Edexcel

Edexcel is one of the UK’s leading examination award bodies, offering a wide range of academic and vocational qualifications, as well as course specifications. It also provides quality control services in the assessment and certification of achievements.

Over 4,200 secondary schools, 450 further education colleges and 80 higher education institutions award Edexcel qualifications in the UK and it operates in 110 countries worldwide.

As well as working with a variety of educational establishments, the organisation operates on behalf of 800 employers across the public and private sectors and is increasingly involved with e-learning providers.

The Challenge

With nearly 1,000 permanent staff, an additional 1,000 temporary staff during peak periods and 16,000 examiners and moderators, Edexcel is heavily reliant on its large scale network being efficient and accurate at all times.

Edexcel’s existing disparate array of backup solutions was proving inadequate and it had become necessary to consolidate all components onto a single platform. The aim of this was to make the complete solution more manageable and ultimately, more cost effective.

Furthermore, the organisation was keen to future-proof the system to accommodate its continuing growth.

Solutions Delivered

ISG technology deployed a dedicated fleet of software engineers who worked closely with Edexcel’s networking team to source, design and implement superior backup solutions.

Based on Windows 2003 Storage Server and an HP NAS4000s, linked up to an HP MSA1000, ISG provided Edexcel with up to 6TB disk capacity. Leveraging HP’s SAN/NAS functionality, ISG was able to deliver a more cost effective storage solution with secure remote site replication for file servers, allowing data to be transferred, if necessary, to a disaster recovery site providing a more secure and resilient data storage solution.

The solutions specified by ISG and the professional delivery of its services on time and within budget, enabled the company to consolidate data across the business, making backups more efficient, less manpower intensive and easier for the network team to manage.

"ISG is proud to have supported Edexcel in this critically important project. We are obviously pleased that they have commended us for our contribution on this task and we look forward to supporting Edexcel in the years to come."

Mike Morrison, CEO, ISG technology

Please click on the following link to download the Edexcel case study as a PDF.