Gigabit Networks lights up the Midlands with Neos Networks' vast reach

Neos Networks is working with Gigabit Networks to bring high speed connectivity to the Midlands to bridge the digital divide.

Midlands

Introduction

Gigabit Networks has a vision to connect the Midlands. The alternative network provider, founded in 2019, is on a mission to bring high speed services to areas of the country that have historically struggled to establish reliable, high capacity connectivity.

Working in partnership with networking infrastructure providers, Neos Networks and CityFibre, Gigabit Networks is focused on improving connectivity in and around the ‘Golden Triangle’ of Nottingham, Leicester and Derby.

David Yates, co-founder of Gigabit Networks, says “Our initial research identified that 40,000 businesses are currently getting inadequate connectivity speeds. We felt that by offering ultra-fast, ultra-reliable connectivity to these regions, we could help them to digitally transform.”

The challenge

In partnership with CityFibre, Gigabit Networks is in the process of rolling out connectivity services to key cities across the Midlands including Derby, Coventry, Wolverhampton, Leicester and Nottingham.  The Full Fibre network in the cities will eventually cover up to 60,000 SME businesses and more than 750,000 households. As part of this, the business also hopes to offer high speed services to around 70,000 social housing residents, who have previously been denied access to high-speed internet – a problem that became particularly evident during the pandemic.

However, to roll out these services successfully, Gigabit Networks must ensure the underlying infrastructure is proven to be robust and resilient. To do this the alt net needed a scalable and reliable backhaul network. “When we looked in the marketplace and asked certain people for recommendations, the name that kept coming up was Neos Networks,” says Yates. “They’re investing a lot in their backbone network, and we knew instantly that they’d be able to provide the scalable backhaul services required to support our ambitions.”

The outcome

Having delivered exchange backhaul services to connectivity providers for a number of years Neos Networks was happy to help.

At Gigabit Networks request, Neos Networks delivered an initial 100Gbps Network-To-Network Interface (NNI) at Gigabit’s main data centre, based in Slough, as well as delivering exchange backhaul services from Derby and Coventry to the data centre. “This will provide us with enough capacity for between 5,000 – 6,000 subscribers across both cities,” says Yates.

Gigabit Networks has already placed additional orders for three more cities and its intentions are to provide enhanced connectivity in at least one more, in the region in partnership with Neos Networks.  As Yates says: “Time to market for these things is quite crucial. With Neos Networks, we know that their expansive network already serves the areas we’re targeting. This means that services can be delivered at speed. The faster we can get a service live, the better it will be for businesses and residents.”

Yates went on to say “The investment made in Neos Networks fibre footprint was not just in core cities but also second and third tier regions as well. This made them unique as it allowed them to offer high capacity connectivity in areas other providers couldn’t reach.”

Gigabit is also delivering on its goal to connect people in social housing to high-speed connectivity. “It’s very important for us that, what’s out there right now is not anywhere near where it needs to be to empower online learning and remote working. [Services are] difficult to find and not marketed well. We’re partnering with the cities and the housing associations and actively marketing this product to support social housing residents.”

Yates points out that the Midlands contains some of the most deprived areas of the UK. “You can make a difference here, by connecting communities. With Neos Networks, delivering our backhaul network we feel confident that we can deliver the service levels we want to provide our subscribers – we’re now actively reaching these local communities to help address their specific needs.”

“Especially coming out of the pandemic, we’ve realised how much reliable connectivity means to us all. We’re a digital nation now.”

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Seagreen connecting Scotland's largest offshore windfarms

When Seagreen Wind Energy needed to implement a flow of data between its planned substations and onshore operations centre, it looked to Neos Networks for communications infrastructure support.

Company Details
Seagreen

The Seagreen (Seagreen Wind Energy Ltd) is an offshore wind farm project in the Firth of Forth off the east coast of Scotland, with ambitions to be the nation’s largest generator of wind power in Scotland. Situated over 27km from the Angus coastline, the project will enable them to power up to one million homes each year with low carbon, renewable energy. But this substantial aspiration requires underlying high performing, reliable technology to help the UK continue to transform how it creates, stores and uses energy.

The scale and complexity of the project meant it was essential Seagreen created a partnership with a telecoms provider that could bring experience in critical infrastructure projects, and a proactive, problem solving mentality. Bringing vast experience and expertise working on renewables projects, Neos Networks was selected to play a vital role in keeping the business connected and their operations functioning.

The challenge

It is the responsibility of energy companies to adequately provide power or decrease generation as and when required. Neos Networks’ role will be to facilitate the flow of data between Seagreen’s planned substation and onshore operations centre, to allow for crucial data analysis. By enabling the transfer of data between on and offshore sites, access to important insights will now become available.

This will allow engineers to respond to changes in energy demand without having to leave the base to investigate in person. Analytics garnered via continuous monitoring can be fed back from the substation in real time, and adjustments can be made immediately. Faults at the substation can also be communicated back to the operations centre, so the engineer can be fully prepared before making any journey to carry out further examination or repairs.

“The UK needs to be generating 40GW of offshore wind power by 2030 to contribute toward net zero targets, so projects with the scale and ambition of Seagreen will be vital components of that low carbon vision.”

Mick McCaffery, Seagreen Systems Project Manager

The outcome

Neos Networks and Seagreen have been working collaboratively to install a comprehensive Wide Area Network (WAN) between the Seagreen substation at Tealing, Dundee and the operations centre in Montrose.

The current work will provide offshore wind farm engineers based at Montrose with the visibility of supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA), and technical equipment at Tealing needed to manage the distribution of power to the substation. This will maximise the operational efficiency of Seagreen and help it remain compliant from regulatory and health and safety perspectives.

The success of the ongoing work at Seagreen is due in no small part to Neos Networks’ prior experience of working in renewables, as well as its collaborative approach to the project. It will play a huge role in helping the UK meet its net zero targets, as well as provide an estimated £1bn boost to the nation’s economy. Once complete in 2022/23, the development will be capable of generating 1075MW from its 114 North Sea turbines – enough to power 40% of all Scottish homes.

