The Salvation Army

About The Salvation Army

The Salvation Army New Zealand (TSA) is part of the global Christian charitable organisation that has fought poverty, social and spiritual distress here since 1883.

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The local organisation delivers community ministries, rehabilitation and addiction services, Family Stores, housing, youth programmes, food banks and disaster relief across New Zealand, Fiji, Tonga and Samoa, helping more than 150,000 people in need each year.
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The Challenge

Over eight years, The Salvation Army's network had evolved organically, with separate vendors handling wireless, Internet and cabling at different locations. This piecemeal approach often resulted in network outages and slow response times, with some staff members reporting that their home office connections outperformed the networks at their own workplaces.
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With around 150 of its sites running on ageing, undersized devices and only 100 centres covered by any preferred network solution, the scale and diversity of requirements – from low traffic storage hubs to high density community centres – made it challenging for TSA's internal IT team to maintain consistent performance or take ownership of network health.

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The Solution

Cello began by conducting in-depth discovery workshops and site audits, interviewing local managers to understand the unique connectivity needs of each location.
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Armed with these insights, we designed a fit-for-purpose network built around HPE Aruba Wi-Fi 6 access points and modular switches to replace the legacy environment.

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This hardware was overlaid with a cloud-managed SmartLAN and SmartWAN architecture, enabling Cello's 24/7 Network Operations Centre to monitor every site in real-time and proactively resolve issues before they impacted users.
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Cello's commitment to supporting TSA's operations in the Pacific Islands, particularly in Fiji, where other suppliers had fallen short, further strengthened the partnership. Cello was willing to creatively engage with the TSA's unique challenges and provide tailored solutions that aligned with the organisation's goals.
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For smaller, low-use locations – such as storage facilities and smaller retail outlets – Cello deployed cost-effective cable-only connections with streamlined configurations.

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At high-traffic community hubs and residential centres, we tuned Quality of Service policies to prioritise mission-critical traffic and set up dedicated guest Wi-Fi zones to support local clients accessing essential online services.

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