AtonRa Partners - IT Infrastructure & Telephony

Sector:Finance / IT Infrastructure

Period: 2015-2018

Client:AtonRa Partners (financial management company, Geneva)

Context

AtonRa Partners is a financial management company created by professionals from major financial institutions. Used to working withLotus Notes, BlackBerry, and large-scale corporate infrastructures,they launched their own structure and wanted torecreate the technological environment they were familiar with..

My role: to design and deploy their complete IT infrastructure (servers, telephony, remote access, applications) while guiding them towards solutions suited to their reality as a financial SME.

Problem

Transition challenge:

• Clients used tomassive corporate infrastructures(Lotus Notes, BlackBerry, heavy proprietary systems)
• High expectations in terms of functionality and reliability
• Budget and company size do not allow for exact replication of these environments.

Technical challenge:

• To create a professional, secure, and reliable IT infrastructurefor a financial company. pour une société financière
• Meeting real needs without over-sizing or replicating obsolete or unsuitable systems
• Integrating telephony, servers, remote access, business applications
• Ensuring security and confidentiality (finance sector)

Support challenge:

• Educate and offer alternatives: shifting from "I want Lotus Notes" to "here's what really meets your needs"
• Comparing solutions (open source vs Microsoft vs others)
• Reducing costs without sacrificing quality or security

Solution

Phase 1: Analysis of real needs

Approach:

• Audit of expressed needs vs real needs
• Identification of concrete uses: email, collaboration, document management, telephony, remote access, business applications
• Understanding constraints: security, confidentiality, financial regulations

Result:Definition of a specifications document adapted to the reality of a financial SME (not a multinational)

Phase 2: Comparative study and proposal of solutions

Analysis conducted:

• Comparison of alternatives: open source (Linux, Zimbra, Asterisk) vs Microsoft (Exchange, Active Directory, Skype for Business) vs proprietary solutions
• Evaluation criteria: costs (licenses, maintenance), features, ease of use, security, scalability
• Recommendations: optimal hybrid solutions for their needs

Final proposal:

• Server infrastructure: Windows Server + Active Directory (centralized access and security management)
• Messaging and collaboration: Microsoft Exchange (replacement of Lotus Notes with smooth migration)
• Telephony: VoIP system (cost reduction, flexibility)
• Remote access: Secure VPN + Remote Desktop Services
• Business applications: Cloud and on-premise solutions tailored to the financial sector

Benefits :

• Significant cost reduction(open source or Microsoft SME licenses vs massive corporate solutions)
• Response to real needs(no over-engineering)
• Modern and scalable infrastructure

Phase 3 : Infrastructure deployment

Achievements :

Servers and network :

• Installation and configuration of servers (Windows Server, Active Directory)
• Secure network architecture (firewall, segmentation, backups)
• Security policy and access management

Messaging and collaboration :

• Microsoft Exchange deployment
• Migration from Lotus Notes (emails, contacts, calendars)
• Client configuration (Outlook, mobile)
• User training

Telephony :

• VoIP system installation
• Configuration of lines and extensions
• Integration with collaboration tools

Remote access :

• Secure VPN Configuration
• Remote Desktop Services for application access
• Security policies for remote work

Business applications:

• Integration of financial management tools
• Configuration of secure access
• Testing and validation

Phase 4: Training and support

Transition support:

• Training teams on new tools (Exchange vs Lotus Notes, VoIP, remote access)
• Documentation of procedures
• Support for changing habits
• Technical support during the ramp-up phase

Result

Deliverables:

• Complete and operational IT infrastructure
• Servers, network, security, backups
• Messaging and collaboration (Exchange)
• Integrated VoIP telephony
• Secure remote access
• Configured business applications
• Technical and user documentation

Impact:

• Professional and reliable infrastructuresuitable for a financial company
• Cost reduction: 40-50% cheaper than reproducing the original corporate environment
• Better productivity: modern tools, smooth remote access, effective collaboration
• Security and compliance: financial regulations respected
• Team autonomy: successful training, adoption of new tools

Client relationship:

• Transition from an initial request ("recreate Lotus Notes") to a suitable and modern solution
• Trust established through support and technical expertise
• Foundation for long-term collaboration (see AtonRa project - Growth 2017)

Tags:projects, IT, infrastructure, finance, Geneva, AtonRa, servers, telephony, Microsoft, 2014-2015