“Neos Networks has a strong pedigree in delivering wind farm network infrastructure and a comprehensive understanding of the consequences, should a wind farm become un-operational. As such, we are confident they will bring the necessary experience and expertise to deliver a solution that will help prevent such a scenario. We’re pleased to have a partner of this calibre on board, which will undoubtedly be to the benefit of the region and the country at large.”

Mick McCaffery, Seagreen Systems Project Manager

SD-WAN technology improves Bakkavor’s resilience and continues its digital transformation

Neos Networks supports Bakkavor’s network transformation with SD-WAN technology

Company Details
Bakkavor

Bakkavor is the UK’s leading supplier of fresh prepared food (FPF) and employs more than 19,000 people globally. With over 22 UK food manufacturing facilities spread across the nation, and a further 14 across the US and China, the retail giant provides services from ready meals to desserts and pizzas. And while the lockdown year of 2020 caused many businesses to pause transformation projects, for Bakkavor the increased demand for fresh prepared food led to an acceleration of its digital plans.

The challenge

With multiple sites to serve, and a network that was probably past its sell-by date, Bakkavor’s plan to embrace digital transformation and move its software and data centre requirements to the cloud demanded not just a network overhaul, but a thorough review of what the market could offer and what would represent best global practice.

When looking for a connectivity partner to help support these ambitions, it was important the provider they chose was mindful not only of Bakkavor’s IT challenges but also of keeping its 24/7 manufacturing centres operating at full capacity.

Moving its Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software, and other business solutions, to the cloud to enable more centralised control and uniform service, demands the best in network speed, resilience, and latency.

In fact, given Bakkavor’s status as part of the UK’s critical national infrastructure, it could only consider moving vital business resources and systems to the cloud if uptime could be guaranteed, downtime could be virtually eliminated, and overall business efficiency improved even further.

The outcome

Working with Bakkavor’s team, Neos Networks outlined the benefits of designing a new Software Defined Wide Area Network (SD-WAN) that could use and integrate the very best connectivity at each location. SD-WAN creates a network overlay that can combine different traditional WAN and broadband connections to deliver a seamless view of the network regardless of the type of transport technology used.

SD-WAN also allows organisations to make real-time changes to bandwidth and instantly switch to different back-up technologies in the event of a point of failure. True resilience in the network is not only gained from a separate cable in an alternative duct, but also by having a separate system operating under the same SD-WAN control. This gives resilience at both a network level and a software control level and allows locations to be served by any transport mechanism, be that fibre, high-speed radio connectivity, or both.

Adopting SD-WAN from Neos Networks allowed Bakkavor to connect all of its manufacturing centres and offices to a central network in the cloud and continue the digital transformation of its business operations. Since implementation, the company has benefited from greater visibility of its enterprise-wide operations, real-time network insights, better diagnostic data and traffic management, as well as noticeably smoother resilience with instant network back-up.

Such has been the success of the initial UK project, that Neos Networks has been involved in extending the coverage of the SD-WAN network technology to cover Bakkavor’s production facilities and services in the USA.

“As a Critical National Infrastructure provider, ensuring our production facilities and multiple sites have a reliable, resilient network to operate is essential. The power of SD-WAN technology delivers independence to our sites, with improved network visibility and resilience, ensuring maximum up-time for our essential production facilities.”

Richard Barton – Network and Datacentre Domain Lead, Bakkavor.

About Bakkavor

Bakkavor is the leading provider of fresh prepared food (“FPF”) in the UK, with a growing international presence in the US and China. The Group is the number one by market share in the UK in the four FPF product categories of meals, salads, desserts, and pizza & bread, providing high-quality, fresh, healthy, and convenient food. Its customers include some of the UK’s leading grocery retailers, including Tesco, Marks & Spencer, Sainsbury’s, and Waitrose. The Group’s International segment operates in the US and China.

Bakkavor was founded in 1986 and has its headquarters in London. The Group has more than 19,000 employees and operates 23 factories in the UK, 5 in the US and 9 in China.

Enabling Perth and Kinross Council’s smart city ambitions

Neos Networks is delivering high capacity, ultrafast broadband connectivity in Perth, Scotland, benefiting local government services, schools, businesses, leisure centres and museums.

Company Details
Perth and Kinross Council

Perth and Kinross Council has a confident vision for Perth’s future: to transform it into one of “Europe’s great small cities”. Its documented aspirations for smart growth state that gaining “an international reputation for enterprise, learning, culture and an exceptional quality of life” by 2035 is a priority.

Central to realising those smart city ambitions is overcoming hurdles such as digital connectivity. Perth and Kinross Council identified that the key to boosting smart services and economic activity in the area was to lay full fibre connections to its own buildings, as the foundation for the modern-day connectivity demands of community assets.

Funding of £1m was made available via the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) as part of the Local Full Fibre Networks Challenge Fund; and nearly £0.5m of UK Government funding for digital connectivity from the Tay Cities Deal was also allocated to support the project.

With proven success on local government projects of similar importance and scale (such as Aberdeenshire), the Council looked to Neos Networks, one of the UK’s leading connectivity providers, to help them on their smart city journey.

The challenge

Perth and Kinross Council awarded Neos Networks a major gigabit-capable connectivity project in November 2020, through the Government’s RM6095 Dynamic Purchasing System for gigabit capable connectivity – which aims to provide UK public sector bodies with network infrastructure services through an easy to procure process.

Spanning 19.5km, the new end-to-end full fibre network will cover 34 locations across the city, including educational institutions, council buildings, leisure centres, care homes and residential homes, as well as public buildings located near the new 3,000-homes Perth West housing development.

The network is also vital to facilitate next generation technologies such as 5G and Internet of Things (IoT), crucial to futureproofing businesses in the area.

