Professional football club based in Nottingham.

Founded in 1862, Notts County FC is the oldest professional association football league club in the world. Nicknamed the magpies, the club is based at Meadow Lane stadium, where it welcomes up to 20,000 fans a match.

As well as the first team, Notts County is home to a ladies team, an under-18s squad and runs a training academy for young aspiring players. The club also offers several hospitality suites for corporate guests and conference facilities for meetings and events.

Notts’ charitable arm, Notts County FC Football in Community, are an award-winning registered charity that provides sporting and development programmes for the local community.

Key Outcomes

  • Improved security and performance
  • Improvement to network infrastructure
  • Increased internal network speeds
  • Dedicated superfast leased line
  • Stadium-wide WiFi deployed
  • Proud to be Official IT Partner

 

The Challenge

Our partnership with Notts County first began in 2017, when the club was taken over by a new owner. After facing significant financial difficulty, the club were looking to invest in the team’s future to bring back its former glory. This included improving and modernising ICT operations, as the club faced outdated legacy equipment and poor system performance.

As well as this, a dated phone system and low network reliability were causing limited connectivity and internet across the stadium, restricting both external and internal communication.

From the initial upgrades and improvements to our infrastructure, to the ongoing support we receive from the team, the service Air IT provide us is exemplary. The whole process was smooth, and the staff continue to be helpful and friendly. The new EPOS card payment system and 3CX phone system have enabled us to scale and grow our sales. We look forward to working with Air IT on future projects.

Kevin Jackson
IT Manager, Notts County

Notts County - Air IT support client

The Air IT Approach

Working alongside Notts County’s IT Manager, we conducted a detailed infrastructure audit to identify where we could make improvements to the current setup. Following this, we produced a plan to roll out our recommendations, working around home games and implementing changes out of hours to minimise any operational impact.

We installed WiFi that was accessible across the whole stadium, including the roll out of guest WiFi, and introduced a dedicated superfast leased line to improve internet and telephony capabilities.

We deployed best-in-class solutions across the network to ensure reliability and security. A managed anti-virus solution (Webroot) was installed on all devices and servers on the network, and a new email protection service (Mimecast) was introduced. A new business continuity solution (Datto) was also deployed.

The Outcome

Air IT has played a key role in Notts County’s plans to bring the club back to its former glory, and has assisted with the start of a new era for the world’s oldest football league club. Notts County now benefits from ongoing support, both onsite and remotely, as well as network monitoring around the clock.

The club now has the advantage of increased internet capabilities, as a result of the dedicated leased line and extended WiFi connection. In addition to this, the club’s network is now secure and resilient, thanks to the new anti-virus and email protection solutions. A reliable business continuity solution allows for a more secure and resilient network, efficiencies and performance improvements.

Air IT continues to consult on ICT strategy with the IT Manager and other senior personnel at the club to drive commercial success, allowing them to pursue their ultimate goal of climbing the league tables.

Special Projects

The club’s mobiles have since been upgraded and 3CX phone system has been installed, which delivers a feature-rich and fully-unified communications solution design for mobility that provides a seamless experience both in the office and on the move.

In addition to this, Air IT has assisted with the implementation of a new EPOS card payment system, allowing the club to receive card payments and driving sales to new heights.

Air IT show their support for the club on the pitch, as well as behind the scenes, by sponsoring the Air IT Kop stand, in addition to the home and away dugouts and turnstiles on County and Iremonger Road.

Read more about our partnership

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