The Project Overview
One of the UK’s largest conservation charities needed to replace end-of-life Dell edge switches at its head office site and bring the location into line with its wider cloud-managed Cisco Meraki architecture. Transputec delivered the Cisco Meraki network modernisation over a compressed three-day change window using a phased, floor-by-floor migration, preserving every VLAN, segmentation policy and business-critical service throughout and handing over a standardised, resilient, cloud-managed network from day one.
The Challenge
The charity’s head office site was running on Dell edge switches that had reached the end of their operational lifecycle, creating risk around reliability, supportability and future growth. At the same time, the organisation wanted to standardise networking across its locations, reducing operational complexity and creating a consistent, supportable model across the estate.
Traditional switch management was adding administrative overhead, so the charity wanted to move to cloud-managed networking for better visibility, control and efficiency. Above all, the upgrade had to be completed without impacting critical services: existing VLAN structures, network segmentation, client connectivity, wireless, printers, CCTV cameras and meeting room technology all needed to stay operational throughout the transition.
The charity needed a trusted technology partner capable of delivering a carefully planned migration with minimal risk and full alignment to its long-term network strategy. Transputec was selected for its proven expertise in network transformation, structured implementation methodology and track record of controlled migrations in complex operational environments.
What We Did
Rather than treating the engagement as a straightforward hardware refresh, Transputec took a design-led approach focused on long-term architectural alignment and operational sustainability.
The new Cisco Meraki environment was built and configured remotely ahead of the change window, using template-based configurations and standardised naming conventions consistent with the charity’s existing Meraki estate. The migration strategy preserved existing VLAN structures, Layer 2 configurations and segmentation policies so that wired and wireless connectivity, network printers, CCTV, meeting room technology, DHCP and supporting services would carry across uninterrupted.
Deployment ran over a compressed three-day window using a phased floor-by-floor migration: second floor, then first floor, then ground floor. Two Transputec network engineers handled legacy switch decommissioning, Cisco Meraki switch installation, cabling integration, uplink configuration, switch stack deployment and cutover onsite. Each stage was independently validated before the next began, with clear rollback options at every step.
After each phase, validation testing confirmed VLAN functionality, DHCP operation, wired and wireless connectivity, printer access, CCTV connectivity and meeting room systems. On completion, Transputec provided a full operational handover, including as-built documentation, configuration summaries, validation reports and implementation records, giving the charity’s internal IT team complete visibility of the new environment from day one.
The Impact
The site now runs on a modern, cloud-managed Cisco Meraki switching infrastructure, fully aligned with the charity’s wider network strategy and managed centrally through the Meraki Dashboard.
Switch stacking and redundant uplinks have improved resilience and service availability. Centralised cloud management has cut operational complexity, with faster administration, simpler troubleshooting and far less reliance on command-line configuration. Real-time monitoring and reporting give the IT team the visibility to manage the environment proactively.
Every business-critical service, from wired and wireless connectivity to printers, CCTV and collaboration technology, was validated as fully operational, and the migration was completed within the planned change windows with the existing VLAN architecture and segmentation preserved. The upgraded platform gives the charity a scalable, future-ready foundation for its ongoing digital transformation.