The outcome

Neos Networks has delivered the new network by building on its established regional fibre network infrastructure. The fibre rollout includes 7.5km of Physical Infrastructure Access (PIA) ducts as well as 2km of existing Perth & Kinross Council duct assets.

The economical use of existing and new fibre ducts has enabled Neos Networks and Perth and Kinross Council to reach more locations than would have been possible versus a traditional network build project. High speed, low latency connectivity to data centres is also helping enable cloud connectivity for businesses and Fibre-To-The-Home services for residents.

“The gigabit-capable connectivity provided by Neos Networks is a key part of future-proofing not only our city but also the wider Perth and Kinross rural area. Neos Networks’ technical expertise in enabling smarter cities, combined with its ability to undertake this project as economically as possible with minimal disruption, means that we’ll be getting great value for the DCMS and Tay Cities Deal investment, alongside our ongoing collaboration over the next 20 years.”
— David Littlejohn, Head of Planning and Development, Perth & Kinross Council

“Better broadband is at the heart of our mission to level up rural areas, so I’m delighted Perth and Kinross is starting to feel the benefits of our investment. This funding will bring faster, future-proofed internet speeds to schools, businesses, theatres and other public buildings.”

— Matt Warman, UK Digital Infrastructure Minister, DCMS

Now the network is fully installed and operational, the network will help serve Council buildings and the local community for the next 20 years, under IRU agreements between the Council and Neos Networks, futureproofing the region against the ever-growing demands of the digital economy.

Aside from the direct benefits of connectivity, the project is supporting the local economy through investment, government driven initiatives and schools training programmes to deliver connectivity to rural communities, helping bridge the social divide.

 

Managed WAN solution drives productivity across SSE Group

Managed WAN solution drives productivity across SSE Group

When SSE Group needed to upgrade their network estate to support both their new sites, they turned to Neos Networks for support

For businesses that operate mission-critical infrastructure, the right connectivity is essential. This requirement is amplified significantly for large teams working from disparate locations. With over 20,000 employees spread across 300 offices and depots nationwide, this is something energy giant SSE Group knows only too well.

Accordingly, when SSE Group established their new UK headquarters in Reading, it was keen to build modern connectivity at the greenfield site. With a growing reliance on data-hungry collaboration tools and a desire to support employees with enhanced home working, SSE Group knew this project would be the driving force in modernising its entire network estate. This included its Wide Area Network (WAN), Local Area Network (LAN) and managed WiFi services with full 24/7 monitoring, support and proactive upgrades.

With so many sites to consider, this was to be a big undertaking. Fortunately, SSE Group didn’t have to look far to locate the necessary expertise for such a complex, large-scale development: they have worked alongside Neos Networks – one of the UK’s major enterprise connectivity players – for many years.

The challenge

SSE Group’s connectivity requirements were complex and varied and needed to take into consideration secure business separation rules and regularity conformity. From helpdesk workers who heavily rely on telephony services, to staff working on-site at operational critical control centres, windfarms and substations, each employee has a different requirement for the network – and each site posed its own particular challenge. In light of this, SSE Group needed a managed network that could enable a number of applications to carry either corporate or operational data, with differing levels of traffic prioritisation.

Another crucial requirement was that SSE Group’s new connectivity infrastructure could provide a high quality of service to a range of collaboration tools, including video conferencing, instant messaging, and screen sharing. Employees needed full and reliable access to these tools regardless of where they typically access the applications from.

The launch project of the new headquarters at Forbury Place presented a logical opportunity to make these connectivity upgrades. But with so many sites to consider, it required comprehensive planning. At Forbury Place for example, the infrastructure needed to be built from the ground up. This included enabling an internal 4G network, since upgraded to 5G, which was necessary due to 4G not being able to penetrate the extensive glass and metal used in the construction of the building’s exterior at street level.

SSE Group was also keen to ensure it could support remote working. As the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted, having the right collaboration tools and the ability to support home working is non-negotiable for modern businesses. Even before the crisis, SSE Group wanted to strengthen its capabilities in this area – both to support employees’ agile, flexible working requirements and to stimulate increased productivity while reducing travel costs.

The outcome

The first stage of this two-phased project successfully connected over 15,000 staff to collaboration tools while the next phase, which is already well underway, will better enable the network for access to collaboration tools for the remaining SSE employees. Despite the additional work to come, this upgrade has already accelerated SSE Group’s journey to meet its ambitious cost saving and staff efficiency goals on many different fronts.

Neos Networks provided a cross-company overhaul, updating the managed WAN, LAN and WiFi services for SSE Group’s corporate data network. Using its significant experience in building, managing and troubleshooting connectivity solutions for UK enterprises, Neos Networks has now ensured SSE Group has access to a robust, fast and highly available national network.

The managed network services provided by Neos Networks have empowered SSE Group to invest in and fully embrace valuable collaboration tools such as Microsoft Teams and Skype for Business – now widely used across the company. This has resulted in increased staff productivity, with the added benefits of streamlining traditional telephony usage and travel expenditure. Staff travel, for instance, has been significantly reduced– an excellent outcome for both the business and its employees.

Neos Networks is measured quarterly on network availability, exceeding 99.999%, and is proud to surpass its monthly service levels on incident management.

Any major connectivity upgrade is a significant investment, but as SSE Group has discovered, it is well worth it for the boost in efficiency, agility and staff productivity that can be enjoyed as a result. Now, with a network it can rely on and the reassurance of well-managed services, SSE Group has the connectivity infrastructure in place to support both its priorities in the present and its ambitious plans for the future.

“Neos Networks has been our Managed Network Provider for many years. Thanks to the partnership our teams are now better equipped to do their jobs and collaborate with their peers, from anywhere in the country.”

Chris Barnicott, Chief Technology Officer, SSE Group

About SSE Plc

SSE is a UK-listed energy company with operations and investments across the UK and Ireland. It is primarily a developer (which includes being a builder), an operator and an owner of low-carbon energy assets and businesses, with a strategic focus on regulated electricity networks and renewable energy. More broadly, SSE is involved in the generation, transmission, distribution and supply of electricity, the production, storage, distribution and supply of gas and in the provision of energy-related services.

