When Growth Outpaces Infrastructure
A leading UK regional ISP approached SCH Tech with a critical challenge: their network infrastructure had grown faster than their ability to manage it. Years of organic expansion and staff changes had created significant operational risks. Equipment failures, security exposures, and documentation gaps threatened service delivery to customers across 35+ points of presence.
SCH Tech’s comprehensive network audit and remediation approach successfully highlighted the key issues within their business allowing the client to form a plan to move forward with remediation resourcing and delivery.
When Growth Outpaces Infrastructure
The client faced mounting pressure:
- Network devices are failing at one per week, with no approved replacement budget
- Single points of failure are putting thousands of customers at risk
- No unified view of assets across a large number of network ranges
- Security issues identified and reported during a vulnerability assessment
- Configuration backups procedure audited and updates provided
- Critical knowledge held by departing staff
Sound familiar? These challenges affect regional ISPs and growing networks across the UK.
More Than a Health Check: The SCH Tech Network Audit Framework
SCH Tech developed a structured audit methodology to deliver clarity, not opinions. Our framework examines five critical areas:
- Asset Discovery – Do you know every device on your network? We deploy automated discovery across all IP ranges to build a complete inventory with serial numbers, software versions, and support status.
- Configuration Analysis – Are your devices configured securely and consistently? We extract and analyse configurations to identify security weaknesses, credential exposure, and compliance gaps.
- Resilience Mapping – Where are your single points of failure? We map the physical and logical topologies to identify redundancy gaps and quantify the business impact.
- Security Assessment – What vulnerabilities exist in your estate? We assess firmware versions against CVE databases and identify exposures prioritised by severity.
- Physical Validation – Does your documentation match reality? We conduct on-site audits with photographic evidence to verify asset registers and identify undocumented changes.
This framework delivers actionable findings.
Real Results, Real Impact
Before the Audit:
- Daily uncertainty about network state
- Manual, incomplete configuration backups
- Unknown vulnerability exposure
- Investment decisions based on assumptions
- No prioritised remediation plan
After the Audit:
- Complete asset inventory across 150,000+ IP addresses
- Automated configuration backup change requirements presented
- CVE exposures identified and prioritised
- Evidence-based CAPEX and OPEX requirements
- 24 specific remediation actions ranked by business impact
The audit provided the evidence investors and stakeholders needed to make informed decisions and understand resource and cost to mitigate the issues and build a saleable asset.
What the Client Received
- Network Asset Register: Complete inventory of all devices with serial numbers, software versions, support status, and physical locations.
- Physical and Logical Topology Maps: Visual documentation of all 35+ POPs, interlinks, routing domains, and redundancy paths.
- Lifecycle and Supportability Heatmap Green/Amber/Red risk visualisation showing end-of-life equipment, unsupported firmware, and contract gaps.
- Security Findings Summary: CVE assessment identifying potential vulnerability exposures across the estate, prioritised by severity and exploitability.
- Site-by-Site Risk Assessment: Individual reports for each location covering configuration health, resilience gaps, and utilisation metrics.
- Remediation Roadmap: Phased plan with areas of concern categorised as Critical (P1), High (P2), and Medium (P3) priority.
- Rack Infrastructure Remediation Plan: Physical audit findings with photographic evidence and bill of materials for improvements.
Beyond the Audit: Lasting Value
SCH Tech does not audit networks and walk away. The client retained:
- A fully deployed monitoring stack (LibreNMS, Grafana, Oxidised, NetBox)
- Automated device discovery running across all network ranges
- Configuration backup requirements for ongoing protection
- Documentation templates and processes for future use
- Knowledge transfer to internal teams
The audit delivered immediate findings. The tooling delivers ongoing visibility.
Is Your Network a Black Box?
If you are preparing for investment due diligence, concerned about technical debt, or need visibility into an ageing network estate, SCH Tech delivers the answers.
Our Network Infrastructure Audit includes:
- Automated discovery across all IP ranges
- Configuration security analysis
- CVE vulnerability assessment
- Physical site validation
- Prioritised remediation roadmap
- Deployed monitoring platform, you keep
- Preparation for mergers & aquisitions with experienced management consultants
Contact SCH Tech to schedule your network audit and transform uncertainty into actionable intelligence.
Get in touch to discuss your requirements.
SCH Tech Limited delivers network infrastructure audits, IT transformations, CRM Audits, and technical consulting for businesses facing complex technology challenges or conducting due dilligence for mergers and aquisitions or linear exit.
