Meet expansion plans in UK & Ireland
Linden is part of the Linden Food Group with locations in Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland & England.
Linden needed a partner to complement their existing in-house IT team who could provide round the clock technical resources and expertise, had experience working on large infrastructure estates and who would project manage strategic IT objectives to facilitate the ambitious growth plans of the business.
“Any downtime to our production would have a severe impact on our business operations so it was crucial we found the right partner that understood our business processes and had the right expertise.”
Clive Arnold
Head of IT of Linden - Food Processing
Nimbus engaged with Linden by incorporating a blended approach to manage and support all core IT infrastructure with an estate of over 100 servers, Layer 3 Cisco LAN Network and over 600 workstations / laptops while also working closely with the internal IT team to deliver projects and provide support on 3 rd party applications and end user requests. Our dedicated Infrastructure team monitor and manage all security, backups and health of the estate while also providing unlimited remote and telephone support 24x7x365.
For occasions when Linden requires an onsite presence our Service Delivery team are dedicated to work both remotely and onsite where required two days per week as well as additional on-site resourcing as projects demand.
A key component to the success Linden have had through engagement with Nimbus is around strategic planning and this is facilitated through monthly meetings with the Head of IT and Nimbus Technical Account Managers identifying short, medium and long term goals, putting in place a framework for how IT will help drive success as well as considerations around Cybersecurity and any hardware / software refreshes to ensure consistent uptime is maintained.
The security of Linden’s systems is of critical importance to the business, not only due to the detrimental impact any downtime caused by a breach would cause, but also as a key supplier to some of the largest supermarkets across the UK, all client data and IP held by the business is extremely sensitive.
Through regular engagement Nimbus have worked with Linden Foods and implemented a number of solutions which have enhanced and copper fastened the security of IT Systems and data including:
Through our NOC (Network Operations Centre) and with our 24/7 monitoring tools, Linden have confidence in their cybersecurity and internet security. This has also had the additional benefit of enabling backoffice and admin staff to work remotely with confidence that they are doing so securely.
WiFi is an essential and integral to the smooth operation of Linden’s business. From production hardware and software systems such as scales, scanners and tablets used on the factory floors to process serial numbers, batch numbers, goods inward / outward, to office staff and management reliant on all workstations and phones connecting via WiFi, Linden need consistent, reliable, and secure WiFi network to ensure their business operates at optimum capacity.
Through our strategic partnership and on site resourcing it was identified that existing Access Points were coming to end of life with compatibility issues evident, including poor range as well as no visibility of traffic going through each access point.
Nimbus undertook a tech refresh which involved the supply, project management and implementation of a new WiFi solution which benefits from a single cloud management portal for easy management and upgrades, rated for indoor and outdoor use which is ideally suited to Linden’s business as they worked in conditions of -25C (ideal for cold stores and environments where there may be condensation) and in addition had a better range so we could reduce the number of access points required.
The new solution allows the IT team to access the points to identify any bottlenecks in traffic and prioritise speed and traffic based on demand on an individual access point level. In addition, the solution has segregated WiFi traffic for guests, corporate and staff to ensure security is maintained and to prioritise bandwidth.
This has led to better productivity across the business as speeds have increased, there are less “dead spots” through better coverage, the ability to view all access points through a single portal at a glance and get alerts when access points are offline or busy.
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