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Bringing best-in-class connectivity to the Aberdeenshire region

When Aberdeenshire Council, NHS Grampian and Aberdeen City Council looked to deliver gigabit-capable connectivity to public sector sites, they turned to Neos Networks to futureproof their digital ambitions.

Company Details
Aberdeenshire Council

Full fibre has the power to be transformative for any region of the UK – creating jobs, increasing productivity and supporting remote work. But bringing next generation connectivity to Scotland, one of the most challenging locations anywhere in Europe for telecoms infrastructure, required additional measures in order for the hardest-to-reach areas to gain access to superfast connectivity.

Recognising this, the Government introduced the Scottish Broadband Voucher Scheme, taking the £5bn UK Gigabit Broadband Programme a step further by providing funding of up to £5,000. This helps areas that don’t fall into the scope of either Reaching 100% (R100) contracts, a Scottish initiative committed to providing access to superfast broadband of 30 Megabits per second (Mbps) to every home and business, or planned commercial investment.

Under the banner of the Aberdeen City Region Deal, Neos Networks, one of the UK’s leading connectivity providers, was awarded a £10.5m full fibre project by Aberdeenshire Council. This project is the latest collaboration in a 20-year-strong partnership between the two parties and will also benefit Aberdeen City Council and NHS Grampian as users of the fibre.

Spanning up to 275km, the aim was to underpin a world-class digital area – improving the delivery of public services to the community and boosting economic activity and quality of life.

The challenge

Neos Networks was tasked with connecting 190 public sector sites across Aberdeenshire in a way that will reduce disruptive construction and maximise the number of premises served for the available budget. The region spans up to 275km and, through this project, the Council’s aim was to improve the delivery of public services to the community and boost economic activity and quality of life in the area.

At the core was the need to deliver excellent public services; create new businesses and grow existing ones; attract further investment; support mobility; protect the environment and enhance the area’s attractiveness as a place to live and work.

Additionally, the project needed to provide gigabit Dark Fibre out to public sector locations such as schools and NHS sites in a number of towns in a belt around Aberdeen.

“The £11.5m full fibre project has transformed connectivity to our public sector sites throughout the region. Additionally, it has given the contractor the opportunity to offer services to local businesses and residents to access far better connectivity in areas that were poorly served previously. I was very pleased that as a result, the investment is also delivering significant community benefits which was recognised by winning the Go Awards Social Value Category demonstrating robust and progressive approaches to fair work practices. Having delivered two out of three digital projects funded by the deal, our focus is now on delivering the final phase which will deliver even more digital connectivity in the region.”

Councillor Alex Nicoll, Aberdeen City Council Co-Leader

Neos Networks created a sustainable digital infrastructure that benefits the community in different ways. The project has included a significant commitment to education and training within the local community. Neos Networks has been visiting local schools, delivering work placements, guest lecturing for higher education students and has created seven full-time apprenticeships. In addition, they have held a STEM careers event and ran the Engineering Development Trust Industrial Cadets online programme.

“Working at Neos Networks during my placement has helped me build my skillset and my confidence. Most importantly, I am a step closer to passing my Foundation apprenticeship which will enable me to qualify for my chosen college course and prepare me for my future career.”

Megan, Apprentice

The outcome

Neos Networks has delivered gigabit-capable connectivity to 192 public sector buildings, and the network is within reach of 44,000 homes, and 1,700 business premises across Aberdeen city.

The dark fibre network stretches for some 275km and links six major locations – Aberdeen, Westhill, Stonehaven, Banchory, Inverurie and Ellon as well as the smaller communities in between. The almost limitless capacity of the dark fibre network enables GP surgeries to share records and undertake video consultations, as well as providing better connectivity for remote working and virtual teaching.

“It can be hard to really understand a lot of the scale and aspiration of projects like City Region Deals, but improving connectivity for communities and helping improve public services through better digital connections is something tangible. The benefits of the full fibre network will touch healthcare, schools, homes, businesses in the area and it is so positive to see another project coming to completion under our City Region Deal.”

Cllr Anne Stirling, Aberdeenshire Deputy Leader, and vice-chair of the Joint Committee

This project is part of Neos Networks’ wider mission to provide class-leading connectivity and data centre services that are high performance, cost efficient and offer a competitive edge, coupled with outstanding customer service.

Colt brings high capacity to UK cities thanks to two 100Gbps NNIs

When Colt, a global network and voice services provider, needed a high capacity connectivity solution that enabled them to easily take 10Gbps Ethernet services to its customers, the company turned to long term partner Neos Networks to acquire two 100Gbps Network-to-Network Interfaces (NNIs) to meet the growing demand.

Colt

Neos Networks is one of the only UK telecoms companies to offer pervasive 100Gbps NNI services via its price comparison tool LIVEQUOTE and Colt would take advantage of the technology to act as an accelerator in accessing high capacity connectivity services.

The challenge

Although the UK is ahead of the curve compared to other large European countries when it comes to accessing superfast connectivity services, the nation’s appetite for high capacity continues to increase. Colt, a UK telco with over 25 years of experience, understood how quickly customer requirements can shift, and was soon made aware of the increase in high capacity service demand from its own customer base.

With customer requirements front of mind, the company immediately began searching for a connectivity provider that could support the high capacity services that were in such demand, and that would operate to the high standard that its customers had come to expect. Core criteria for choosing such a partner included a relentless focus on excellence, impeccable quality of service, high service level agreement (SLA) standards and importantly, the right technology and speed of delivery.

The outcome

Colt chose fellow UK telco challenger Neos Networks as its partner for the project. The two companies already had a longstanding relationship and Colt knew they shared a likeminded approach to customer service. Through its vast industry expertise, core values and best-in-class delivery teams, Neos Networks has also made a name for itself as one of the industry’s leading providers of seamless delivery experiences. Differentiating it from competitors and making it a perfect fit for the partnership.

