Leeds Trinity Case Study

In 2012, Articulate technology was recruited by Leeds Trinity University to install a new UPS in their server room, as all of their new hardware upgrades (Physical Servers, Storage Environments, Etc...) required a much bigger power supply.

Our Client

Ranked in the top 10% of UK institutions for teaching excellence, Leeds Trinity University College is an independent Catholic higher education institution based in Horsforth near Leeds. It offers foundation and undergraduate degrees and postgraduate qualifications to almost 3,000 students. It became a university college in 2009 and in November 2012 it was announced that it would be granted university status. 

Their Requirements

To assist in meeting its goals of providing a high quality student experience Leeds Trinity has made substantial investments in state-of-the-art information and communication technologies (ICT). This included replacing physical servers with virtual infrastructure, and the replacement of the Storage Area Network (SAN). A knock-on effect of this upgrade was significantly increased power demand, which led to the decision to upgrade the large server room’s Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS).

Matt Stirk, Head of IT Services, appointed Articulate Technology, Leeds Trinity’s existing network partners, as they were by far the most cost-effective bidders for a three-phase UPS.

The project turned out to have several challenges, as Matt describes:

"Our current UPS was reaching the end of its life and, although we had a back-up generator, it was an urgent requirement to have the new UPS in place. We were also approaching Clearing, when students choose and are allocated places, which is a critical time for all higher education establishments. We simply could not afford to have any unplanned IT downtime and there was only a short window in which to specify and complete the work. All the 13 amp sockets needed to be replaced with 32 amp commando-style sockets, plus new power distribution units, and a great deal of kit needed to be moved around the server room while the re-cabling was taking place."    

The Results

The entire project was completed over a working week and two weekends in early August, and Matt was more than satisfied with the outcomes:

"Articulate Technology completed the project within our very tight timescales, they met our budget and actually delivered far more than we expected. They came up with a cost-effective design in a very short timescale; additional cabling work was undertaken; they arranged for collection of the old UPS and removed all the old cabling; and they left the server room in great shape. In short, they did a brilliantly professional job. They also communicated with us every step of the way and ensured we had minimal downtime. I am delighted to have such a proficient strategic partner for so many aspects of our ICT infrastructure - it is an invaluable relationship for Leeds Trinity."