In an Interview with Riaan Roode, founder, and MD of WaRCoM Business Solutions, we discussed their recent Wi-Fi rollout at a rural school in Kwa-Zulu Natal. Read more below for the details on the solution and find out how it reduced callouts and transformed the Wi-Fi experience at the school.

Q: “Tell us more about WaRCoM Business Solutions?”

A: “WaRCoM Business Solutions was established in Amanzimtoti in 2003 with the focus of the business being IT support. Our first customer was a renowned Finance Group and we initially provided support to their branches in the KZN region. This eventually led to us securing the contract to provide the IT support for the entire group nationally, and subsequently internationally.

We established a national footprint of support structures which has since grown to where we now can provide support to businesses in all nine provinces nationally, with immediate support in Cape Town, Johannesburg, and Durban, branching out to areas like East London, Port Elizabeth, Louis Trichardt, Welkom, and Newcastle.  Internationally we can offer support services in Tanzania, Malawi, Kenya, Uganda, Gaborone, and Namibia through our partners or a network of 3^rd party associates.”

Q: “A national and international footprint is quite impressive. What are the services that you offer?”

A: “WaRCoM Business Solutions, as our name indicates, provides, and assists small, medium, and large businesses with technology solutions that ensure that those businesses reach and maintain their full potential. These solutions range from the provision of hardware, software and general IT support to network design, PBX systems as well as CCTV installation, marketing, web, and graphic design as well as hosting. Our main drive and focus are Cloud Solutions combined with ISP and SD-WAN solutions. Holding gold status on suppliers like Microsoft and Sophos, to name a few, provides us with the ability to offer services at a cost-effective price to our business partners.”

Q: “The project at the school, did it initially start as a Wi-Fi upgrade?”

A: “Initially, no. As the preferred IT solutions partner for the school, we were requested to upgrade the school’s firewall solution. When we upgraded the school to a new Sophos Firewall, we discovered that their existing ‘older’ Wi-Fi access points were not supported by the Firewall. 

Based on our relationship with MiRO, we went into discussions to establish a solution.  It came about that a Grandstream GWN Wi-Fi installation would address the issues of the school.

Due to the ease of use through the GDMS platform, this solution was ideal as it provides us with a single portal to manage, control and diagnose all our Grandstream devices, without needing to access the end-customer computer or use a VPN to gain access to the WebGUI of the devices.

It also provides more advanced diagnostic and configuration settings available via the WebGUI, such as Ping/Traceroute, Packet Capture, Network Stability, and more. Going forward, all our Grandstream GRP26XX and WP820 model VoIP phones will be added to this portal to lower support costs and improve solution times for our customers. We also like the fact that the Grandstream products come with a standard 3-year warranty, fully supported by MiRO.

We want to thank MiRO for not only suggesting Grandstream as the solution but for also getting involved and sponsoring the school’s new access points. It is great that a company lives up to its motto of empowering connectivity and communities.”

Q: “How can customers get in touch with WaRCoM?”

A: “Customers can get in touch with us by sending an e-mail to sales@warcom.co.za, or calling us on 087 353 8288 - our national sales number.”

For more information on Grandstream Wi-Fi Access points, you can also click here, alternatively, you can get in touch with us at sales@miro.co.za or 012 657 0960.