The businesses growing UK network, would also mean Colt could further invest in, and supply, high capacity services to customers across the country as and when demand arose.

The decision was taken to purchase NNIs using Neos Networks LIVEQUOTE portal, one of the only pricing comparison services to provide such a product. These NNIs were then deployed in core UK cities including London and Manchester, bringing access to multiple high-bandwidth 10Gbps Business Ethernet services, much to the delight of businesses in the area.

As Neos Networks continues to unbundle over 550 exchanges with up to 100Gbps capacity, further growing its reach, Colt customers across even more regions will be able to tap into the high capacity services on a regular basis.

The high capacity deal has taken the Colt and Neos Networks partnership to the next level, helping Colt to provide customers across the UK with the services they require, and enabling Neos Networks to further expand its network reach. Colt has already seen significant revenue growth as its customers shift to higher capacities, showing the early fruits of the selected service

As the relationship between the two UK telcos continues to grow, and with the potential for more NNIs to be rolled out, the UK as a whole will see the benefit as it becomes a truly digital-first, high capacity nation.

“Neos Networks was perfectly placed to support us in delivering exceptional high capacity services that will help our customers’ growth. The business perfectly mirrors our values and in turn makes the end experience for our customers so much better. In an environment such as telecoms, where you are dealing with critical national infrastructure, trust is such an important commodity, and it’s certainly something we have in abundance in this relationship.”

Douglas May, Manager, Carrier Relations, Western Europe, US and CA at Colt

About Colt

Established in 1992, Colt is a well-established connectivity provider across the globe. Colt strives to transform the way the world works through the power of connectivity. The Colt IQ Network connects 900+ data centres across Europe, Asia and North America’s largest business hubs, with over 29,000 on net buildings and growing. They understand business connectivity requirements and provides high performance, high bandwidth solutions to enable customer’s success.

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Supporting NYnet in providing urgent connectivity to a blue light service during COVID-19

With resilience and reliability top of the agenda, it was agreed that a Business Ethernet solution would be best placed to get the Extended Access Hub up and running. Ethernet was chosen for its capacity to provide a stable service and ability to support all on-site systems and processes.

NYnet
Company Details
NYnet

One such new development was the NHS Extended Access Hub in North Shields, Tyne and Wear – established to help medical staff support COVID-19 patients that required treatment in a secure facility but were not deemed as needing urgent hospital care. Part of the process for successfully setting-up the Hub was enabling the site with the required communications and connectivity. This request saw Neos Networks and NYnet working together to deliver critical infrastructure for the blue light service in rapid time.

The challenge

The NHS Extended Access Hub in North Shields was viewed as a key component in the region’s plan to manage the impact and spread of COVID-19. With the virus spreading rapidly, reliable connectivity was needed – and fast.

They approached local Yorkshire-based broadband connectivity provider, NYnet to help supply the connection. NYnet, in turn, reached out to Neos Networks for support in delivering the project.

With speed of procurement and delivery absolutely crucial to success, NYnet looked to Neos Networks for support and partnership – having previously worked together on a number of circuit delivery projects.

The outcome

With resilience and reliability top of the agenda, it was agreed that an Ethernet solution would be best placed to get the Extended Access Hub up and running. Ethernet was chosen for its capacity to provide a stable service and ability to support all on-site systems and processes.

In normal circumstances, a project of this kind would take on average somewhere between 40 and 60 days to deliver. However, with all parties understanding the vital role the Extended Access Hub would play in the North East’s response to COVID-19, a concerted effort saw this timeline shrunk down to a remarkable eight working days from order to completion. And once the circuit was deployed, NYnet was able to quickly install a router and connect the site to the Health & Social Care Network (HSCN) – creating a reliable, connected facility exactly when it was most needed.

The fast roll out of the Ethernet solution is testament to the commitment of businesses across the telecommunications sector in coming together during the pandemic to make the lives of those on the front line, and their patients, a little bit easier. It shows the value of long term, collaborative partnerships in the connectivity industry.

“Having worked with Neos Networks on previous connectivity requirements we knew of the benefits of their LIVEQUOTE portal, but not even in our wildest dreams could we have predicted an eight-day turnaround from order to completion. This well managed, smooth process is a great display of how the industry can support our front-line key workers, should we all pull together.”

Zoe Oxley, Senior Project & Deployment Manager at NYnet

About NYnet

NYnet Ltd is the provider of high-speed internet connections to the public sector in North Yorkshire and the North East. The company is wholly owned by North Yorkshire County Council and provides high bandwidth connectivity to over 750 public sector sites. This includes critical sites such as hospitals, doctors’ surgeries, fire stations and social care services. The network is fully configured to Government standards of resilience and security.

NYnet is continuing to provide the highest quality broadband connectivity throughout the COVID-19 crisis, ensuring there is sufficient capacity at homes and businesses throughout our county, who are using vastly increased levels of video conferencing and other virtual means of communication.

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Growing the Jisc partnership to facilitate classroom learning and collaborative research projects

As Jisc looked to adapt to the changing network demands of UK education and research facilities, it turned to its long-term partner Neos Networks to strengthen a pre-existing contract and launch new access infrastructure, to keep them connected globally.

The challenge

Neos Networks has partnered with Jisc, the digital solutions provider for the UK education sector, for almost 20 years, bringing critical connectivity to many of the UK’s higher education institutions. Jisc’s priority is to continually develop to meet the needs of its customers, which are constantly evolving around distance learning, remote working and the general internationalisation of education.

Over the past two decades several key networking projects have been delivered by Neos Networks leading to a strong relationship with Jisc. These projects have often involved complex network design challenges, providing the diverse and secure networks required to enable centres of learning to connect with their global counterparts.

Jisc chose Neos Networks in the knowledge it could deliver the highest standards alongside the most precise delivery requirements, involving hundreds of individual facilities and numerous suppliers. Neos Networks also enabled Jisc to move away from managed service agreements, giving them more autonomy over systems and specifications.

