Case Studies
Inchcape Stockton on Tees
As one of the leading franchised retailer groups in the UK, partnering many of the World’s best brands including, Audi, BMW, Jaguar, Land Rover, Mercedes-Benz, Toyota and Volkswagen, Inchcape is passionate about ensuring its customers are put first every day, everywhere. Inchcape required connectivity between local sites in Sunderland, Cooper BMW / Mini dealership to the Mill Car Clinic / Body Shop and then to the Account’s Department within their local offices.
The challenge
With the varied landscape between the three locations and distances of over 3KMS, APC had to consider how to achieve exceptional coverage across the network. It also needed to ensure the network could provide a high bandwidth solution capable of running the company’s CCTV, transferring data and managing VoIP across the dealership network.
To ensure APC could meet the clients required level of bandwidth APC first conducted a desk top survey. To further plan for the installation, APC also attended the main dealership site to access the varied industrial and natural landscape surrounding the building.
On the day of installation, the weather changed considerably, resulting in a blanket of snow around the dealership and surrounding areas. This would prove a challenge to the engineers completing the installation but would also demonstrate the exceptional levels of reliability of the Cambium PTP 500 equipment no matter what natural conditions occur.
Our solution
Utilising Cambium’s PTP 500 solution, APC provided Inchcape with over 50Mb across the network. The high level of bandwidth ensured Inchcape’s BMW Mini dealership could integrate seamlessly with the company’s bodyshop therefore reducing the time customers would have to wait for vehicle repairs. The link also ensured communication between the accounts department, dealership and bodyshop could all be processed quickly ultimately resulting in a streamlined company.
Speaking about the solution, Group Sales Director, David Bell, comments: “When providing connectivity it’s vital the solution will deliver no matter the weather, location or surroundings of the links. For many, our solutions are used purely for disaster recovery should their lease line fail. But achieving connectivity over vast distances whist still providing a high level of bandwidth takes planning. Our team at APC not only use desktop planning to plan the proposed route of the link but they also visit the actual site locations. This extra level of care ensures we can over deliver on the clients expectations.
“Wireless is also adaptable. Should Inchcape wish to add in an additional dealership or office to the network, APC can simply expand the existing network to accommodate for this. The speed of installation is also a plus point of wireless. With many leased line alternatives taking upwards of three months to deploy, APC can deliver a fully functional deployed link in just a matter of weeks. Vital to keep businesses moving.”
The result
APC delivered the multi-location link from initial phone call to full deployment delivering upwards of 50Mb across the network. The three locations, separated by industrial areas, high trees and other natural elements now form their own network easily transferring data between the sites.
Speaking about the network, Inchcape’s Rick Davis WAN Manager comments: “We pride ourselves in offering exceptional levels of customer service. In order to achieve this we need to ensure our network is high speed, reliable and cost effect. Having worked with APC on previous installations we knew we could rely on their expertise to over deliver on our requirements.