The K Club
HCS were introduced to The K Club and as an experienced Fortinet partner were selected to assist The K Club with an IT roadmap that would futureproof the business and deliver a high level of security.
Overview
The K Club is a luxury hotel and golf resort nestled in the Co Kildare countryside. Spanning 550 acres the estate offers five-star accommodation, with two on-site golf courses and a Michelin star restaurant, a Spa and activities. The K Club is host to many high-profile guests who use the resort for business and leisure. The prestigious Irish Open Golf Competition was held at The K Club in 2023.
Challenge
When Michael Featherstone took over The K Club in 2020 the management realised that the new investment would bring increased challenges to their existing IT infrastructure. They looked for a partner who could support them on their new growth trajectory. Security was a top priority as The K Club process their guests personal financial data they wanted to be sure that any IT developments had security at the core. Also as a 24/7 business The K Club wanted to be assured that their systems were highly available and any issues that did arise were dealt with promptly.
HCS were introduced to The K Club and as an experienced Fortinet partner were selected to assist The K Club with an IT roadmap that would futureproof the business and deliver a high level of security.
Solution
HCS engaged with The K Club in June 2020. The first task was to stabilise the line of business applications by migrating them from the existing aging servers to a Dell cluster. For enhanced security HCS implemented both onsite and offline backups and a disaster recovery solution.
All Microsoft Windows accounts were upgraded with multifactor identification applied to provide a further level of security.
HCS then reviewed the network as a whole. Older data cabling was replaced and with such an extensive site (over 500 acres) this was a significant challenge. Once the new fibre cabling was securely in place HCS introduced Fortinet NextGen Firewalls and switches and wifi which is all centrally controlled and managed via the Fortinet Security Fabric.
Benefits
These changes to the K Club’s IT environment brought network and application stability and robust security. The Fortinet Security Fabric tools enable the entire network to be centrally controlled and managed from a single work station. Network issues can be quickly identified and remedied, compromised devices can be isolated minimising risk, security policies can be quickly and smoothly implemented and all devices attached to the network are easily identified.
As The K Club is a 550 acre site with kilometres of fibre cabling linking several buildings it is a very big advantage to be able to managed the network from a single work station. The whole solution gives The K Club management team peace of mind that their network is managed, monitored and maintained by experienced Fortinet professionals from HCS. Any business requirements that require new IT infrastructure or changes to the existing IT environment are planned and delivered with minimal downtime to the business.
As a Fortinet Expert Partner, Microsoft Gold Partner & Dell Gold Partner, HCS had the IT expertise to design, implement & support the redevelopment of The K Club infrastructure and will continue to provide these services into the future.
The support provided by HCS as a dedicated business partner gives us so much peace of mind that having a 24/7 business that is operating constantly we need to make sure that our systems are up over 99% of the time and HCS give us that support on a regular basis.
