Sports Club Scores in Security with WatchGuard
Challenge
Formed in 1879, Leicestershire County Cricket Club (LCCC) are one of eighteen first-class county cricket clubs and are based at the 5,500 capacity Grace Road stadium in Leicester. The club has won numerous championships, including three County Championships, three Benson and Hedges Cups, and three Twenty20 Cups. In addition to the venue for Leicestershire games, the location also hosts Women’s International Cricket and is a popular venue for meetings, conferences and concerts – including a 2016 visit from Elton John.
In order to better serve their visitor base, LCCC wanted to provide fast, extensive and secure Wi-Fi access to all guests. To that end, LCCC wanted to segment the guest and corporate Wi-Fi networks to prevent unauthorized access to their internal network. For the guest network, the club also wanted to be able to block risky content on malicious sites. With all this in mind, LCCC turned to its managed service provider (MSP), Your IT Department, to look for a solution to replace its aging Alcatel access points. With Your IT Department’s recommendation and management expertise, LCCC found WatchGuard to meet all their needs when looking for a new Wi-Fi solution. “We had received complaints from our supporters and corporate clients that our previous Alcatel Wi-Fi solution was too slow. It also didn’t offer the security and desired coverage we needed,” explains Jack Bradley, marketing and projects manager, Leicestershire County Cricket Club.
Solution
WatchGuard Firebox M370 appliances have now been installed at the club. The WatchGuard UK team were closely involved in the project and were instrumental in helping to design the solution and supporting the deployment. With the full Total Security Suite enabled, LCCC received multi-layered security to protect their networks. WebBlocker, a feature in the Total Security Suite, enables LCCC to have the content and URL filtering they need for their guest network.
To obtain extensive Wi-Fi coverage, various WatchGuard AP420 and AP322 access points were installed. This allowed LCCC to extend Wi-Fi access to all their visitors while segmenting the guest network from the corporate one. Wi-Fi Cloud was also enabled, which gave LCCC the extra visibility into their Wi-Fi network.
“Network security is provided by a WatchGuard firewall, paired with access points to provide secure Internet access for both the public and our employees. Public Wi-Fi access is secured from the corporate network and content filtering on the firewall means that the public can’t access risky content,” noted Jack.
Results
With the new WatchGuard Fireboxes and access points in place, LCCC can now provide reliable and secure Wi-Fi access to their visitors. On top of that, the club found the deployment process straightforward and easy, even with the number of appliances they installed to cover the club’s needs. Jack concludes, “We've received feedback from members and supporters that the public Wi-Fi is much improved this season. Thanks to WatchGuard, we now have better and more consistent coverage. Plus, our MSP was very professional and helpful whenever we contacted them, which made this experience simple and painless.”