Since setting up in New Zealand in 1998, mobile service provider Vodafone has grown from having 138,000 customers on its books to around 2.1 million. Staff numbers have also grown over the years, and by 2001, the company had 880 people on its payroll, working out of four main Auckland locations.

For a whole raft of business reasons Vodafone wanted to house as many of its people as possible in one location - so it started searching for a new home in the central city. The company recognised that the new building offered an opportunity to introduce a new way of working as well as creating a showcase for mobility. A component of this vision was a wireless local area network (WLAN) that would allow staff to work freely from unallocated workspaces and collaboration tables. At the same time ‘mobility printing’ would be introduced specifically to support the new working styles. By selecting a ‘mobility printer queue’, people can walk to any printer and swipe their print card to retrieve any printing. This component of the project was handled by HP.

Change management
The WLAN concept was communicated to the Vodafone users over a three month period before moving in to the new building. Vodafone network delivery manager Peter Nicoll, who acted as project manager, explains: “We’d had a large number of changes proposed such as mobility printing, wireless LAN, 3G and other services. These were cascaded down from the executive team, to the general managers and through to the staff.”

After Vodafone had scoped what it needed and went to tender, it didn’t take the company long to select IBM, says Nicoll. “The decision took a couple of days, once we’d received the responses and evaluated them, this was relatively straightforward. The decision was clear-cut: the IBM offering was the most relevant and the best.” Piloting the wireless network in another building was critical, as all technical issues had to be resolved prior to installation of the system at the client’s new building. “We wanted to move in with everything up and running, rather than roll things out once we got there.” From piloting to full deployment of the WLAN took around six months, including the building fit-out. “We used the pilot to benchmark and gather feedback,” says Nicoll. “We waited for the building’s completion and then implemented the system with the users over a month as we moved everybody into the building.

IBM handed over the WLAN to Vodafone after it met the set service level agreements and security audit. Although the degree of mobility employees require depends on the functions they carry out, the organisation’s WLAN had to be installed across the entire business, not just in one functional area or division. There are now approximately 450 potential users on the WLAN at any given time.

Guest access
A crucial prerequisite was enabling contractors and guests to access the network — but this had to be done so as not to compromise Vodafone’s internal security while not limiting the guests’ ability to work. Vodafone looked at a number of security alternatives, but not many New Zealand organisations, if any, had previously implemented a full wireless network on this scale.

“We wanted our partner companies to be able to come into the building and work with us,” says Nicoll. “There’s so much more of an advantage working face-to-face than sending someone an email. We didn’t want to have all the contracting companies and individuals coming into our busi- ness just to sit and use our desktops and laptops. We wanted them to be using their own.”

Vodafone’s demands were met through the installation of Bluesocket’s network appliance that allows organisations to control access to their WLAN by location, time and area. When a new guest logs on; they see a pop-up screen and enter their log-on details. The company is then able to control to what extent the guest can access the network.

Water tight security
IBM considered a layered approach to network security to be the most appropriate choice, using Cisco equipment for the access points and the network, and AirMagnet Enterprise to monitor the RF airwaves.

Vodafone’s strategy to provide roaming meant IBM had to ensure connectivity was maintained, as well as corporate data confidentiality and integrity. And the wireless network could not be allowed to compromise the security of the existing LAN network. IBM had to provide the capability for secure user authentication, without restricting the services and applications that could be used via the WLAN. That meant authentication systems and protocols that integrated with the company’s existing active directory service.

Vodafone’s requirements were met by IBM, both from a budgetary perspective and the main criterion of protecting the corporate environment, says Nicoll.

Textbook case of collaboration
IBM, Cisco and HP had to work both in partnership with one another and with the client on the design, deployment, piloting, rollout, and ongoing maintenance of the WLAN. “IBM’s over-arching view made it happen. It was Cisco equipment, by and large, and HP took care of things at desktop level,” says Nicoll.

Despite the stringent technical requirements, Verdon Kelliher, IBM’s Northern integrated technology services sales manager, says the rollout of the project was relatively straightforward largely because of Vodafone’s thorough preparation. “Vodafone was the first major commercial company which went for a total wireless network, which would allow ‘hot desking’ anywhere at any time. When we dealt with the Vodafone team, we were impressed by their professionalism right from the very start.”

David Barker, Cisco’s country manager, says partnership was a crucial construct of the project, and he describes working with IBM as a textbook case of collaboration. “IBM is a very important worldwide partner of Cisco’s, and when you look at all the intellectual property at the planning stages, the implementation, the hand over, the post-sale support, IBM was the main interface on the project.”

Vodafone wanted future-proofed technology with a defined roadmap for change. “It has to have a business justification,” says Nicoll. “If it doesn’t, we’re not interested. So it wasn’t just about the wireless LAN, it was about changing from the way we used to work to the way we wanted to work.”

Measuring success
The success of the project is not being measured in isolation; Vodafone globally bench-marked its property portfolio and surveyed its staff — both before and after the project. “Staff have seen significant improvements from their old working environment, as quantified by an independent survey,” says Nicoll.

“Our operating costs are reduced as a result, our flexibility is much greater, and we’re now used as a benchmark internationally. But more importantly for the company, it has encouraged higher levels of teamwork and collaboration and improved productivity.”

For more information
IBM New Zealand
Meng Tran
Services Marketing Manager
04 4623308
mstran@nz.ibm.com

September 2006