Network Upgrade

Private: Wired Networks

We provide round-the-clock monitoring and support services as part of our managed WiFi solution.

Craig Nell

Technical Director, Simpli-Fi

The Project

Location: London

Sector: Leisure

Our client approached Simpli-Fi to help with their office network setup, primarily used as the Master Control Room for their streaming services. As well as general internet and WiFi access for staff, the network is currently used to host up to five events at once, each running on a dedicated “rig” of multiple laptops, encoders and other equipment.

Our client wanted to optimise their network, and Simpli-Fi was engaged to perform some diagnostics and make recommendations for improvements.

The Solution

Based upon the needs of the business and the network health check, Simpli-Fi made the following recommendations to improve the performance and robustness of the internal network:

We replaced the existing routers with a single business-grade core router that handles all network routing and internet access from all three internet lines.
We designed and installed a new VLAN configuration, which will allow each streaming rig to sit on an individual VLAN, enabling it to have reserved internet bandwidth and reduce the risks of network interference/disruption from other rigs operating at the same time.
We installed a 48port business-grade core managed switch to support the new VLAN configuration and offload switching backplane from the routers.
We tidied the Network Cabinet for easier troubleshooting and management and prevented equipment from being accidentally unplugged or disconnected.

Challenges

The network health check uncovered several issues preventing network performance optimisation.

The router in use was not capable of utilising the full 1Gbps available.
A rogue DHCP server was identified and disconnected from the network.
The current network setup leads to confusion about which internet connection each rig is on at any given time.
Multiple NDI streams were being used across the network, which can quickly saturate the 1Gbps links between the rig switches and the router, which can cause disruption.