In 2019, Jisc needed to refresh its Janet South Network, which provides UK academic facilities with a highly reliable and secure world-class network, enabling national and international communication and collaboration. Jisc was also looking to extend its core backbone network contract, which provides the critical connectivity required to enable access to global research centres such as CERN’s Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland. Neos Networks was brought on board to support both projects.

Jisc plays a crucial role in ensuring that the UK has best-in-class educational facilities and remains at the forefront of scientific advancements. To provide this, Jisc must invest in state-of-the-art, high capacity autonomous networks to remain digitally relevant.

The outcome

Neos Networks’ core fibre network will continue to be utilised by Jisc’s UK backbone network until 2028. This will enable data-intensive research centres, including The Science and Technology Facilities Council’s Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, and Imperial College London, to have access to significant bandwidth and speeds of up to 100Gbps, ensuring their critical work remains uninterrupted thanks to Neos Networks’ reliable network.

In addition, the project includes the unbundling of seven BT exchanges and utilising four existing Points of Presence to refresh the Janet South network, part of Jisc’s programme to develop a new Janet Network access infrastructure. This will provide improved connectivity to 11 universities, including Southampton and Surrey, and 80 local colleges between Aldershot and Bournemouth, ensuring classroom and distance learning experiences remain both seamless and faultless.

With a scalable and flexible network in place, Jisc will be able to continue to extend its reach and accessibility, supporting the future of UK education and research.

“The relationship between Jisc and Neos Networks originated in the early 2000s and, nearly 20 years later, the relationship continues to grow from strength-to-strength. A substantial level of trust has built up between our two companies and these new network contracts show our continued commitment to further develop this relationship. Over the past decade, we have rolled out a series of projects that have involved complex network design challenges and the Neos Networks team has always stood up to the challenge, providing reliable and diverse networks, and excelled at meeting all expectations.”

Jeremy Sharp, Janet Infrastructure Director, Jisc

About Jisc

Jisc is a not-for-profit company, providing the UK’s national research and education network, Janet, and technology solutions for its members – colleges, universities and research centres. It is funded by the UK higher and further education and research funding bodies and member institutions.

Jisc does three main things for its members:

  • Operates and develops the super-fast and secure Janet Network, as well as its built-in cyber security protection.
  • Helps save time and money by negotiating sector-wide deals with IT vendors and commercial publishers
  • Provides trusted advice and practical assistance on digital technology

Jisc’s vision is for the UK to be the most digitally advanced education and research nation in the world.

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Partnering to supply connectivity to a nautical-based customer

When M12 Solutions needed help getting on-board with a nautical-based customer.

The challenge

When an opportunity arose to deliver a multi-site internet and phone system to the nautical-based company, Yacht Havens Group, Fareham-based connectivity provider, M12 were quick to respond. They soon discovered that the marina owner and operator had a large data requirement at its nine sites and dry stacks, eight of which were in the UK, with the remaining site based in the Netherlands.

On investigation, it quickly became evident that many of Yacht Havens’ marinas are based in rural areas with low internet speeds. In fact, this was causing a bottleneck to the Group’s existing berth-holding Wi-Fi system, with greater demands and expectations from their customers for fast and reliable connectivity. In addition to this, M12 also recognised that the Yacht Haven’s offices and buildings could also benefit from faster connectivity and dedicated lines. As a result, M12 needed to partner with an Ethernet network provider that could deliver dedicated connections and high speeds to a number of difficult to reach locations.

The outcome

Neos Networks was chosen to provide nine fibre Ethernet circuits across the UK; initially at 100Mbps capacity. However, the solution can be easily upgraded to reach 1Gbps as and when required by the customer. All the lines were connected directly into the Harbour Exchange data centre facility, ensuring that all of Yacht Havens’ sites, including its head office, benefitted from high-speed, uncontended connectivity.

Crucial to M12’s decision to partner with us was our reputation for excellent service delivery. With a challenging multi-site project to undertake, the M12 Solutions team needed a partner they could trust to manage the process efficiently from start to finish, which is exactly what we provided. Despite having a number of hard to reach locations requiring connectivity, we were fully committed to delivering the project with M12 Solutions smoothly and in the agreed timescales.

M12 not only benefitted from our high quality Ethernet and renowned service wrap, they also made use of our online quoting and ordering portal, LIVEQUOTE.

“With an important new contract to deliver connectivity to the Yacht Havens Group, we knew that Neos Networks would enable us to deliver uncontended bandwidth via Ethernet across all nine sites. Not only was their solution the most cost-competitive of all the service providers we considered, we also had peace of mind knowing that the company has such an excellent record in service delivery. With multiple challenging sites to connect, we needed a trusted network partner to help us manage the project; we’ve been delighted with the quality of the account team and the support we’ve received throughout.”

Matthew Skipsey, Chief Technical Officer, M12 Solutions

About M12 Solutions

Established in 2003, M12 Solutions is a single-source solutions firm who supply all the phone systems, network services and superfast internet connections needed for its customers to improve their competitive advantage. M12 Solutions clients enjoy a close, long term working relationship and very prompt, attentive service levels which have been recognised by the business winning many significant national and local awards.

For more information, please visit: https://www.m12solutions.co.uk.

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Neos Networks and Grain deliver fibre-to-the-home to new £800 million development

When Grain needed a partner to help deliver the UK's fastest broadband.

The challenge

Forming part of Aberdeen City Council’s long-term plans, the Countesswells development represents the council’s significant support to the area through new housing initiatives, job prospects and infrastructure to support the local economy. The development itself will consist of 3,000 homes plus shops, offices, schools and medical centres upon its completion.

Connectivity is set to be key to Countesswells’ success.

Developer, Stewart Milne Homes, identified the need for a state-of-the-art Gigabit fibre network, in light of surrounding developments that had previously been plagued with insufficient broadband connections, a recurring point of contention for local residents.

