CNC Case Study Drusillas Park

Drusillas Park

Innovative solutions to help keep the park running smoothly and efficiently. An infrastructure that’s future ready. A truly wondrous experience, with a little help from IT.

A truly wondrous experience, with a little help from IT.

With full coverage around the park you're always connected

Drusillas Park attracts some 370,000 visitors a year to its 10-acre site. Since 1925, more than 1500 animals including Red Pandas, Rainbow Lorikeets, Cotton-Top Tamarins and many other exotic animals all share their home situated in the middle of the beautiful East Sussex countryside.

‘Drusillas’, as it affectionately known to all that visit, is full of wonder and amazement. Open 362 days of the year and with more than 200 species of animals to meet super close up, it is fascinating place, where you can learn lots about some of the amazing animals we share the planet with.

However, because  of the Parks rural location, the area had such poor internet coverage it was difficult for visitors to find out more about the animals using a mobile device or by using the parks current wifi service.  

Nor was it easy for Drusillas to support the various concessions around the Park without a decent internet connection.

The Park’s internal wifi network was not in a position to cope with the curious demand and would often seize up or breakdown, which was a nuisance to both customers and for the team at Drusillas. 

It was time to upgrade.

The Challenge​

With an ageing network infrastructure that had not been installed as a singular solution, the system had become very complicated to troubleshoot, plus much of the tech was now near end of life.

  • How could the wifi be made to cover such a size of site, useful to the demands of both customer and more than a 100 staff?
  • The guest wifi, CCTV, alarm, data & phones were all on separate physical networks supported by 3 different companies
  • With the Park expanding its attractions all the time, and with more customers young and old looking to learn more over the network, internet and system issues could result in prolonged outages
  • Ticketing and concessions sales could be reduced because of lack connectivity
  • The Park also wanted to extend the customers experience of the park using AR (Augmented Reality) in the future
  • Future proofing the network to allow for additional services such as CCTV and a new phone system to be run across the same network
A penguin swimming.

Wifi park wide superfast scalable internet connection​

The Solution​​

  • Installed a fibre leased line connection that provides a superfast and scalable internet connection into the Park
  • Designed a custom built network solution – that is both simple and scalable
  • Provided complete wifi coverage for guests and staff across the entire park area
  • Installation of 30+ wireless access points placed throughout the park using a mixture of outdoor and indoor fully weatherproof devices
  • PoE (power over ethernet) devices powered by network switches to reduce the IT footprint
  • Implemented an improved network topology, including the virtual separation of staff data, and guest wireless traffic across the infrastructure
  • Fully monitored and managed solution 24/7/365
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“CNC have provided us with brilliant support and project development in the 5+ years we have been working with them. Their service desk engineers provide very quick SLA’s and are extremely effective with troubleshooting. The project team have conducted multiple upgrades and enhancements to our on-site I.T infrastructure and we are very happy with their output and professionalism”

OS, Deputy Managing Director

The Benefits

CNC are a partner more than a service

The installation now makes for a much more engaging experience for the Park’s customers, as well as for the team. It is more secure, greatly simplified and the new network is supported by a single company. The park now has complete wifi coverage throughout the site.

Fewer issues

The system has been future proofed in its design and simplified with less points of failure, it is now easier to support, to resolve issues; better for the team, better for customers

Infrastructure

The infrastructure now runs interactive attractions, with many more being planned for the future

Internet anywhere

By extending the new system to the far end of the park, it has rejuvenated all parts of the area for customer participation

Increased revenue

The Park can now easily increase the amount of concession stands throughout the site

VOIP system

The new network will allow for a VOIP phone system to be installed and used across the entire park

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