Case Study


The Client
The National Housing Federation represents 1,400 independent, not-for-profit housing associations across England, which in turn provide over 2 million homes for 4 million people nationwide.

In addition to providing affordable homes to those in need, the National Housing Federation is committed to ending poor housing, combatting poverty and meeting the wider needs and aspirations of people and communities.

The Challenge
The National Housing Federation selected Redstone Converged Solutions as its preferred telecommunications provider, after being impressed by the company's commitment to customer service and after-sales support.

Redstone was selected to provide a scaleable IP Telephony solution based on Cisco technology, which would help to reduce costs, whilst improving communications between the head office and its five regional sites. In particular, the new system needed to improve the Federation's call manager and voicemail facilities, which were currently limited.

With a two-month window in which to install the new communications infrastructure, it was imperative that Redstone worked swiftly and efficiently in order to ensure a seamless move for the Federation from its existing premises.

The Solution
Redstone Converged Solutions installed a fully integrated communications framework based on Cisco switches, capable of providing voice and data services to 100 staff based in the National Housing Federation's new head office, with the future capacity to include the regional offices as well as homeworkers.

The new system included Call Manager, TopCall voicemail for all users, wireless connectivity and Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) back-up, supported by dual servers for added resilience.

With 180 extensions installed at the outset, the system was configured to allow expansion of up to 2000 users. Rob Green, Head of ICT for the National Housing Federation comments: “The installation went smoothly, given that we were on such tight timescales and I am delighted that with Redstone's professionalism throughout the course of the project, the system was fully operational on our first day in the new offices.”

The Outcome
As a result of the project’s success Redstone Converged Solutions signed an Affinity Partnership Agreement with the National Housing Federation and Cisco, enabling housing associations to benefit from preferential pricing and an IT and Telecoms provider fully endorsed by the Federation.

Says Rob Green of the new system: “The increased functionality has already started to make a difference and we are definitely offering a more proactive and improved service to all our callers. I am very pleased with the results that have been achieved to date and am confident that we made not only the right choice of system, but the right choice of supplier in Redstone Converged Solutions.”

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