Sales: 0845 470 4001 | Support: 0845 230 6001 | Contact Form | NPS

Exponential-e & Atlas Hotels Case Study

blog-header-exponential-e-atlas-hotel_20250509-141052_1

About Atlas Hotels

Atlas Hotels is the largest European franchise of Holiday Inn Express, operating 60 hotels across key business and leisure destinations in the UK, and one in Dresden, Germany. With over 20 years' experience in the hospitality sector, Atlas Hotels manages a diverse portfolio of 7,555 hotel rooms, providing business and leisure travellers with unparalleled service and comfort.
The Challenge

Atlas' guests expect the highest quality internet connectivity in their rooms, particularly business travellers who depend on access to critical online services. This placed considerable demands on the resilience of their network and the available bandwidth, with little consistency in the available speeds at different sites.

At the same time, as Atlas' continued its expansion into new locations, seamless cross-site communication and collaboration between staff had become an essential part of its day-to-day operations. However, the Property Management System (PMS) still utilised on-site legacy servers, which increasingly limited the performance and availability of this critical platform, leading to multiple challenges around resource management and operational efficiency.

Atlas Hotels therefore sought to consolidate the disparate network solutions across its various sites under a single supplier. The aim was a unified, 'always-on' infrastructure that would provide seamless, secure, and highly available connectivity for both staff and guests, helping maintain the world-class service quality on which Atlas had built its reputation.

In addition to this foundational connectivity, the digital transformation initiative would also involve a full transition to a modern Cloud environment that would optimise the performance and availability of the PMS, while enhancing scalability and cost control as Atlas continued to expand its portfolio of sites and the range of services it offered its guests.

The Solution

Having a single supplier for a project of this scale is so important. The team at Exponential-e weren't just on hand throughout each phase, ensuring we were able to hit our targets on time and to budget, but they have always been just a call away if we have any concerns. They have also offered invaluable input into ways we can further optimise our guest experience and broaden our range of services.

Ben Otton, IT Manager, Atlas Hotel

Once the project specifications had been defined and agreed upon, Exponential-e worked closely with Atlas Hotels' IT teams at both the head office and various hotel locations across the UK, under the direction of a dedicated Exponential-e project manager, ensuring that their specific needs were met at every stage of the implementation.

The first phase of the project focused on the deployment of highly resilient, 1Gb connectivity across all 60 Atlas Hotels locations, leveraging Exponential-e's own enterprise-class network to ensure consistent quality and availability for all guests and staff, with built-in redundancy to ensure 24/7 availability and minimal downtime. This resulted in double the available internet speeds at multiple sites, particularly those still reliant on legacy connectivity.

The second phase focused on migrating the legacy on-site infrastructure to a secure, highly available private Cloud, configured with end-to-end encryption and advanced firewall protection to guarantee the integrity of guests' data. By moving virtualised servers and workloads into this new environment, the resulting improvements in performance, scalability, and the availability of critical systems – particularly the central PMS – allowed for more efficient resource management, freeing staff to focus on the guest experience.

The entire migration process was completed in six months, with minimal disruption to Atlas' day-to-day operations. For additional levels of resilience, a robust disaster recovery plan was put in place, ensuring business continuity would always be maintained in the event of a system failure or data loss.

The partnership between Exponential-e and Atlas Hotels continues to evolve, with plans already in place to further enhance the guest experience through the application of new technologies. This includes implementing the next generation of interconnected meeting and event spaces at all 60 sites, incorporating advanced AV systems, platforms for simplified booking, and high-performance video conferencing.

With this successful transformation, Atlas Hotels now has a robust, high-performance, and secure digital foundation in place, which will support their ongoing growth and operational excellence. As more locations are added to the Atlas portfolio, Exponential-e will continue to expand and optimise the network infrastructure, ensuring all guests and staff continue to enjoy the highest quality connectivity and new opportunities for improvement can be identified and acted upon.

