Case Study – A&D Hope
A&D Hope: Ensuring Business
About the client
A & D Hope Limited is a UK-based clothing wholesaler and manufacturer with roots dating back to the 1920s. Originally established by brothers Alf and David Hope as a fur product business, the company evolved into leather and suede garments during the 1980s and today supplies a wide range of menswear and womenswear products. The business operates across design, sourcing, merchandising, e-commerce and wholesale distribution, managing the entire product lifecycle from fabric procurement through to warehousing and fulfilment.
The challenge
A&D Hope was looking to relocate its warehouse operations from Stevenage to Letchworth Garden City. The move presented a significant IT challenge, as their core business systems were hosted on-premises and relied on a new leased line being installed at the new location to ensure continuity.
With the leased line lead time extending beyond the warehouse move date, there was a risk that critical services could become unavailable, impacting warehouse operations and staff productivity.
The infrastructure included:
Domain Controller (DC)
IIS Server
SQL Server
Third-party PLM System
ERP Platform
Site Firewall
A&D Hope required a solution that would maintain access to these systems throughout the transition, while minimising disruption to staff.
Sprint Integration’s solution
To ensure continuity of service, Sprint Integration designed and implemented a temporary hosting solution within our secure hosted environment.
1
Server Relocation and Hosting
Two engineers carried out an out-of-hours migration, carefully removing the servers and firewall from the Stevenage warehouse and transporting them to Sprint Integration’s hosted facility.
The equipment was installed within a dedicated 4U rack allocation and securely connected to the hosted network environment on their own subnet.
2
Connectivity and Remote Access
To maintain connectivity between locations and business systems, Sprint Integration:
- Provided a dedicated static public IP address for access to the third-party PLM and ERP platforms.
- Configured a new Branch Office VPN (BOVPN) connection between the hosted environment and A&D Hope’s Oxford Street office.
- Carried out comprehensive testing to ensure systems remained fully operational following the migration.
3
Temporary Warehouse Connectivity
As the new leased line installation was still pending, Sprint Integration supplied and configured a 5G router at the Letchworth Garden City warehouse.
This provided immediate internet connectivity, enabling warehouse staff to continue working while awaiting the permanent circuit installation.
4
Leased Line Deployment
Once the leased line was installed at the new warehouse, Sprint Integration:
- Performed connectivity and performance testing.
- Verified service stability and throughput.
- Confirmed all systems were fully operational before completing the final migration stage.
5
Final Migration
Following successful testing, the servers and firewall were returned to the new warehouse during another out-of-hours maintenance window.
The equipment was reinstalled into the new server cabinet, connectivity was restored, and final system checks were completed.
Results
Zero Business Disruption
Despite relocating critical infrastructure and operating from a temporary hosting environment, staff experienced no loss of access to essential business systems.
Seamless Transition
The temporary hosting solution ensured uninterrupted availability of A&D Hope’s PLM and ERP platforms throughout the warehouse move.
Fast Connectivity Deployment
The 5G temporary connectivity solution enabled employees to work immediately from the new location, avoiding delays while waiting for the leased line installation.
Minimal Downtime
Both the initial relocation and final return of the infrastructure were completed out of hours, resulting in virtually no disruption to day-to-day operations.
