Brighton & Hove Albion, with the continued growth of the club and its legion of supporters, were facing a situation where during a match day its mobile and Wi-Fi networks became overwhelmed. The club’s broadband connection and network infrastructure couldn’t cope with the density and volume of users and the accompanying pressure on the network traffic, causing communication challenges for club staff and its fans.

Furthermore, as a high-profile premiership football club, Brighton & Hove Albion wanted to strengthen their cyber security. And when COVID emerged, staff had to work from home and the current legacy telephone system could not support the agile working needs of the staff.

Focus Group, as a leading supplier of essential business technology were in a position to review and support Brighton & Hove Albion across the board. Focus Group continued providing cost-effective IT Support to Brighton & Hove Albion’s ever-growing organisation, together with providing a solution to manage the mobile devices and contracts for over 400 staff.

Once Focus Group understood all the needs of the club, an extensive analysis of its current set-up was conducted, and detailed solutions were delivered.

Following a thorough evaluation of the specific requirements of the football club across its IT, connectivity, telecoms and mobile systems, Focus Group implemented a raft of innovative and future-proof solutions. A state-of-the-art Aruba network solution now delivers a reliable and secure network infrastructure.

A high-capacity public and corporate Wi-Fi solution has been implemented, providing the capability to support 15,000 concurrent connections with the use of a 10GB internet connection, with a 1GB backup circuit and high-performance SonicWALL firewall for the club’s American Express Stadium in Brighton.

Alongside improving the club’s internet connection, network infrastructure and security, the mobile specialists at Focus Group implemented a cost-effective and fully managed mobile phone package.

A Microsoft teams-based VoiP telephone system has been implemented, helping the club and its staff maximise performance and support remote working through the COVID-19 lockdown periods. An extensive cyber security awareness testing and training program was delivered to all staff.

Additionally, through a multi-carrier solution, with dual 10G lines from two different providers, together with failover and load balancing provided by a high-performance SonicWALL solution, Focus Group provides uninterrupted data connectivity for up to 30,000 concurrent Wi-Fi connections on a match day. Premier league connectivity, even if a leased line or firewall were to fail.