Published on
12th March 2024
Avignon Capital is a real estate investment and asset management boutique in Europe with offices in London, Berlin, Manchester and Amsterdam. The company is known for its innovative and dynamic approach to creating and driving opportunities in the real estate market. Avignon has a multi-skilled team that works closely with family offices and institutional investors to produce excellent financial returns while maintaining a positive approach to sustainability.
ITRM have been working closely with Avignon since 2022, providing dedicated IT support and assisting them in delivering excellence to their clients, covering all their technical needs. In January 2024, Avignon relocated from its original HQ to a new office.
Relocating IT infrastructure can be troublesome and often an afterthought when considering your office move. This can result in disruptions during the move, affecting productivity in the workplace. Avignon was forward-thinking and proactive in its move and considered the implications of not effectively transporting its IT infrastructure. By doing this Avignon mitigated downtime and reduced disruptions to a minimum, by enlisting ITRM to help.
Avignon Relocation:
Communication Cabinet Move:
The communication cabinet (comms cab for short) is an integral piece of IT infrastructure, that's function is to organise office communication and network equipment. ITRM use our respected in-house cabling team, combined with the expertise of the consultancy team, to perform the move. The move of the comms cab involves identifying and disconnecting all cables. This is key when relocating and being able to efficiently get your systems back up and running. Once all cables have been safely disconnected and labelled, the ITRM team would usually begin physically moving the cabinet to the new location. However, in the case of Avignon, they had a new comms cab in their new office meaning the ITRM team disposed of the old cabinet. Once in the new office, the consultancy team configured the new cabinet and tested its functionality.
Decommission (decom) of Firewall, Switches, Wi-Fi points, and NAS drive:
The decom of a firewall is essential when relocating. To complete this task, ITRM relied on one of ITRM’s Implementation Engineers. The engineer would check and power down all kit in the comms cab which would include the firewall.
Switches are used to divide the network/internet access from the main router and spread the connectivity across the network, allowing all devices to have a sustainable connection. The decommissioning process involves unplugging all cables attached to the switch and removing hardware including their Wi-Fi access points and the switch, routers, etc. From there you must physically move the switch to the new location before taking any further steps.
Wi-Fi points are commonly used across offices to boost wireless connectivity across larger spaces that the Wi-Fi router cannot reach. The ITRM team disconnected these boosters and securely packed them, ready to be reinstalled in the new office.
A Network Attached Storage (NAS) drive is a hard drive that is designed for network storage systems. Created to operate in unique environments, in Avignon’s case, NAS drives are used to archive their data as all relevant data is stored on their SharePoint.
Recommission (recom) of Firewall, Switches, Wi-Fi points and NAS drive:
During the recom of Avignon's firewall, ITRM's team reconfigured the network architecture, reviewed and updated the firewall security rules, updated the new WAN IP details, and then tested the functionality of the firewall.
Once the switch had been moved into the new location, the cabling team began rewiring the cables into the correct ports. From there, the consultancy team will reconnect the switch which will retain their previous network settings i.e. wireless SSIDs and internal IP addresses.
After transporting the Wi-Fi ports over to the new office, the ITRM team found the most effective points across the property to boost the Wi-Fi, aiming to maximise the signal, then reinstalling them and then testing connectivity.
Recommissioning the NAS drive involves updating and reviewing your network settings, ensuring all the information is correct. From there it's just a case of testing the functionality of the NAS drive.
Setup of remaining equipment:
As well as the above, the ITRM team transferred the remaining IT infrastructure into Avignon's new office. This included items such as TVs, monitors, keyboards, docking stations, a printer, and any remaining electrical wires (chargers, HDMI cables, etc). The team set up all the equipment listed, ready for Avignon’s team to use.
Deliverance of continuous IT Support:
As previously mentioned, ITRM has been supporting Avignon with their IT Support since 2022, the support consists of, but is not limited to the following:
- Dedicated Account Manager
- Unlimited 9-5 telephone and remote access support
- Unlimited support tickets
- Quarterly service review reports
These services are used in order to enable Avignon to provide an undisrupted high-quality service to their clients.
Outcome:
Since acknowledging the necessity of relocation, ITRM has provided Avignon with all the benefits of working with a well-established MSP. Avignon has transitioned smoothly into their new office and is working away with minimal disruptions. Avignon wanted to show their gratitude to the team, as such they ordered an exclusive hamper of goodies to be shared among those involved, which the team is very grateful for.
We wish Avignon all the best with their new office and look forward to continuing to provide them with award-winning IT Support alongside fulfilling any of their other IT-related needs throughout their continuous journey.
Client Testimonial:
‘During our recent office move, ITRM’s service was exceptional from start to finish. The transition was seamless, leaving us impressed and stress-free throughout the entire process.
Their team went above and beyond to ensure that every aspect of the move was well-explained and coordinated. From planning the logistics to executing the move itself, they demonstrated professionalism and expertise.
Communication was top-notch, with clear explanations provided every step of the way. Any questions or concerns we had were promptly addressed, making us feel supported and informed throughout the entire process.
Thanks to ITRM, our office move was a success. We couldn't be happier with the outcome and highly recommend their services to anyone in need of IT support or assistance with office relocations.‘
- Lauren Newman, Real Estate & ESG Operations Manager
