CASE STUDY
into site locations using its own field
engineering team.
“We really liked the rugged design of the
routers – unlike lots of other hardware
we use elsewhere, Cradlepoint’s is well
constructed and ideally suited to the mixed
environmental conditions of a construction
site,” said Walton.
connectivity solution for its entire business. It
has moved from a situation where connectivity
was largely unavailable at the start of a build
and then slow and expensive to install, to
being fully in control of its own connectivity
strategy. As the business continues to move to
a digitally-driven customer sales experience,
the strong foundations provided by
Cradlepoint technology make this possible.
KEEPMOAT NOW OPERATES A FULLY
INTEGRATED, HIGH-PERFORMANCE
AND SECURE WIRELESS CONNECTIVITY
SOLUTION FOR ITS ENTIRE BUSINESS.
2016, one of his immediate priorities was
to develop a solution that enabled the
business to mobilise new locations quickly,
consistently and securely.
Having developed a similar solution in a
previous organisation, he identified that 4G
cellular technology could provide the ideal
blend of performance, security and value.
Upon evaluating several potential
technology vendors, Cradlepoint’s
NetCloud Service was purchased and
developed into a fully functioning proof
of concept very quickly.
This enabled Keepmoat to connect a remote
location with central IT systems and data via
a cellular provider and a secure VPN.
“Cradlepoint’s technology offers a really
strong blend of performance and ease of
use,” said Walton. “The NetCloud Service
makes it quick and easy to configure, deploy
and manage the cloud-controlled wireless
Edge routers, which was a very important
consideration for the overall solution.”
Following the successful proof of concept,
Keepmoat launched the project internally,
naming it ‘Rapid Site’ and began
launching Cradlepoint’s NetCloud Service
with the IBR1100 wireless Edge routers
www.intelligentcio.com
After part of the business was sold in 2017,
the decision was made to outsource the
installation and management of the Rapid
Site solution to a managed service partner,
which now undertakes the installation on
behalf of Keepmoat, based on a pre-agreed
deployment standard.
“The NetCloud Services gave us the
connectivity options and performance we
needed, including both wireless and wired
access for our equipment. It also allowed us
to deliver really important capabilities to our
remote locations, such as the ability to take
secure, PCI-DSS-compliant payments in each
sales office,” said Walton.
Each site now connects with the corporate
network via a secure VPN, natively
integrating with Cisco’s Umbrella Cloud
Enterprise Network Security solution to
provide robust cybersecurity protection.
More recently, Keepmoat has upgraded all
of its endpoints to Cradlepoint’s AER2200
wireless Edge solution – a more powerful
technology that has also removed the need
for an Ethernet switch to be deployed at
each location.
Benefits
Keepmoat now operates a fully integrated,
high-performance and secure wireless
“As each site moves off the drawing-board
and into development, we can have full
connectivity in place from day one and
that’s a major improvement over our
previous situation,” said Walton.
Traffic is routed directly into the core of
Keepmoat’s managed Wide Area Network,
enabling seamless business critical
communications. Using Cradlepoint’s
NetCloud management portal – part of the
NetCloud Service – gives Keepmoat and its
managed service partner full visibility and
control over the entire wireless solution.
“We’re delighted with the flexibility,
performance and value for money that the
Cradlepoint solution provides,” said Walton.
“We’ve transformed the ability of the
business to interact with key teams at each
site – the sales team, for example, are able
to provide a much better experience for
customers, take payments and even make
use of exciting technologies such as digital
signage and interactive content.”
Looking to the future, Keepmoat is planning
a pathway to 5G connectivity for its sites,
which will further improve infrastructure
performance and allow the company to
deliver a better, more dynamic digital
experience for customers. n
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