Ernst & Young: London and Birmingham 

In an office environment full of mobile professionals, contact and accessibility to information is essential to the day-to-day working life. Ernst & Young therefore considered the introduction of a wireless network into their prestigious new offices in London and Birmingham.

Ponte Comm were called upon to provide their specialist, Cisco-trained engineering team to complete the initial wireless radio survey, report findings and recommendations, and complete the installation of the wireless equipment.

Ponte Comm’s remit was as follows:

• Highlight any issues preventing or restricting the use of wireless in any given location
• Suggest workarounds where possible
• Conduct the Wireless Survey where appropriate

The survey report was backed up with technical details and analysis, and marked up CAD drawings and digital photographs indicating AP and IDS locations.

Ernst & Young took up our recommendations, and over 170 APs were installed into 3 buildings.

Capital One Bank, Nottingham

Capital One Bank wished to introduce a wireless network designed to primarily support the use of 7920 wireless phones within their two buildings in Nottingham.

Ponte Comm was commissioned by Kingston Communications to provide a comprehensive wireless survey report, including 'cell planning' and installation guide, to support a site wide wireless IP telephone infrastructure incorporating Cisco technology.

The client's premises consist of two adjacent buildings that are linked at several levels via covered walkways, and is used as a call centre and technical support environment.

One building is a new glass-clad building and purpose built for the client, consisting of an open plan block over 5 floors with central atrium. This environment is ideal for a wireless network.

The second building is a Grade 1 listed stone-clad textile mill, over three floors and with very high ceilings. This building presented us with a series of technical challenges to ensure the client the level of service they required from the wireless network.

As an example of the complexity of the proposal, our team of engineers encountered: three-foot thick masonry walls, Victorian cast iron pillars and beams, a fully functioning 11KVA electrical transformer house in the basement, a warren of interlinking basement passageways, a vast glazed multi floored atrium complete with flying bridge walkways and numerous elevators.

A dual band network was required (802.11a and 802.11g frequencies) to allow all users uninterrupted telephone conversations even when moving around the building.  

Our task was to ensure that high quality voice communication was available in 100% of the buildings. Capital One Bank required this level of service in support of all of the banks functions including security and emergency services.

The project took 6 weeks to complete and the bank achieved 100% success in its desired system capability.