One Small Thing Awards Groundbreaking ‘Hope Street’ Connectivity

Reading, UK – 15 June 2023: TP-Link, the leading global provider of networking and smart home technologies, has confirmed that it has been selected as the internet connectivity supplier of choice for One Small Thing within its Hope Street project located in Hampshire, UK.

Creating key communities

Opening this Summer, Hope Street is a pioneering residential community for women and their children affected by the justice system. The project provides an alternative to women receiving short custodial sentences for non-violent crimes, being held in custody on Remand, or being unable to take up release from prison for lack of safe housing.

Hope Street takes its responsibility to its residents very seriously, enabling and supporting educational initiatives as well as ensuring a range of support is in place. Internet connectivity allows women to access and apply for training or work, keep in contact with family or provide evidence in justice proceedings, which is increasingly managed remotely via internet video calls. To ensure that systems ran as effectively as possible from an operational point of view, access to a reliable internet connection, and associated Wi-Fi, was of critical importance.

The organisation wanted to find a suitable technology partner that could deliver an effective, secure, network across the two-storey building with eight shared flats incorporating 24 bedrooms, an onsite office and a fully operational café providing work for the residents and that the local community would also be welcomed to use.

Given the varying needs of the residents, community guests and the One Small Thing team based onsite, it was critical that network security capabilities were also very carefully assessed.

Omada Exceeds Expectations

One Small Thing awarded the contract to TP-Link for its Omada product suite after a comprehensive review of the market in which they assessed product portfolios, ease of operability, maintenance programmes, after-sales service, customer support and price.

Omada’s Software Defined Networking (SDN) platform met all expectations and needs, integrating network devices, including access points, switches, and gateways, and providing 100 percent centralised cloud management. It also created a highly scalable network, controlled from a single interface which can also be accessed remotely for ease of maintenance.

A blueprint for the future

“The TP-Link team was incredibly supportive throughout the sales process and helped us greatly as we determined the exact specification that would enable Hope Street to become a truly smart home,” said Jane Smith, Community Director at One Small Thing. “The team prepared a site survey, which included a heat map of key points of connectivity and effectively summarised our top three priorities so we could move forward quickly with defining the wider infrastructure demands. Our ambition is that Hope Street becomes an important blueprint for future projects, and the stark reality is that it would be very challenging to meet our goals if the supporting technology networks weren’t reliable.”

Founded on a commitment to drive systemic change for women and their children involved with the justice system, One Small Thing designed and built Hope Street as an active pilot for a new approach to working with justice involved women. In creating a residential space such as this, women will benefit from a positive and compassionate environment, overall achieving improved outcomes for them, their children and society.

“The TP-Link team was delighted to be involved in a ground-breaking initiative such as this,” said Will Liu, Managing Director at TP-Link. “For the next five years the methodology behind the project, and its effectiveness, will be actively measured and reported against by Southampton University and it’s very rewarding to know that our technology is beating at the heart of Hope Street.”

-ENDS-

About One Small Thing:

One Small Thing’s vision is a justice system that can recognise, understand, and respond to trauma. Our mission is to redesign the justice system for women and their children. Through Hope Street One Small Thing aim to create a blueprint that can be replicated and scaled nationally. They also educate people within the justice system on the impact of trauma and draw on their knowledge and expertise to help build capacity within organisations. One Small Thing work to influence politicians and policy makers to encourage culture change across the justice system and the people who work within it. https://onesmallthing.org.uk/

About TP-Link:

Founded in 1996, TP-Link is a global provider of reliable networking devices and accessories, involved in all aspects of everyday life. The company is ranked by analyst firm IDC as the world’s No.1 provider of Wi-Fi devices, distributing its technology to more than 170 countries and serving billions of people worldwide.

With a proven heritage of stability, performance, and value, TP-Link has created a portfolio of innovative consumer, business, and ISP networking products. Now, as the connected lifestyle continues to evolve, the company is expanding its business domain into consumer electronics, IoT, and security technologies to meet the demands of tomorrow. www.tp-link.com

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