About Watford Borough Council
Anthony Nolan, now in its 40th anniversary year, was the world's first bone marrow register. The blood cancer charity has been saving lives for four decades by matching remarkable people willing to donate their bone marrow to patients in desperate need of a transplant.
Anthony Nolan operates an extensive global database of over 500,000 bone marrow, or stem cell, donors. This database enables the charity to provide over 1,000 blood cancer patients with a matching stem cell donor every year.
Anthony Nolan decided to migrate its existing infrastructure, previously housed in its headquarters in London, to two data centre sites operated by Exponential-e in London. Key to the solution is improving business continuity through migrating the servers to these sites and therefore into dedicated off-site facilities.
Anthony Nolan chose to adopt Exponential-e's VPLS into the solution, Exponential-e's Tier 3 facilities have enterprise-class connectivity provided over a Network built and integrated for 100% uptime.
By connecting over Exponential-e's virtual private LAN, Anthony Nolan is also able to extend its own Network to capture all of its offices on one private WAN. The Network also provides dual resilience enabling further contingency and security.
Our database is accessed 24 hours a day and is essential in ensuring people with blood cancer have the best chance of finding a match. We need to ensure our data is safe, accessible and available at all times, now and in the future. As we continue growing year on year this demand is only increasing and we need to ensure we have the ability to expand our capacity in the future.
Marcin Fabjanczyk Infrastructure Manager, Anthony Nolan
With over 60,000 new donors registering per year, the rapid growth of the organisation and the volume of data it processes, means it is essential for Anthony Nolan to safeguard the management of its data to ensure business continuity. Registries across the world access the database 24 hours a day looking for a potential donor match for people with blood cancer.
If the database is not available or accessible, registries are not able to access it and this critical activity cannot take place.
Whilst the database must be constantly available, it also needs to be scalable. Anthony Nolan has a number of agreements with other donor databases, which are set to be incorporated into the same infrastructure - the set-up must be resilient enough to support this growth in data and the associated search requests.
In addition to this growth, the charity has targets to increase the rate of growth of registered donors, and is currently on track to achieve its target of 60,000 new donors every year. Its infrastructure must support this planned growth long-term.
Exponential-e worked closely with Havas to design a solution that would remove the complexity and duplication from the existing infrastructure and consolidate all 16 sites into a central Network, while ensuring each business unit remained secure from each other. Exponential-e engineers were able to overcome this challenge with a relatively simple Network design.
Single access points - To accommodate Havas' requirements, we deployed a multi-site Virtual Private LAN Service (VPLS) WAN solution using single, converged connections from each of the Havas offices. Each Havas business unit is now supported by our resilient Next Generation Network.
VPLS communities - To consolidate Havas' disparate WANs we needed to discover which agencies needed to be able to talk to each other. Once we had this information, we were able to group agencies into different VPLS pools to create mini-WANs. The fact that we were able to maintain LAN and WAN separacy means the solution is operationally simplistic and it gives Havas maximum control.
Centrally hosted hardware and services - We co-located the firewalls across two separate data centres using VLANs into the firewall. This means Havas can now benefit from centrally hosted firewalls which it has complete control over. Havas are able to change security policies and routing itself from one central point. The company also has centrally hosted Internet connectivity removing considerable complexity, duplication and cost from its wide area Networking.
Resiliency - Our pioneering NGN design in this instance was based on providing resilient and automated failover to secondary circuits at each site, whereby the local router will switch traffic automatically into the secondary circuit in the event of a failure on the primary circuit. In addition, we provided resilient connections to the centralised firewall to achieve automatic failover on the Internet service.
Convergence and separation - We created one unified Network but managed to maintain 100% security and separation for its individual business units. Most importantly Havas is in control and unnecessary cost and duplication have been eliminated.
The IP VPN solutions which we first considered required us to use highly-complex access-control lists. With the solution designed by Exponential-e, you don't have this headache as it's all done via secure Layer 2 broadcast domains.
Tony Farrington Havas.
There were a number of issues Havas had with its old Network. Firstly, the IP VPN solutions it was using required highly complex access-control lists on each site's CPE router to keep different business unit traffic secure from each other. This was proving very inflexible, time consuming and an administrative headache.
Havas' Network had also grown to include multiple Internet services which were operated by many of the individual business units. As a result of this, the company was having to manage multiple firewalls and Internet service suppliers which was proving to be an area of concern.
The business wanted to consolidate its Network of disparate Wide Area Networks (WANs) into one unified platform, whilst maintaining security between business unit communities. At the same time it wanted to centralise its Internet provision and security services so the company could eliminate a complex array of providers, bandwidths and underlying technologies.