Solution Benefits

  • Highly resilient 1Gb connectivity available for staff and guests at all 60 Atlas sites across the UK and beyond, encompassing 7,555 hotel rooms

  • Improved communication and collaboration between dispersed staff, with optimal performance and availability for the central PMS

  • A seamless migration to a highly secure private Cloud environment, with in-built redundancy and robust disaster recovery systems minimising the risk of downtime

  • Effortless scalability and potential for future upgrades, supporting Atlas Hotels' ongoing growth and the adoption of emerging technologies
  75 Hits

Streamlined management, unparalleled protection: How SASE is ushering in the third generation of network security

blog-header-streamlined-management-unparalleled-protection

The security of enterprise networks is a critical priority for all organisations across the public and private sectors, as they are forced to contend with an increasingly turbulent cyber threat landscape. As a result, network teams increasingly find their roles overlap with their organisations' cyber security strategies, with numerous siloed elements now converging.

  661 Hits

The Four Pillars of Modern Networking

the-four-pillars-of-modern-networking

Whatever sector you operate in and whatever your long-term business goals, your network is the foundation of your future success. With the distributed workforce now firmly established and customer interactions taking place over an evolving range of channels, business is now truly interconnected, with seamless, secure dataflows its lifeblood.

  910 Hits

Why Legal firms are the natural home of hybrid Cloud infrastructure

b2ap3_large_blog-header-why-legal-firms-are-the-natural-home-of-hybrid-cloud-infrastructure

Although digital transformation amongst Legal firms has typically been comparatively slow compared to other sectors, the journey has picked up speed over the course of the last decade.

  1796 Hits

Maintaining operational resilience in a changing Finance sector

blog-header-Maintaining-operational-resilience-in-a-changing-Finance-sector

The Finance sector has always been one of the most dynamic, rapidly evolving industries, and this shows no signs of changing any time soon. But while shifts in the landscape may well open new opportunities, they will also come with new challenges, and it is the organisations who are ready and able to face these head-on who will continue to thrive in the years ahead.

  1895 Hits

Data-driven manufacturing - laying the foundation for tomorrow’s interconnected workflows

blog-header-datadriven-manufacturin_20230615-143318_1

Manufacturing workflows are evolving at an unprecedented rate, and the trend shows no signs of slowing down. The increasing effectiveness and affordability of 'smart' technologies and the Internet of Things means IT and OT are increasingly interconnected, with increasing volumes of data flowing between sites and devices on an ongoing basis.

  1801 Hits

It is a challenging time for the Manufacturing sector, but focusing on operational efficiency can still provide the leading edge

blog-header-it-is-a-challenging-time-for-the-manufacturing-sector-but-focusing-on-operational-efficiency-can-still-provide-the-leading-edge

The past few years have been challenging for the global Manufacturing sector, with both Brexit and COVID-19 creating a wide range of operational disruptions whose impact is still being felt. Indeed, as recently as January 2023, we saw UK manufacturing shrinking for the sixth consecutive month1.

  2278 Hits

The Careys Group

The-careys-Group-Data-and-email-system-moved-entirely-to-a-private-Cloud-and-Office-365-based-solution-with-0-distruption-to-the-business

Data and email system moved entirely to a private Cloud and Office 365 based solution with 0% disruption to the business.

About The Careys Group

The Carey Group, established in 1969, is a leading multidisciplined construction and resource recovery group, operating across the UK and Ireland. Careys deliver innovative, safe and sustainable solutions to the most complex challenges.

They are unique within the construction industry as they have in-house specialist capabilities in asbestos, demolition, civil engineering, dry lining, house building and resource recovery. Their combined service capabilities means they can deliver consolidated programmes with reduced project costs, consistency and effective management of construction risks.

Solution 

To fulfil The Carey Group's primary IT requirements Exponential-e was tasked to move their data across to a platform that used a combination of our private, secure Cloud platform and Microsoft Office 365. We were able complete the project in just 3 months whilst ensuring zero downtime during the transition period.

Our team of Professional services managers successfully completed the transition from start to finish, ensuring that everything went smoothly and impressing the Carey Group with their high levels of support and competence.

