Background
Founded in 1525, Sedbergh School is steeped in history. It prides itself on the quality of education and extracurricular life it provides to day pupils and boarders, much of which is enabled through its technical facilities and IT infrastructure.
Famous alumni include judges, politicians, key figures in the entertainment industry and sportspeople – specifically international rugby players.
Challenge
Sedbergh School urgently needed to modernise its IT infrastructure. The existing, outdated legacy IT assets had been overworked and were difficult to manage and protect. The risk of IT failure would have serious consequences for the school’s reputation.
Attempts to replace the legacy system through traditional procurement routes called for significant capital expenditure. The school’s board wanted an alternative solution that would meet peaks in demand and be able to grow without huge upfront costs.
As well as providing state of the art IT services at the Main and Preparatory schools, the on-premises HPE GreenLake solution will be a key part of the new Technology Building, and the school’s plans to offer services to the local business community as the region’s Technology Centre of Excellence.
“This is a sector-first for Insight and HPE, and in discussion with my counterparts in a number of HMC schools, we are leading the way in asset management, cost control and compute demand in a fast changing and financially uncertain business environment.”
“We are bucking the trend of the sector by managing our infrastructure cost using an on-demand model.”
Matt McVoy, Head of IT & Digital Strategy, Sedbergh School
Solution and Outcome
Insight began by initiating a consultancy process with the school to gain a deep understanding of the requirements for the new system, along with any constraints on the project.
The school needed a solution that would reduce the risks involved in managing the infrastructure, would improve security and didn’t require a large capital expenditure purchase.
All requirements were met with the edge-to-cloud HPE GreenLake solution. This cloud experience for on-premises infrastructure enables traditional and cloud-native applications to run at scale without having to move data and refactor applications.
GreenLake offers an infrastructure buffer, which allows Sedbergh to draw on additional resources when demand peaks. The solution caters for the IT needs of the Main and Preparatory school, together with UK and International boarding students. It will also provide the necessary capacity for the new Technology Centre, due to open in 2023.
Using GreenLake means Sedbergh can proactively plan future upgrades and growth without reverting to a protracted traditional procurement cycle where 30-40% of the purchased infrastructure is dormant until years four and five.
Importantly, the consumption-based model allows the school to only pay for what it uses. The monthly fee avoids a large one-off purchase, as well as asset depreciation. Using a pay-as-you-go model reduces the school’s initial outlay and it’s IT is now managed in partnership with Insight and HPE, removing the need for additional technical resources.
Why Insight?
Insight works hard to create new solutions tailored to every client. As a leading Solutions Integrator, Insight was the only partner to offer this inflation-busting solution to Sedbergh School.
Together, Insight and HPE offer ongoing managed services, as well as a sustainable and complete disaster recovery service.
Without the solid partnership between Insight and the HPE team, the answer to Sedbergh School’s challenges would not have been possible. Insight uses its expertise and connectivity to help deliver cost-effective, fit-for-purpose solutions that meet clients’ requirements while addressing their constraints.