To realise this ambitious objective, fibre communications provider, Grain was appointed to deliver its Hyperfast network – providing a private 1,000Mbps (1Gbps) fibre connection to every resident. With this forward thinking, Countesswells is the first new-town in Scotland to experience gigabit connectivity – up to 35 times faster than the average UK download speed.

To deliver this Hyperfast connectivity, Grain needed a network partner that had a national fibre backbone and that could support these high speeds, while offering uncontended connectivity.

After a competitive tender process, Grain selected Neos Networks to deploy the backhaul network at Aberdeen City Council’s Countesswells development. In practice, this meant that Neos Networks needed to provide a fibre backbone between Manchester – where a Grain data centre resides – and Aberdeen. Between Aberdeen and each of the Countesswells properties, Grain installs a bespoke, Hyperfast broadband network. Neos Networks’ ever-expanding network and previous experience assured Grain that they had selected the right partner. Geographic reach, customer service, continuity and reputation were of significant importance to Grain and Neos Networks ticked all those boxes.

Also with Neos Networks, Grain benefitted from the same point of contact throughout the deployment, ensuring that any challenges were easily overcome by those closest to the project, which is unique within the telecoms industry.

The outcome

The new Countesswells community is starting to take shape, with 100 of the total 3,000 homes already built and residents starting to move in. Neos Networks’ backhaul fibre network is supporting the new development, with Grain utilising the network to provide uncontended links into each individual property. What’s more, residents are guaranteed to experience the UK’s fastest broadband speeds, regardless of their neighbours’ internet use, through the partnership. By deploying a dedicated fibre network to each home, Grain can monitor residents’ broadband usage and respond to peaks in demand by optimising the network accordingly. This means that quality of service is maintained, compared to traditional copper networks that are routed in a central cabinet in the residential area.

As the development progresses over the next 15 years, the fibre network will be available for all new residents as they move into their homes, ensuring they benefit from Hyperfast broadband and a crystal-clear fibre connection from day one.

Grain has also agreed a special deal with a major media provider to ensure residents not only get the best broadband, but also entertainment packages at highly discounted rates. With fibre optic wavelengths directly connecting into each property, unsightly satellite dishes on every home are no longer required.

In recent years, Neos Networks has made significant investment in its UK-wide network. This ensures that the company is strategically placed to connect remote sites. In fact, Neos Networks recently announced the third phase of its network expansion programme, Project Edge, which brings the total number of exchanges served by its national fibre network to 140, with 300,000 prime business postcodes served.

“In partnership with Neos Networks, we are thrilled to be able to offer new Countesswells residents access to the country’s latest and most advanced communications technology” said Richard Robinson, Managing Director of Grain. “Today, people not only expect, but require, uninterrupted and fast connection to the internet as our lives become increasingly online. It’s therefore essential for new developments to offer a well-managed network that delivers speed” said Rich Robinson, Managing Director of Grain. “Together with Neos Networks, we are establishing a ‘true’ fibre community network to Countesswells, delivering direct connections from the internet to the router in each property, ensuring absolutely no congestion is experienced at peak times.”

“Neos Networks’ reputation for reliability and service delivery were important factors in our decision, but equally important was its expansive network reach. At the outset of the Countesswells development and with a healthy pipeline of opportunities UK-wide, we needed a network partner that we could absolutely trust to deliver, regardless of location.”

Richard Robinson, Managing Director, Grain

About Grain

Grain provides developers with a ‘true’ fibre solution by increasing the perceived value of a home while reducing build costs. By delivering incredible speeds and reliability to customers, Grain affords the sales team another great reason for the home-seeker to buy their home. Proactively managing and integrating telecommunications network design into the developer’s build saves time and money, making sure customers have a connection available from day one.

For more information please visit www.grainconnect.com

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When Ai Networks needs an Ethernet partner with an Edge

Company Details
Ai Networks

The challenge

Ai Networks delivers dedicated internet access, MPLS, VoIP and colocation services to its customers across the UK and beyond. With increasing demand from both new and existing customers, Ai Networks needed a trusted network partner that could supply high-capacity Ethernet connections between its various data centres and customer sites.

In recent years, we launched our flagship Project Edge network expansion in order to make our network more accessible for organisations, like Ai Networks, that operate throughout the UK. We initiated full UK network coverage with the launch of Edge Plus, which ensures our high-performance Ethernet services are available anywhere in the UK by interconnecting with other leading network providers. This was closely followed by Edge 2, which provides a further 50,000 prime business postcodes with easy access to our network. The Edge journey has made us a more relevant and cost-effective partner for Ai Networks and was key to its decision to enlist our help. What’s more, our expansion plans are set to continue, as we will on-board more exchanges over the coming months, making us the perfect fit for Ai Networks as the business grows.

The outcome

While many providers rely heavily on legacy systems and infrastructure, Ai Networks found the service offered by Neos Networks to be highly flexible and user-friendly. The company took advantage of our online quoting and ordering engine, LIVEQUOTE, which compares Ethernet quotes from major UK carriers as well as Neos Networks. The tool helped Ai Networks pass on best possible prices to its customers, thus gaining a competitive edge.

Having worked together for the last 18 months, the relationship has flourished and Ai Networks is very satisfied with the level of service it has received, from the initial order placement stage – which was conducted online via our LIVEQUOTE portal – through to implementation of the multiple Ethernet connections. Our dedicated account team were on hand throughout the process to ensure optimum operational performance is maintained.

By working closely with strategically placed players, Ai Networks has established an extensive network footprint from which it can deliver a truly global reach for its customers.

“Neos Networks’ service has been highly responsive, making the initial order right through to delivery and implementation a smooth process. We’ve also been impressed with its modern network infrastructure and LIVEQUOTE tool. Ai champions innovation and, with the use of legacy systems endemic in the telecoms industry, it’s encouraging to see Neos Networks joining us in finding innovative ways to improve the user experience.”

