The Organisation

Client: Peter Brett Associates LLP

Industry: Engineering and Construction

Services: IT Infrastructure

Peter Brett Associates (PBA) was a leading development and infrastructure consultancy in the UK before it was acquired by Stantec in 2018.

PBA offered multidisciplinary engineering and planning services, specialising in areas such as transportation, infrastructure, environment, and urban planning. The firm was known for its collaborative approach, combining technical excellence with innovative solutions to deliver sustainable and effective development projects.

The Challenge

Peter Brett Associates LLP (PBA), a leading development and infrastructure consultancy, faced several challenges with their existing Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 environment:

• The need to support planned growth to over 1,000 users by year-end
• Performance issues with the existing Exchange solution
• Concerns about backup capabilities
• A desire to centralise the Exchange infrastructure, which was distributed across five sites
• The need for a more reliable and responsive email service

The Solution

Altiatech proposed a comprehensive Exchange Server 2013 upgrade to address PBA's requirements:

1. Exchange 2013 Architecture Design

• Develop a centralised Exchange model with two multi-role servers (Client Access and Mailbox roles)
• Implement a single Database Availability Group (DAG) for high availability
  
  

2. Infrastructure Upgrades

• Deploy new virtual machines on Windows Server 2012 R2 Hyper-V cluster in Reading
• Utilise existing SAN storage for mailbox databases and transaction logs
  
  

3. Security and Access Improvements

• Implement new SSL certificates for secure access to Exchange Web Services
• Configure Point-to-Site VPN connectivity for remote access
  
  

4. Mail Flow and Routing Enhancements

• Maintain existing Mail Control cloud service for message hygiene
• Reconfigure mail connectors for optimal routing
  
  

5. Backup and Recovery

• Utilise Symantec Backup Exec for daily backups and point-in-time recovery

The Results

By implementing this Exchange 2013 solution, PBA was able to achieve:

• Improved scalability to support business growth
• Enhanced email service reliability and responsiveness
• Better disaster recovery capabilities with DAG implementation
• Simplified management through centralised infrastructure
• Improved security for remote access and communications
• Support for larger mailbox sizes (up to 3GB per user)
• Enhanced collaboration features and mobile device support
• Long-term support and updates from Microsoft until at least 2023

By partnering with Altiatech for this Exchange 2013 upgrade, Peter Brett Associates took a significant step towards modernising its communication infrastructure, improving reliability, and setting the foundation for future growth and collaboration enhancements.