Network Communication is Child's Play for Halsall

David Halsall International Limited was founded half a century ago by David Halsall, the father of the current managing director. From offices based in Southport, Lancashire, the company began selling UK-manufactured toys and fireworks and has grown to become the largest privately owned toy company in the UK, with annual turnover in excess of £65million and overseas offices in Paris and Hong Kong.

Halsall is a preferred supplier to all the leading high street stores, and was presented with the British Association of Toy Retailers “Toy Company of the Year 1998/1999” award. Its head office - now based in Fleetwood - contains the largest toy showroom in the world, with over 12,000 sq ft displaying more than 6,000 product lines, including inflatables, pocket money lines and licensed premium brands including Tweenies, JCB, Barbie, The Simpsons and many more.
To support Halsall’s international presence, an effective IT system is vital to underpin communication between its two sites in the UK, its field based sales team, and overseas offices in Paris and Hong Kong.

The company’s Hong Kong office was established in 1997 with two members of staff operating peer to peer networked PCs, with dial up connections to the UK for email purposes. As the office expanded, the peer to peer network also grew (to a current level of 30 users), and more and more staff were dialling back to the UK for their email. In addition, as each new PC was purchased, the software had to be remotely installed from the UK.

Halsall IT Manager John Lord explained: “Although it initially worked well, the dial-up system was undoubtedly limited in its operation as Hong Kong staff had to instigate a call to send or receive email. This raised issues of cost and efficiency, and we felt that inter-office communication and support for the remote PCs - previously facilitated through PC Anywhere - must both be improved. For these and other reasons, including the rapid increase of business in the Far East and the plans we have for the future, we decided that a better solution was required - one which would also provide us with a sound basis for adding further systems to support our development.”

Halsall had worked with JMC for a number of years, relying on the company to fully support its UK IT infrastructure. JMC’s consultants demonstrated a sound understanding of Halsall’s objectives regarding its development, and recommended a Citrix MetaFrame solution running on a web server based at the Fleetwood head office, and a VPN (Virtual Private Network), accessed via the Internet by remote users in the Hong Kong office and mobile users worldwide.

JMC has been an accredited partner of Citrix Systems Inc, a global leader in application server software, since the mid-1990s. Citrix MetaFrame solutions deliver an effective virtual workplace, by enabling PCs and other network appliances to seamlessly access all applications over the Internet or through LAN (Local Area Network), WAN (Wide Area Network), dial-up or wireless connections, and allow them to look, feel and perform as if they are running on a local desktop.

JMC installed the solutions, including hardware, cabling and software, and recommended a firewall anti-virus solution to provide further protection for Halsall’s investment. In addition, JMC consultants were instrumental in negotiating an improved ISP (Internet Service Provider) connection in the Far East to enable the system to operate at optimum efficiency, and its technicians provide essential support by telephone, on-site and remotely via modem. As a result, cross-office communications have significantly improved and Halsall staff in the Hong Kong office have gained reliable, high speed access to network data and support facilities in the UK.

The solution has been so successful that Halsall has extended the use of the MetaFrame system to all its UK field based staff. John Lord added: “The system has met its objective. We are currently conducting a globalisation process, whereby all Hong Kong and UK systems come into line. Without the MetaFrame system we would be unable to achieve this, so I would say it has been a great success. It has opened up our IT systems globally, and also means that implementation of new systems can be achieved more quickly and easily than ever before.”