Desktop Engineering link up Nightingale Associates

"Desktop Engineering completed the whole installation process without a hitch."
Charlie Sweeney, Director, Nightingale Associates

IT infrastructure update

Nightingale Associates, an architectural practice located in Harwell, specialises in the Health Care sector. It was first established 15 years ago, and has grown rapidly with the expansion of this market, working on prestigious projects including the award winning Sir Michael Sobell House hospice and the £330 million Coventry New Hospitals project. When the company wanted to update its IT infrastructure, it turned to Desktop Engineering. In this market, it is usual for a consortium of companies to collaborate to bid for major contracts. A current project is Walsgrave PFI (Private Finance Initiative), part of the Coventry New Hospitals scheme. This is as a member of the Skanska Innisfree Consortium which won preferred bidder status on November 9th 2001. The project, due to be completed in 2005-6, includes a 1200 bed acute hospital, a clinical sciences building, a new 130-bed mental health facility, and a centre for excellence in teaching and research. Nightingale Associates employs 200 people with its head office in Harwell, and satellite offices in London, Brighton, Cardiff, and a new office in Rochdale.

Multi site collaboration

The size of these projects is becoming too large for one office to complete alone so, for the Walsgrave PFI project, the fabric of the building is designed at the Cardiff office while the interior is designed at Harwell, requiring close collaboration between sites. The need to share data and the requirement, instigated by Skanska, to utilise Web based collaborative tools to control change notification, and design modification prompted Nightingale to re-evaluate its IT systems. Originally, each of its offices operated completely autonomously, making it difficult to share data. In addition Web based facilities for researching products, materials and regulations were difficult to access from each workstation.

Technical competence

Nightingale chose Desktop Engineering for its flexible approach and technical competence. The system proposed for Harwell provided two Domain controllers, one File and Print server, one SQL server for accounting and human resources, and one DMZ gateway server. Security is provided by RAID 5 and RAID 1 controllers together with backup using SDLT tapes. Each of Nightingale’s satellite offices uses one Domain server, one Exchange Server and one File and Print server. The whole is connected together over a VPN (Virtual Private Network) using Broadband links across the Internet. This solution combines practicality with economy, reducing the need for costly leased lines at every office.

Remote support

Desktop Engineering undertook the installation and commissioning of the system at each site in turn, including carrying out system administration training, in a total of 25 days. “Desktop Engineering completed the whole installation process without a hitch,” said Charlie Sweeney, Director, Nightingale Associates. “We are now able to support each site remotely from Harwell, troubleshooting any problems by accessing individual workstations at our offices around the country over the VPN.” Where additional support is required from Desktop Engineering, Nightingale’s support contract provides a pre-purchased number of hours. The nature of the contract allows Nightingale to request telephone support, site visits, or even support on third party software and equipment without any unplanned additional cost.

On-line resources

Remote access between sites provides an additional benefit, in that, expert CAD users can coach those less familiar with the system when they need to utilise specialist design techniques. With inter-office collaboration and the increasing complexity of projects, it is essential that architects are aware of design changes affecting their work. A further major benefit accrued by Nightingale was the ability to access on-line resources from every architect’s workstation. Charlie Sweeney explained, “We can access the latest on-line construction and healthcare information and our company intranet based management system.”

Worthwhile investment