The fact that Exponential-e already supplied their 100GigE low latency WAN solution to Careys meant that they had the confidence in us to design and implement a robust technical solution that was aligned to their IT strategies.

Our solution was underpinned by our resilient Network - ensuring that Carey's had the best base from which to launch their Cloud and email platform.

By using an outsourced model managed by Exponential-e, Carey's made cost efficiencies as they eliminated the time internal IT staff traditionally spent managing their email systems.

The change from a capital expenditure to operating expenditure model has allowed Carey's to directly apportion a predictable monthly cost to the service.

Equally with the scalability of the solution, the cost of operations has decreased and the overall system is far more cost effective.

  • One of the primary benefits of the implementation of this solution is that it is cost effective and fits with the company's OPEX model.
  • The company has seen a reduction in the time their IT department needs to spend in managing their email system. Through the combination of our ongoing support and the use of Office 365, their email system will be fully managed and any patches or updates applied.
  • Inbox storage capacity increased across the company.
  • By using Exponential-e the movement of user data and the implementation of the new system were completed without any disruption to the business and took only 3 months to implement. This allowed the business to quickly move from one solution to another, without having to face any system downtime.
  • The storage capacity of their email system was increased through use of this new solution, which was a benefit for all employees within the company.

Solution benefits

  • Implementation of Office 365 and a secure, private Cloud solution throughout the company.
  • Scalable solution that is fully managed externally, allowing the IT department to focus their efforts elsewhere.
  • Inbox storage capacity increased across the company.
  • Integration with SharePoint and further Microsoft products now a possibility.
  • The CAPEX / OPEX benefits of a Cloud solution make operations cheaper.
  • 0% downtime for the business during implementation allowed Carey's to continue operating without disruption.
    Construction is a $10tn industry that currently spends less than 1% of its revenue on IT. Historically, R&D investment has been particularly low in the industry, but with AEC firms seeing how digitalisation is changing the way other industries operate, it's time for technological investment to take the lead.

    A technology-first approach enables firms to get past unique industry challenges and deliver high-quality work on time and to budget. So, what do we do about getting there? Download our Construction brochure to find out.

 Challenges

Faced with ageing internal email infrastructure that they were unable to fully manage and support, the Carey Group looked to find a solution that would allow them to move their data to a private Cloud platform whilst also utilising Microsoft Office 365. By outsourcing this service to Exponential-e they were able to ensure that they had a secure and resilient solution that was scalable and fully met their business needs.

The Carey Group's primary challenge was how to move their email data for their 1000+ users across to the new platform whilst ensuring the implementation was completed swiftly and smoothly to avoid business disruption, yet maintaining data integrity.

With their existing WAN provided by Exponential-e they looked to us to provide the professional services to make both a successful data transition and also ensure ongoing support for the day to-day management of the solution.

Exponential-e offered us a complete WAN solution that was technically superior to anything else we looked at, backed up by plain speaking people who have made the transition from a complicated in-house solution far easier than we ever envisaged.

Matt Coniam Head of ICT, The Careys Group.

An introduction to digital transformation across the AEC sector

01 A comprehensive guide to Exponential-e's portfolio of solutions and how they support the AEC sector's journey to full digital transformation

02 Proven strategies and processes, drawn directly from Exponential-e's experience with AEC leaders and numerous other sectors

03 Technology that drives future scalability, flexibility, and innovation, while allowing for full visibility and cost control

  9053 Hits

Vita Group

Vita-Group-work-collaboratively-across-the-globe-with-secure-and-reliable-Connectivity-and-Cloud-services

Migrating to Exponential-e's WAN, allows Vita Group to work collaboratively across the globe, with secure and reliable Connectivity and Cloud services supplied by Exponential-e.

About Vita Group

Formed over 60 years ago, the Vita Group operates internationally, supplying a vast range of foams for applications ranging from transportation, general industry, construction, furniture and bedding to packaging.

With 36 sites in 14 countries, they work with their customers to create innovative, quality products. Their aim is simple - to be the best in the markets in which they operate.

