The key benefits of our unrivalled expertise
- Project Management
- Reduce risk
- Manage large scale
- Business transformation
- Benefits realisation
- Flexible service
- PRINCE2 / MSP qualified
Consultancy
Valuable experience
Our specialist networking and project management staff together with the experience gained over many years of running public sector networks and our own carrier network together constitute an invaluable tool for others to exploit. As such, a large portion of our work involves consulting with organisations of all sizes, from borough councils and local authorities through to enterprises, SMEs and schools.
It is very rare that we are asked to be involved in a project which we haven’t tackled successfully before. This experience means that we can foresee any potential issues before they manifest into problems and thus can complete the work faster and without incident. It also means that you can have peace of mind from our track record of previous successes.
Impartial advice
The fact that TNP is a vendor-agnostic organisation ensures that we are in the business of giving you impartial, non-biased advice, with a focus on industry standards and best practise. We are experts in the design, implementation, maintenance, troubleshooting and procurement of network hardware and topologies of all sizes.
System and network design
TNP have experience in the following areas of system and network design, acting as trusted advisor to a variety of clients.
- LAN – HE projects with Lancaster University and multiple Local Government clients
- WLAN – Large scale HE, schools and BYOD projects for administration and public access with Blackpool Council
- Data Centre – Design and relocation for Local Government clients
- Security (firewall and filtering) – large public sector and school implementations
- Physical Infrastructure – specification and supervision of fibre and CATx copper infrastructure
- Voice & Unified Communications – review, strategy setting, implementation and ongoing management
This experience has been developed in the HE space with recent experience in Local Government and commercial enterprise. Out staff are fully qualified, holding accreditations with manufacturers such as Juniper (JNCIE), Cisco (CCNP) and Fortinet (FCNSP).
Project management
As ICT change becomes more and more complex, the requirement for project management increases. At TNP our project management team have a wealth of experience managing projects, from small-scale to large ICT business transformation. Delivered in parallel with our other service offerings or as a standalone service, we have the skills to tackle any ICT project, regardless of scale or complexity. All of our project managers are PRINCE2 qualified and our programme managers are MSP qualified, ensuring that our projects are managed to industry standards and interoperate with your existing methodologies.
Our project management service will ensure that:
- Projects are fully defined, scoped and planned
- Regular checkpoint meetings are held so that key stakeholders are kept up to date on progress and issues
- Risks are highlighted and mitigated
- Issues are tracked and managed
- External dependencies are managed
- Deviations from the plan are managed, and where appropriate, escalated
- Projects are delivered on time and within budget
- The project is transitioned into Business As Usual (BAU) in a controlled manner
Programme Management
Dedicated to delivering large-scale ICT transformation comprising multiple projects, our programme managers will ensure that:
- A programme board is established and a Senior Responsible Owner (SRO) is appointed
- The programme vision is fully understood • The capabilities and benefits are understood
- The blueprints for change are produced
- The programme is aligned to your organisation’s business strategy
- Benefits are tracked to ensure that they are realised
Security consultancy
Cyber security is a high profile issue for most organisations and is one that cannot be ignored. Our experience in education and the public sector means that we understand the significance of security. TNP have detailed processes for data security which are accredited to ISO27001. Our ISMS (Information Security Management System) is audited annually to ensure continuing compliance. TNP can assist organisations with developing their:
• ISMS (Information Security Management System)
• PCI (Payment Cards Industry) Compliance
• PSN (Public Sector Network) Compliance
Procurement consultancy
With our background in HE as both a procurer and supplier, we understand the public sector procurement rules and we are experienced and able to undertake the following:-
•Strategy Development
• Specification and User Requirements
• Options Appraisal
• Evaluation Models
• Tender Evaluation
• Supplier Engagement & Management
Networking Health Checks
Diagnosis
The network engineers at TNP will perform an overall health check of your network. This will map out and analyse all facets of your current infrastructure with the aim of identifying issues surrounding, amongst other topics:
• Network bottlenecks
• Network loops
• Security issues
• Traffic segregation
• Redundancy & resilience (physical & logical)
• Traffic/resource monitoring
• Latency/utilisation/QoS
• IPv6 readyness
If you have been experiencing particular symptoms or a specific problem, we can combine our network diagnostic equipment, training and experience to help you to identify the root cause of your issue.
