A race against the clock to establish IT infrastructure in Dubai for a major events company

A London-based events company needed to get a new satellite office opened in Dubai to manage the EXPO 2020 event.

The Challenge

On the face of it, establishing a new office network, printers and machines may not sound the most challenging job. However, with only one broadband supplier in Dubai (notoriously poor at communicating when a new internet connection will be established), we had to be ready to fly out and get to work at a moment’s notice.

After months of waiting, we got the word that the connection was going to be established within a number of days. However, with the first COVID lockdown looming, it became a race against the clock for our specialists to complete the work on site.

The Solution

With notice received on Friday that a connection would be established on Sunday morning, we collected our equipment and tools on the Friday, boarded a flight on the Saturday, and arrived In Dubai in the nick of time.

We sourced network equipment in advance and pre-configured it. Computers were pre-ordered and ready and waiting for us on site. Once the engineer had connected their line on Sunday, we installed and tested our pre-configured network.

All machines were connected to Apple Business Manager and our MDM solution, allowing for quick and smooth deployment of all apps and services for the new machines. User profiles were pushed out from our cloud AD system and handed over to users.

The outcome

With final checks done on Monday, our specialists returned to the UK on Tuesday – the same day the first lockdown was announced in the UK – having completed and tested all systems. Users were immediately supported by our Service Desk team for any issues they might encounter.

Our global reach and agility meant that an office with just a couple of staff was transformed into a fully networked space, ready for an expanded team to get to work immediately.