InterQuest Group (InterQuest) is a market-leading IT and Analytics recruitment firm, which comprises a number of specialised recruitment units that operate specifically in one market segment, be it in the public sector, banking and finance, or in an area of technology such as testing, analytics or CRM. The Group operates from its head office in London and several branch offices. Specialising in contract and permanent IT recruitment, the Group trades as several distinctly branded, operating divisions.
A number of established and well-known suppliers within the market were considered for project delivery. InterQuest selected Exponential-e based on its technical expertise, receptive approach and value.
Exponential-e worked closely with InterQuest to deploy an eight site Wide Area Network (WAN) which extended between Yorkshire and Kent, as well as centralised Internet, security and backup solutions. Exponential-e began work with a redesign of InterQuest's existing infrastructure. The first phase of the network roll-out started with the various locations being brought on-net to Exponential-e's switched core Next Generation Network (NGN) for improved resilience.
The following phase saw Exponential-e provisioning virtual circuits over the access circuits required, allowing Exponential-e to establish full connectivity between all InterQuest office locations. By centralising the Internet connection in Exponential-e's facility, the Group's branch offices are no longer reliant on the head office for Internet connectivity, allowing for a more agile and flexible set-up.
In addition, Exponential-e configured a dedicated VPLS instance for InterQuest, providing a completely secure WAN. Exponential-e provided a Private DSL connection from the site through a new Virtual LNS instance into the existing InterQuest VPLS WAN. The new solution allows InterQuest to route voice over its internal network and save costs.
InterQuest was experiencing several issues with its existing network service. It had previously moved to a DSL based MPLS network, but still faced issues with inconsistent speeds. The service was proving to be unreliable and the company repeatedly faced prolonged downtime affecting business operations for days at a time.
Due to continued business success, InterQuest had grown to become a multi-site operation over the years; each specialist recruitment division operated as an individual business unit whilst some services within these were centralised. Many sites however, had started to experience performance issues and latency, and as a result they were becoming increasingly dependent on InterQuest's London head office.
The company was also finding its existing provider was unable to respond to its needs in fast time frames and connectivity was often lost, hence affecting inbound and outbound business communication. InterQuest had reached a point where its old network service was not reliable or fast enough to keep up with the demands and growth of the business.
The Group started searching for a new solution which was able to provide improved service levels, increased speed and cost savings on routing voice calls internally. With a view to plan long-term, InterQuest also sought a scalable platform which could grow with its business requirements.
The service was very professional from provisioning to delivery and nothing we asked for was too much trouble.
Chris Dunham IT Manager, InterQuest Group.
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Metropolitan Thames Valley (MTV) is a registered social landlord, based in Twickenham, South West London. The organisation owns, manages or administers loans for over 14,500 properties in London, Berkshire, Surrey, Hampshire, Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Wiltshire and Sussex. It provides affordable rented homes, shared ownership, market rent, student and key worker accommodation, working with eight NHS Trusts. Since its launch, MTV has maintained a successful record of growth and now has over 220 employees spread across its headquarters in Twickenham and seven site offices.
Exponential-e was selected to design and deploy a new fully converged nine site Network for MTV after being selected following a rigorous tender process. Deciding factors included proposed technology solution, level of technical expertise, housing association experience, company reputation, project management, quality of references, service level agreement and cost-effectiveness.
Exponential-e worked closely with MTV to design a flexible and cost-effective solution which would assist the move between MTV's existing headquarters and its temporary headquarters during the refurbishment, whilst providing a short-term solution to the organisation's traffic laden Internet circuit.
A nine site Wide Area Network (WAN) over Exponential-e's Layer 2 Virtual Private LAN Service (VPLS) Network was designed to connect the headquarters in Twickenham to three office sites and four remote sites. The robust WAN solution will ensure that MTV's services run smoothly during this period of transition and can cope with increasing capacity demand.
MTV also needed a Network versatile enough to support a range of large applications such as VoIP, Civica's Universal Housing system and Citrix's remote access suite, as well as being able to absorb any extra Network traffic generated.
The organisation's new protocol-agnostic next generation Network designed by Exponential-e, easily accommodates for any additional large applications or changes in Network bandwidth demand.
Universal Credit has been referred to as the biggest change to the welfare system of our generation; and its implementation is set to have a huge impact on housing associations. The shift from a range of social benefits to Universal Credit means that housing associations will inevitably communicate with tenants more frequently and attentively; and manage an increasing number of rent payments directly. Download and read our whitepaper: Using technology to improve housing services in the age of austerity.
With a number of years of continuous growth, TVH's existing Network had reached capacity and was unable to support the organisation's requirements. It faced limited amounts of bandwidth at crucial points on its Network, hampering its ability to operate efficiently and provide good customer service.
