Greater-Toronto Based Library Modernizes its Digital Workspace 

Customer

Brampton Public Library (BPL) is one of Canada’s largest public library systems, serving a diverse and growing community with a strong focus on accessibility, information security, and operational excellence.

Challenge

As cyber threats increased and collaboration requirements evolved, Brampton Public Library identified limitations in its existing Google Workspace environment.

The organization needed to:

• Strengthen cybersecurity and threat protection capabilities
• Improve centralized management and governance
• Align with Microsoft’s enterprise productivity and security ecosystem
• Migrate email, documents, and collaboration tools with minimal operational impact

Given the size of the organization and the critical nature of public services, the migration required a low-risk, well-governed approach with clear communication and stakeholder alignment.

The Solution

Sentia delivered a comprehensive, phased migration from Google Workspace to Microsoft Office 365, with a strong focus on security, planning, and change management. They started with a thorough assessment of data, usage, and security controls, and establishing a clear communication plan with key stakeholders. The Microsoft 365 tenant was configured to BPL’s operational and security requirements, including domain setup, role-based license assignments, Exchange Online Protection, and a detailed staged migration plan with risk mitigation strategies.

The migration was completed in validated phases to reduce disruption, moving email, documents, and collaboration data to Exchange Online, OneDrive, and SharePoint Online while deploying Microsoft Defender for added security. Afterward, Sentia tested the environment, resolved issues, trained staff, and handed over all documentation and configurations to BPL’s IT team, ensuring a smooth transition and full operational readiness.

The Value of Partnership 

Sentia’s structured methodology, public-sector experience, and cybersecurity expertise enabled Brampton Public Library to modernize its digital workplace with confidence. The new Microsoft 365 environment provides a secure, resilient foundation that supports collaboration, protects sensitive information, and positions the library for future growth.

“Sentia’s professionalism, deep analysis, consultative approach & knowledge of Castool’s environment and quality of services have been the key driving factors as to why we partner with them the most. We are at our best when we partner together."

- Shawn Wei, IT Administrator
CasTool Tooling Systems

Solution

Any time a project extends beyond borders the logistics and risks increase considerably however with an experienced team behind Castool they had confidence that our recommended solution would deliver value and give them peace of mind, greater productivity and a platform that would support their future needs.

The scope of the project included the following key technological components:

• A complete modernization of Castool’s storage architecture which included the deployment of the IBM Storwize SAN storage for improved data protection, availability, and ease of management for storing the company’s sensitive data
• Lenovo x86 servers to upgrade the aging compute environment and making it more highly available through virtualization and clustering
• VMware to improve management, business continuity and resiliency 
• Sentia professional services to architect, configure & implement the entire solution

Sentia’s discovery phase involved a pre-validation process to confirm that the existing environment in Thailand would be able to sustain the new infrastructure being shipped to Castool’s plant. Sentia organized the shipping of all components of the new solution to Thailand.  Once delivery was confirmed, Sentia’s lead Solution Engineer, along with Castool’s Canadian IT Manager, made the 13000+ km journey to Thailand, to collaborate with CasTool’s Thailand team and implement the proposed solution.  This was all accomplished in under 10 days. 

In the end, Sentia was able to deliver a high value solution with a high degree of risk and complexity on a limited budget and tight timeline.  

“What made Sentia’s expertise stand out was their tailored approached to developing customizable solutions to meet Castool’s budget and overall expectations,” Mr. Wei emphasized.

Castool now enjoy a modernized technology solution with the flexibility to scale to either a public, private or hybrid cloud when the time is right.