Starpharma

Starpharma is a world leader in the development of dendrimer products for pharmaceutical, life-science and other applications.

The Challenge

Exigence was tasked with both managing and carrying out the relocation of Starpharma's entire IT infrastructure to their new office. This involved managing all the vendors and stakeholders to ensure a seamless transition to the new office.

The Solution

Exigence designed a new network which covered telephony, data, conferencing and presentation equipment, laboratory systems and data logging.Exigence assisted Starpharma in analysing its relocation requirements and breaking it down into smaller, more manageable tasks. This consisted of:

• Design and implementation of the new network infrastructure, including the WiFi network.

• Creation of physical/logical network redundancy between floor levels.

• Complete structural rewiring of the new office premise.

• Review and selection of a new VoIP based telephone system.

• Review and selection of primary and backup Internet service provider.

• Design and fit-out of the HVAC controlled IT equipment room (server room).

• Design and fit-out of presentation facilities in two corporate boardrooms.

• Design and wiring of the GxP based laboratory network.

• Design and implementation of the freezer monitoring system using a real-time notification system.

• Physical relocation and reconnection of all IT services over a 3-day relocation window

Technology

Following extensive design consultation with vendors and Starpharma, Exigence selected the most suitable technologies to address the challenges presented by the office relocation. Some of the technology used included:

• Redundant switches to allow continued access to the IT infrastructure in case of hardware failure.

• Multiple spanning tree (MSTP) technology to prevent users accidentally compromising the IT infrastructure by connecting cables incorrectly.

• Virtual LAN (VLAN) technology to allow for separation between multiple internal networks, ensuring that access to IT infrastructure is tightly controlled.

• Shared workstations were deployed in the ground floor laboratories to allow researches access to corporate network without the need to be a their delegated desks.

• Replacement of the existing PSTN telephone system with a VoIP based cloud hosted system offering desktop, laptop and smartphone integration.

• Fiber optic cable was used to provision high-speed Internet Services with a fail-over connection to Ethernet First Mile (EFM).

The Result

The entire IT infrastructure was operational and ready for staff to use on the very first day at their new office. Given that an office relocation is stressful for Starpharma staff, this was a pinnacle achievement and it allowed staff to feel comfortable and commence work straight away at their new premises.

The relocation project delivered a number of direct and indirect benefits to Starpharma including:

• No loss of productivity, as everything was 100% operational after the relocation.

• A technologically advanced freezer monitoring system that requires no human interaction to operate on day-to-day basis

• The new hosted VoIP telephone system greatly reduced operational and maintenance overheads, while at the same time offering enhanced integration and functionality

• Installation of fiber Internet has resulted in much faster access speeds to the hosted email system.

To find out how we can help you with your IT challenges, get in touch.