Solution 

With a new and improved WAN being a key requirement for the Vita Group, this was one of the first things that they looked to tackle with Exponential-e. Migrating to a WAN on the Exponential-e Network enabled them to access a wider range of services, and is supported by 24 / 7 x 365 proactive customer support - therefore meeting all the requirements that the Vita Group had for their migration.

Not only did this move assist in enabling the business to transform the way in which it worked, but it also provided it with the flexibility to grow its business and transform its IT - both now and in the future. Moving to an Opex model also meant that the Vita Group could look to spend money that was previously tied up in hardware on manufacturing equipment instead - something that was key for the businesses' success.

Of course, a major change for the Vita Group was a transition to the Cloud. With a strong desire to move to virtualised services the company was prepared for the change, and working with a provider such as Exponential-e who are an expert in Cloud Services further provided them with the support and trust required to make the leap.

With an initial time frame of making the move to Cloud within two months, after just two weeks it became clear that this could be done much quicker and so the changes were made faster than expected. This gave the Vita Group more time to adjust and settle in to the new systems.

 Challenges

With 36 sites across 14 countries a key for the Vita Group was that they were able to work collaboratively across the globe, with secure and reliable Connectivity – something their existing supplier was unable to offer them. They wanted to move to a new WAN which gave them the functionality and collaboration that they required.

Particularly with such a number of sites, the company found that they were simply spending too much time in-house managing suppliers and processes. Being able to offload this to an external body would mean that their IT department could instead focus their efforts on key business requirements, rather than the day to day running of the business.

With several different hardware platforms and vendors, and a distinct lack of proactive support, the Vita Group wanted to streamline processes and so began to look for a supplier that could meet all their requirements whilst providing a single SLA underpinned with proactive customer support.

An interest and desire to move to the Cloud meant that the Vita Group required a supplier that could provide all of these things, plus the ability to transition to virtualised services.

This search led them to discover Exponential-e.

Solution benefits

  • Naturally, the Vita Group were looking for a service provider that could meet their requirements in terms of WAN, Cloud and customer support. But alongside this, they were also looking for a partner that they could trust and work alongside for the foreseeable future.
  • The Vita Group wanted a partner that understood Cloud and could deliver a reliable Network and service model. Exponential-e were the perfect fit for all of these requirements and further proved this by delivering services over a month ahead of schedule.
  5717 Hits

Exponential-e Achieves VMware Cloud Verified Status

press-release

Exponential-e, the British Cloud and Network provider, today announced it has achieved VMware Cloud Verified status.

The Cloud Verified badge signals to customers that Exponential-e offers a service running on top of the complete VMware Cloud infrastructure. Through Cloud Verified partner services, customers attain access to the full set of VMware Cloud Infrastructure capabilities including integration and interoperability, cost optimisation and flexibility.

  2836 Hits

Exponential‐e strengthens positioning within G‐Cloud 11 Digital Marketplace

Exponential‐e strengthens positioning within G‐Cloud 11 Digital Marketplace

Cloud and Network company adds clout to growing public sector business by increasing services offered on the G‐Cloud framework by over 100%

Exponential‐e, the British Cloud and Network provider, today announces that it has secured a considerable number of additional positions within the G‐Cloud 11 Digital Marketplace. These cover three categories: Cloud Hosting, Cloud Software and Cloud Support.

  2324 Hits

Cloud control: the perils of running a multi-cloud environment

Cloud-control-the-perils-of-running-a-multi-cloud-environment
The key ingredient for any organisation looking to drive digital transformation is Cloud. Actually, scratch that: it is Clouds. But how do you manage multiple Clouds without getting bogged down by digital paperwork?
  3973 Hits

Multi-cloud and security challenges

Multi-cloud-and-security-challenges
76% of organisations are implementing the cloud or already operating in it. And no wonder: Cloud can do great things for your organisation. It can provide increased data storage capacity, improved business continuity, and potential cost reduction. However, using the cloud brings significant security risks with it, including data loss and threats to data privacy.
  3535 Hits