Modernising and Securing Connectivity in Healthcare Across a Complex Network
A leading health services provider operating multiple brands faced growing challenges managing a large and distributed network environment spanning several data centres and branch locations.
Over time, the organisation’s infrastructure had become fragmented, creating operational complexity, increasing costs, and making it more difficult to maintain consistent performance and security across the business. With major transformation goals on the horizon, the organisation needed a clear strategy to simplify and modernise its network while creating a platform for future growth.
Objectives
- Consolidate six data centres into two regional hubs and two cloud environments
- Modernise branch connectivity with a secure, unified solution
- Standardise network infrastructure to improve consistency, supportability, and security
- Establish scalable standards for future network deployments
As the incumbent managed network services provider, Advantage was already responsible for supporting and administering the customer’s network environment. This provided direct operational visibility into recurring issues, performance bottlenecks, ageing infrastructure, security challenges, and lifecycle risks.
Using these insights, Advantage developed a network transformation programme designed to modernise the environment while maintaining continuity of day-to-day operations and support.
Understanding the Challenge
The organisation’s network had evolved over many years across multiple brands, locations, and technologies. This created a complex environment that was increasingly difficult to manage and scale.
Disparate platforms and network architectures introduced inefficiencies, increased operational overhead, and made it harder to maintain a consistent security posture. Legacy WAN technologies were contributing to high operating costs while limiting performance between sites. At the same time, the organisation needed to ensure secure and reliable access for a range of third-party partners and service providers.
With a large-scale consolidation programme underway, the network needed to become simpler, more resilient, and easier to support.
A Strategic Redesign for Long-Term Success
As part of its ongoing managed network service, Advantage led a comprehensive redesign programme focused on consolidation, standardisation, and modernisation.
The project began with the rationalisation of the organisation’s data centre footprint, reducing six data centres to two regional hubs and two cloud environments. This significantly simplified the network architecture while improving operational efficiency, security, and resilience.
To support users across multiple brands and locations, Advantage implemented a unified and secure branch connectivity solution. Standardising connectivity improved reliability and performance while providing a more consistent experience across the organisation.
A single-vendor approach was introduced for LAN switching and wireless infrastructure, creating greater consistency across sites and simplifying management and support. Standardised security controls could be applied more effectively, while operational teams gained clearer visibility across the environment.
To support future growth, Advantage also developed scalable standards for network deployment, including rack design, infrastructure layouts, and capacity planning frameworks. These standards established a repeatable approach for future projects and reduced the complexity of adding or upgrading sites.
Throughout the programme, Advantage continued to manage and support the production environment, ensuring the organisation could pursue transformation initiatives without compromising day-to-day operations.
Results
- Improved operational efficiency and reduced network operating costs
- Enhanced network performance, reliability, and supportability across key locations
- Strengthened security through standardised infrastructure and improved operational governance
- Increased visibility of network health, lifecycle risks, and capacity requirements through ongoing management and reporting
- Established scalable standards for future network builds, improving consistency and reducing risk
Through a combination of ongoing managed network services and strategic infrastructure transformation, Advantage helped the organisation move from a fragmented and difficult-to-manage environment to a standardised, secure, and highly supportable network platform. The result is a more resilient and future-ready foundation that delivers improved visibility, stronger lifecycle control, enhanced security, and greater operational efficiency across the business.
