Established in 1945, Reynolds Catering Supplies is a legend in the world of UK grocery. The sole family-run greengrocer to work on a national scale, the company now employs over 1,200 staff and distributes more than 3,000 types of fresh and chilled foods from around the globe to businesses across the UK.

The grocer’s National Distribution Centre (NDC), in Hertfordshire, is the standard-bearer for the business. Spanning 140,000 square feet, it’s the nucleus of a hub that gets Reynolds produce to kitchens around the country every day.

When the original wireless network started to tire, Reynolds IT department decided to act fast and upgrade to the best in modern technology. After demoing Aruba Central with the leadership team, Qolcom was chosen to oversee the transformation.

From our experience in the logistics sector, we knew that only the toughest access points would survive. The Aruba 560 series was precisely what Reynolds needed. Moisture and dust, salt spray and frost, high winds and hard knocks – the 560 series withstands them all. Combining AP565 and AP567 models we delivered a robust, responsive and secure system that rejuvenates the NDC and reaffirms its status as a centre of excellence.

It helped that the Aruba technology could easily integrate with Reynolds handheld computers and scanners (by Zebra Technologies). Thanks to the Aruba UXI agent for Zebra helpdesk tickets are fewer, downtime is cut and it’s quick to trace network issues to their causes.

According to Janko Obucina, Senior IT Systems Engineer at Reynolds, “It was a true ‘out of the box’ upgrade. Usually, you expect some noise from users but in this case everyone was quiet. It’s the mark of a successful deployment when it happens without comment.”