s money). Today the Strand Palace is fully computerised and offers comfortable accommodation, an impeccable service with extensive catering facilities and excellent conference suites.

The Solution

Softwerx were able to offer a credible solution which met with the needs and demands of Strand Palace. The first task involved an on-premise upgrade of the Microsoft Exchange environment—which was conducted outside of core hours—to minimise any business disruption.

The second part of the project concerned replicating eight critical on-premise application Servers into the Cloud (the RISE Datacentre). albeit Softwerx designed a solution that replicated all Servers to a single storage system to limit ongoing expenditure. In the event of a disaster , all systems can be started and are only paid for when required.

This whole environment was then tested in a dummy disaster scenario—and all systems were recovered on a near instant basis i.e. within 2 hours.

The Challenge

The Strand Palace hotel had effectively two related challenges. Firstly the creaking Microsoft Exchange environment required upgrading and secondly some significant improvements were required in the area of Business Continuity—in short there was a need to improve resiliency, capability and redundancy .

Furthermore , the Strand Palace (like all Hotels) had little option for any significant downtime and value for money was a key driver.

© Softwerx Ltd. All rights reserved. Softwerx Ltd, 1 Riverside, Granta Park, Cambridge CB21 6AD

The benefits of the using Softwerx and the Cloud to replicate our Systems were really three-fold: firstly and perhaps most importantly—we’re now able to restore our Systems on a same day basis; secondly—the overall solution was very cost-efficient, with only one Server in the Cloud effectively supporting seven on premise; and finally—in Softwerx we have a single point of contact for all our IT needs and requirements.

“

” Benjamin Chapman—IT&T Manager

Strand Palace Hotel

The Outcome

The Strand Palace Hotel has not only improved it’s email capability, but also now has a secure and resilient Disaster Recovery environment. This is secure, cost-effective and most importantly—it works—with same day recovery no longer an aspiration, but an expectation. The Strand also now has a single point of contact for all of their IT needs.

About Softwerx

Softwerx is an established IT Services and Support company based in Cambridge, specialising in

helping both small and large organisations optimise their IT requirements, particularly in the area of

Cloud Computing. Softwerx holds a number of international quality standards including ISO9001,

ISO27001 and ISO14001. Softwerx is also a leading Microsoft Partner and is certified by the Cloud

Industry Forum. Softwerx has worked with a number of well-known organisations including Help for

Heroes, Kidney Research UK and the YMCA.

To learn more, contact Softwerx on 08458 450567

or by email to info@softwerx.com

© Softwerx Ltd. All rights reserved. Softwerx Ltd, Granta Park, Cambridge CB21 6AD