TVH's ICT Infrastructure Manager, Gerard Brown explained: "We had reached a point where we had to restrict traffic during various times of the day. But this still wasn't enough with all our remote offices coming in on one connection with very limited bandwidth."
After the organisation decided to relocate its headquarters temporarily for a year in order to undergo refurbishment, TVH quickly realised how restricted it was by the inflexible nature of legacy technology on which its current Network was based.
As a result, TVH decided to seek other options and sent out a tender for a new Network. Its new Network needed to support a wide range of large applications, be cost-effective and provide a high level of flexibility to cater for the temporary relocation of its headquarters.
Brown elaborated: "Our current Network wasn't up to the job or flexible enough to allow us to move with it. Extending it would have been very expensive as we would have had to add a lot of extra components. Exponential-e has taken VPLS technology that bit further, making our whole Network feel like one big Network, even with our remote office sites - effectively making our remote sites appear as if they are part of the same building. Exponential-e was able to provide the glowing reference and the technical expertise we needed to manage the relocation of our headquarters - making our choice simple."
By changing Network supplier, even though we had to break out of the existing contract early and pay a penalty fee, it still worked out more cost-effective to implement the new Network with Exponential-e. In addition, we can now run multiple services across our Network, which allows shared services between departments - making our assets go even further.
Gerard Brown ICT Infrastructure Manager, Metropolitan Thames Valley
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The International Cotton Association (ICA) is the world's leading international cotton trade association and arbitral body. It carries 170 years of history and a clear mission for the future to protect the legitimate interests of all those involved in the cotton trade.
Established in 1841, the ICA provides a worldwide service for the international sale, purchase and movement of raw cotton between producers, traders and consumers. The majority of the world's raw cotton is traded under ICA Bylaws & Rules and the ICA has more than 500 members, including some of the world's major cotton companies and affiliate industry firms. The organisation operates on a not-for-profit basis.
After comparing a number of solution providers rigorously, Exponential-e was selected. Key selection criteria included: technology, customer service, reputation, expertise and price.
Robert Jiang explained: "With the challenges we had faced, we really needed a supplier who could deliver great infrastructure and customer service. The face-to-face meeting with Exponential-e's technical team at its London Network Operations Centre assured us that it was able to deliver the whole package; reliable high-speed Internet connectivity, coupled with great customer service and expertise. And after speaking to a number of other organisations who all recommended Exponential-e's services we were confident that they would be the right choice for us."
Working closely with the ICA, Exponential-e ensured the new Internet connection was deployed timely to coincide with the Association's Liverpool office move.
The Association's new protocol-agnostic connection, delivered over an uncontended 100Mbps fibre-optic connection, easily accommodates for any additional large applications or changes in network bandwidth demand. Since deployment, the ICA has enjoyed a 100% uptime of its Internet connection.
In addition, employees can now easily access emails and company files remotely and backup is effortlessly carried out online. Jiang summarises his experience of Exponential-e: "Unlike some companies where you never speak to the same person and you are passed from one department to another; Exponential-e's approach is very personal, straightforward and proactive. We're always kept up-to-date and that's very reassuring as a customer."
A great advantage of Exponential-e's Internet service is that it's Layer 2, which means we can split our connection between multiple services in the future. This will help us to further reduce costs, streamline operations and provide a better service to our members - and this is key for us.
Robert Jiang Business Operations & Development Manager, ICA.
After facing Internet downtime, regular data peaks and with worldwide members relying on the ICA for fast and efficient resolutions to arbitration disputes, the ICA's legacy Internet connectivity was no longer suitable. The Internet downtime resulted in members not being able to to access the ICA website for vital information and the association was unable to communicate with members via email or audio conferencing.
Robert Jiang, Business Operations & Development Manager at the ICA explains: "Our main duty is to provide a good service to our worldwide members. So we have to ensure that we can be contacted at all times. And with strict response timelines for all arbitration cases, it's paramount that all communication is timely – whether that's via email or audio conferencing. With the Internet downtime we experienced, we simply were not able to offer the best quality service to our members. We needed a much more reliable and scalable solution."
Since the association often peaked in its bandwidth usage, even simple administration tasks such as backup proved to be difficult. In addition, accessing the company network remotely was a real challenge for staff. As a result, ICA began sourcing a more reliable solution provider which could offer the infrastructure and customer service levels needed to enable it to provide a better service to its member base.
"A great advantage of Exponential-e's Internet service is that it's Layer 2, which means we can split our connection between multiple services in the future. This will help us to further reduce costs, streamline operations and provide a better service to our members - and this is key for us." - Robert Jiang - Business Operations & Development Manager.
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