Recommendations
Once we are intricately familiar with your network we can make recommendations. These are based on any issues highlighted during the diagnosis stage and our general findings are based around best practice and governance.
Our recommendations will be made formally available as a written report. As well as detailing our findings, this report will also outline a roadmap of required work. Each highlighted issue and associated work package is given a severity rating to allow you to take effective, timely, remedial action where necessary.
Implementation
Where required, TNP can assist you to plan and roll-out any necessary changes with minimum disruption to you and your customer base. At TNP, our staff have many years’ experience of managing projects, large and small, and our engineers are both accredited and practised in effectively managing complex work packages while adhering to any change-control procedures.
Applicable solutions
Health Checks
Often, organisations can undertake a costly network upgrade or replacement in the belief it will solve an ongoing issue only to find that the issue still persists. TNP can use its years of networking experience to undertake a network health check for your organisation allowing you to target your expenditure and resources to the source of the problem.
TNP experience
Network Review – TNP were tasked to undertake a network review for a Scottish public sector organisation. TNP carried out a high level review of their network architecture and uncovered several areas which had a lack of resilience owing to logical configuration issues. As part of this review, rather than the planned complete network refresh, TNP were able to recommend only the addition of a switch to a backup datacentre, saving the organisation capital outlay but still delivering resilience and capacity improvements.
HSCN
TNP are a stage 2 accredited HSCN provider.
The Health and Social Care Network (HSCN) is a new, next-generation data network for health and care organisations which replaces N3. It provides the underlying network arrangements to help integrate and transform health and social care services by enabling them to access and share information more reliably, flexibly and efficiently.
Health and care providers are able to obtain network connectivity from multiple suppliers in a competitive market place and in collaboration with other health and social care organisations.
TNP & HSCN
TNP have been involved with the development of HSCN from it’s inception working with NHS Digital through the industry consultation phase, we were amongst the initial wave of suppliers to achieve compliance and connect to the peering networks in Manchester & London.
HSCN Services
TNP approach all requirements in a consultative manner and can deliver compliant HSCN services in a variety of ways, either as a straightforward N3 replacement connection or intergrating into a COIN or Wide-Area network, it’s important to note that owing to the new, open and inter-operable nature of HSCN, the way that an organisation has always consumed network services may not be the only option open in the new architecture. TNP will work with you to understand your network architecture and propose the best route to support your requirements now and into the future.
TNP’s service design supports multiple services over a single bearer circuit allowing organisations to blend HSCN access, Internet, WAN/COIN, patient/visitor WiFi and even cloud connectivity to AWS or Azure.
Multi Tenancy Networks
Whether you need to subdivide your network owing to sharing space with another department or organisation, or whether to meet security compliance requirements. TNP can assist with allowing you to securely share your resources, whether sharing your LAN with security demarcation zones, or a WAN where we can use MPLS and VRFs to seggregate traffic.
TNP experience
LAN Sharing – A local authority had a requirement to share premises with an NHS organisation. TNP designed and commissioned a segregated common LAN, whilst meeting the security principles of both PSN and N3. This approach eliminated duplication of equipment and WAN circuits ultimately lowering cost.
New Buildings
Moving to or establishing new premises can be a huge undertaking for any organisation. Normally there is an army of consultants and engineers taking care of the architecture, power and plumbing, but nobody to take care of your network infrastructure which is often then specified as an afterthought leaving you with a lack of control. TNP can assist, becoming an integral part of the design team, making the planning and specification of your IT infrastructure as important as the electrical wiring. TNP can also assist with the specification of wireless access, undertaking desktop surveys and advising on placement of access points to ensure full coverage once the building is handed over. We can also help you with the project management of the building delivery and handover, ensuring that your IT infrastructure is not sidelined.
