International law firm, Stephenson Harwood, turn to Krome to deliver them a business-class Wi-Fi Solution for their new central London hub, supporting multiple devices and meeting the needs of their evolving infrastructure.
Stephenson Harwood is a leading international law firm, with offices in London, Singapore, Hong Kong, Guangzhou, Piraeus, Shanghai, Beijing, Dubai and Paris. With 114 partners and over 700 staff worldwide the firm works alongside some of the world’s leading companies and institutions, including Lloyds Banking Group, HSBC, Jupiter and Transport for London.
The Requirement
As a law firm renowned for its strong international connections and internationally recognised high profile clients, robust and reliable device connectivity is critical to the business operations at Stephenson Harwood’s central London offices.
Having experienced reliability issues with their previous controller-based network, Stephenson Harwood were faced with the challenge to find a business-grade solution that would provide fast, reliable access to their networks as well as Internet access for guests or non-corporate devices. When moving into their new premises at Finsbury Circus, they wanted to ensure they had an uninterrupted wireless connectivity throughout the building, and across all eight floors.
The IT department was seeing an increasing demand for Wi-Fi access from staff and visitors, who had moved away from laptop devices in favour of mobile Internet devices and newer technologies, as the client explains: “Our users started utilising tablets and Smartphones, such as iPhone, iPads and BlackBerrys, where previously they were unable to log on to the network because of restricted management capabilities, so it was important that we found a WLAN solution that would allow us to provide reliable access across the board, regardless of the device being used.”
The Solution
Aerohive’s versatile solution proved the perfect fit for their environment: “Aerohive’s forward-thinking and innovative technology married with our objective to provide the best level of service for our clients. From an IT perspective, we recognised the benefits of a centrally managed network without the need for controllers,” the client explains.
A series of Aerohive Access Points were installed throughout the building during the refit, and the Aerohive WLAN gave the IT department complete visibility from one central point, enabling ease of management and control over access for staff and guests on the network: “Aerohive Access Points were successfully installed throughout our London offices, creating fast and reliable access from anywhere in the building. No matter how many devices are online at any one time, we can manage and control the network as well as user access thanks to a number of automated tools – all from one location,” stated the client.
Following the success of the initial installation in their central London Headquarters, Stephenson Harwood has since installed Aerohive devices in both their Paris and Dubai offices.
“A robust and reliable wireless infrastructure is critical for our day-to-day business operations. Having invested in an Aerohive solution we no longer have to worry about high traffic volumes affecting access or connection speeds; with more personal devices connecting to the network, Aerohive’s controller-less architecture allows us to add APs as and when they are required.”Global IT Director, Stephenson Harwood.
