Engagement Overview
NetSec, an IT managed service provider, engaged Everyday Communications in 2023 to lead a specialist Cisco telephony transformation for their enterprise client Metropolitan Gaming a major operator within the UK casino and hospitality sector.
The objective was to modernise and fortify Metropolitan Gaming’s unified communications environment, ensuring resilience, reliability, and operational continuity across multiple casino locations operating 24/7.
Through technical leadership, structured governance, and precision-led execution, Everyday Communications delivered a highly resilient Cisco UC architecture, establishing an enterprise-grade telephony platform capable of supporting continuous operations in a regulated, revenue-critical environment.
Business Challenge
Metropolitan Gaming required an upgrade to its on-premises Cisco Call Manager and Unity Connection platforms to introduce SIP trunking redundancy via dual Session Border Controllers (SBCs).
The organisation faced several key challenges:
- Single points of failure across the telephony environment threatened business continuity.
- Limited maintenance windows due to 24/7 casino operations restricted implementation flexibility.
- Fragmented change processes risked disruption to customer-facing services.
- Lack of tested resiliency between SBCs and core telephony nodes.
- No unified documentation or rollback framework, increasing operational risk during cutover.
Metropolitan Gaming and NetSec required a trusted Cisco specialist capable of designing and executing a zero-downtime migration strategy that would deliver measurable operational resilience.
Our Approach
Everyday Communications deployed a Cisco-certified telephony consultant to architect, implement, and govern the migration.
The engagement was structured across four key delivery pillars:
Discovery & Design Validation
- Conducted a full review of the existing Cisco Call Manager and Unity Connection topology.
- Identified operational gaps in SIP trunk design, call routing, and voice resiliency.
- Defined a dual-SBC architecture enabling seamless SIP failover and redundancy.
- Mapped all dependencies between SBCs, PSTN gateways, and internal voice routing domains.
Implementation Strategy & Change Control
- Developed detailed runbooks, rollback plans, and test scripts aligned to ITIL standards.
- Scheduled migration activities within an approved 2-hour change window to minimise business disruption.
- Coordinated all technical teams (NetSec, Metropolitan Gaming IT, and Everyday Communications) to ensure synchronised execution.
Migration Execution & Validation
- Performed the Cisco Call Manager and Unity Connection upgrade.
- Deployed and configured dual SBCs to achieve SIP trunk resiliency.
- Enhanced Auto-Attendant workflows to streamline customer call handling.
- Conducted full User Acceptance Testing (UAT) across casino branches to validate voice continuity and call quality.
Post-Implementation Support & Knowledge Transfer
- Provided hypercare support following migration.
- Delivered configuration documentation, topology diagrams, and change validation reports.
- Transitioned ongoing operational support to a retained BAU model under NetSec’s managed service agreement.
Strategic Value Added
Beyond technical delivery, Everyday Communications introduced measurable business and operational value:
- Operational Resilience: Introduced fault-tolerant SIP trunking with automatic failover, eliminating single points of failure.
- Governance Excellence: Established disciplined change control and validation aligned with enterprise ITIL frameworks.
- Service Continuity: Executed migration within strict time constraints, maintaining uninterrupted business operations.
- Partnership Synergy: Acted as a seamless technical extension of NetSec, enabling unified delivery to Metropolitan Gaming.
- Knowledge Retention: Delivered comprehensive artefacts ensuring long-term maintainability and operational transparency.
Key Results & Outcomes
- Successfully upgraded and validated Cisco Unified Communications across all casino sites.
- Achieved high-availability SIP trunking with automated redundancy and failover.
- Improved telephony stability and performance across critical operational environments.
- Delivered migration with zero unplanned downtime within a limited maintenance window.
- Established a retained operational support framework for ongoing MAC and configuration requests.
Strategic Impact
Everyday Communications’ involvement extended far beyond implementation, it provided architectural governance, operational assurance, and partnership stability across a high-risk, time-sensitive migration.
By embedding rigorous change management and resilient design principles, Everyday Communications ensured Metropolitan Gaming’s communications infrastructure now operates at enterprise-grade reliability, capable of sustaining 24/7 casino operations with zero interruption.