TNP experience
New HQ building – A local authority was planning for a relocation to a new headquarters. TNP were appointed to assist with all aspects of the building network infrastructure fit-out and commissioning, including specification of new datacentre infrastructure, wireless access design, procurement of new equipment and stage-by-stage relocation of existing. Full project management services were provided to ensure that all network services were ready for staff moves.
Comms room and data cabling specifications – A large HE organisation was having issues with building and cabling contractors installing network infrastructure to varying quality standards. A suite of documents were created, setting out minimum installation standards and mandating manufacturers to ensure quality and consistency leading to a network infrastructure that is ultimately easier to support.
PCI
The Payment Cards Industry Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS) sets out a number of compliance requirements for organisations that handle credit card information. TNP can bring its experience of assisting other organisations to comply with these standards as well as its own ISO27001 ISMS to your organisation.
TNP experience
PCI Compliance – A local authority required assistance with its PCI compliance activities. As well as providing advice and guidance, TNP were contracted to provide periodic WiFi scanning services to meet the PCI standard requirement to regularly check for unauthorised wireless access points
Security Compliance
PCI, PSN, ISO27001, ISMS. There are a myriad of cyber security standards that may apply to your organisation, either just to maintain best practice, or to meet compliance or legislative requirements. TNP can bring its experience of maintaining and applying its own ISO27001-compliant ISMS to your security challenges. TNP are an engineering-led company, so this advice is not simply restricted to process flows and risk matrices. Our assistance can comprise of practical and hands-on solutions to your compliance issues.
TNP experience
PSN Compliance – A local authority had identified that its network security architecture didn’t align with PSN standards. TNP undertook a review of the existing architecture and firewall rulesets and proposed a change to a two-tier firewall architecture to provide greater security, flexibility and alignment with PSN standards.
Unified Communications
Communications are a vital tool for any organisation. Until recently, developments in this area have focused on PABX replacement; however, newer technologies can allow organisations to benefit from Unified Communications, delivering more benefit than just the installation of a newer-looking telephone handset. TNP can help your organisation with your own communications strategy, mapping your path towards the level of Unified Communications that’s right for your organisation. If you’ve already decided that you require Unified Communications for your organisation, TNP can supply, install and maintain your new Unified Communications platform.
TNP experience
Unified Communications Upgrade – A local authority already had a VoIP telephone system, however the software version installed was out of support and they were not utilising any Unified Communications functionality. TNP assisted with a review, firstly of the organisation’s appetite and requirement for UC and then of the marketplace to ascertain whether an upgrade or complete replacement would be the best path forward. TNP then assisted with the subsequent upgrade of the installed system and the deployment of Unified Communications including softphones, instant messaging & presence and web conferencing.
WAN Design and Build
TNP’s heritage is in wide area networks, so designing and deploying them is part of our DNA. Whether you’ve a requirement to cluster together a variety of locations or want to review your existing WAN provision, TNP can assist with both reviewing and implementing a new or replacement network. As a Communications Provider (CP) we have access to all wholesale products and can leverage our relationships with other telecommunications providers to provide you with a multi-vendor WAN, but with a single point of contact and management, add to this our ability to use innovative connectivity methods so that you get a best-of-breed network that’s right for your organisation.
TNP experience
Shetland Islands WAN – TNP enable Shetland Islands Council to save up to £1.6 million by utilising and re-deploying existing network assets across some of the most northerly and challenging terrain in the UK
Blackpool Council – TNP, as a strategic partner of the council incorporate existing network assets into a new wide area network allowing cancellation of many managed-services circuits and reducing ongoing operational expenditure
