Herbert Smith has begun the implementation phase of a massive project to completely replace its core IT infrastructure.
The firm's IT department is replacing all of its servers – mostly Hewlett-Packard kit – with new Compaq machines, to provide a common platform for the firm's systems.
The project also involves the installation of completely new storage and back-up facilities and a reconfiguration of the firm's network.
This includes setting up a remotely hosted mirror site in Docklands, to which all critical systems – such as document management, billing and e-mail – will stream data in real time.
John Rogers, IT director at Herbert Smith, described the overhaul as a "rare luxury", allowing the IT department to set up a completely new system alongside the existing one.
He said this enabled IT staff to optimise the performance and integration of all the firm's software applications by loading duplicate systems onto the new network and testing it exhaustively before transferring the data across from the old one.
One important element of the project is the installation of an e-mail archiving system, Enterprise Vault from KVS.
Herbert Smith's deployment of Enterprise Vault – essentially a network in its own right, comprising two servers and a storage cabinet – will replace the current requirement for lawyers to print all their e-mails, which are then filed manually by secretaries.