The Challenge

Robert Welch Designs are renowned UK designers and manufacturers of cutlery, tableware and homeware based for over 50 years in an 18th century silk mill at Chipping Campden.  As well as three retail stores in the UK, their thriving online retail business sells to individuals around the world, so the company needed to invest in a completely new IT infrastructure, giving them capacity and resilience for the future.

Their ageing infrastructure did not offer them the speed, reliability and security a growing company needs.  Updating the main IT network would also mean an upgrade of all the cabling within the listed mill and in their warehouse in Long Marston. Above all, Robert Welch required a seamless transition to minimize disruption to the business and allow them to keep their high standard of customer service.

The Solution

GBE Converge worked closely with the management team at Robert Welch to agree a solution, which included a Citrix virtual server solution with new host servers at the two primary locations. For backup and disaster recovery, large NAS storage devices were installed at both locations, but physically separate.

To ensure minimal disruption, GBE Converge built and tested all server infrastructure off site before delivery. In addition, all users, files and databases were migrated to the new infrastructure over one weekend. Once installed, Converge staff were on hand to help the Robert Welch Designs team with any issues.