Mark Boost, Managing Director, Ai Networks

About the Ai Networks

Ai Networks are specialists in providing carrier-grade connectivity to the UK and beyond. Thanks to our continued investment into our next-generation networks, we can supply fast and resilient services, all backed by high-quality SLAs which come with our 24/7 UK-based NOC support.

For more information, please visit https://www.ai.co.uk.

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Providing London Capital Group with complete control over its London connectivity

Building a network designed for the future.

Company Details
London Capital Group

The challenge

Prior to an ownership change, the London Capital Group network infrastructure hadn’t been upgraded in line with market demands and was impinging the company’s ability to collaborate and trade quickly. The connectivity was poor and due to management of the network being done through a third party, London Capital Group had little visibility of any issues or the ability to rectify these. Following a takeover and injection of investment into the company, the London Capital Group IT team was tasked with redesigning the entire network and removing legacy equipment.

London Capital Group had two distinct requirements for its new 1Gbps links: control and reliability. In terms of reliability, Neos Networks’ heritage in engineering combined with its industry reputation laid fears to rest. The network was also completely diverse from the existing suppliers used, allowing it to deploy a dual-supplier strategy. This ensured that should the network ever perform poorly or go down, trading won’t cease and the company can continue to operate while the network is being repaired. For control, London Capital Group wanted to remove the third party network management, which was possible due to the flexibility afforded by our network.

The outcome

Thanks to two resilient 1Gbps point-to-point links between its new Knightsbridge headquarters and two of its mission critical data centres – Greenwich and Slough – London Capital Group is prepared for the connectivity demands of the future. It also now has IP Transit in its Greenwich data centre.

The completely diverse routes means London Capital Group is now safe in the knowledge that its connectivity services are completely reliable, no matter how connectivity demands fluctuate. What’s more, the company can now take complete control of its network, rather than go through a third party, making it more efficient and able to respond to changing network demands instantly.

London Capital Group has ambitious growth plans, including potentially entering new markets and countries. Adding new offices and remote sites will increase network traffic to its headquarters and key London data centres, but this can be seamlessly facilitated with the new flexible network. Thanks to Neos Networks’ diverse connectivity, reliability is never compromised and this is vital for London Capital Group which is operating in a market where uptime means trades and trades mean money.

“We took the decision to redesign our entire network to ensure we could operate no matter what the circumstances and Neos Networks became a fundamental piece in that puzzle. Our network demands have soared as the business has grown and, with new headquarters in Knightsbridge, we needed connectivity that could support the level of trading activity we’re engaged in now and in the future.

It was Neos Networks’ engineering heritage and reputation for reliability that gave us peace of mind for this most recent network investment. By providing us with a diverse point-to-point link into some of our busiest data centres, Neos Networks has guaranteed business continuity for our network – a quality that is the key to success in a world that constantly has its lights-on.”

Blair Wright, CIO at London Capital Group

About London Capital Group

London Capital Group (LCG) is a leading global provider of online trading services with over 20 years’ experience in the trading industry. LCG’s head office is located at the prestigious location of 1 Knightsbridge in London; from here the company concentrates on promoting our services across the UK and Europe as well as managing its global operations. LCG is listed on the London Stock Exchange and authorised and regulated in the UK by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). The company’s success has been driven by its dynamic approach to the industry and by building a business model that operationally has no restrictions on scalability. LCG continues to develop and improve its product offering. Clients can currently spread bet and trade CFDs on over 5,000 markets including forex, shares, indices and commodities. LCG offers two trading platforms, advanced LCG Trader and well-known MT4. The company has won numerous awards for innovation, technology and service.

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The University of Westminster - connecting new sites in the capital

When the University of Westminster needs to connect new sites in the capital to support a dynamic learning environment.

Company Details
The University of Westminster

The challenge

With a distinguished 178-year history, the University of Westminster is a diverse and dynamic international academic institution situated in the heart of London.

With a vibrant learning environment and a commitment to shaping the future of professional life, the University continues to attract more than 20,000 students from over 150 different nations.

The University has three campuses in London’s West End and another in Harrow. Many of its buildings are listed and required great care to ensure the visual appearance was not adversely affected by any work. As a result of a reorganisation, the University acquired a building on New Cavendish Street, which required the installation of over 1,300 data points. These needed to be linked via a dedicated internet line to one of the campuses – also on New Cavendish Street – as well as another site on Little Titchfield Street.

The outcome

Neos Networks has been a preferred contractor for the University since 1997, undertaking all aspects of data installations from fibre and copper cabling, through to infrared and wireless links and cross site optical fibre installations. Thanks to its successful and established working relationship, the University called on Neos Networks’ expertise for its latest network requirement; to link a newly acquired site with two of its campuses.

Neos Networks was able to cost-effectively supply the University with new WAN links, by installing new duct and fibre between the two New Cavendish Street sites and the Little Titchfield site, creating its very own fibre ring which could then be managed and maintained directly by the University’s Information Services Department. The new links were installed in line with the refurbishment works of the new buildings. In addition to the implementation of the fibre ring, Neos Networks installed a reactive call-out maintenance scheme, with a guaranteed four hour response time, to ensure continuity of the system.

“Neos Networks’ ability to provide a one-stop solution, its flexibility, approach and responsive service influenced our decision when selecting a network partner. This has led to a long-term and effective working relationship between the University and Neos Networks.”

Dan Halter, Head of IT Infrastructure, University of Westminster

About the University of Westminster

The University of Westminster continues to invest in its future with new developments, research projects and new ideas.

It offers highly attractive practice-based courses that are independently rated as excellent, many with international recognition. Its distinguished 178-year history has meant it leads the way in many areas of research, particularly politics, media, art and design, architecture and biomedical sciences, and its position in the city of London allows it to continue to build on its close connections with leading figures and organisations in these areas as well as in the world of business, information technology, politics and law.

For more information, please visit www.westminster.ac.uk

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South Western Railway selects Neos Networks to get its cabling back on track

Company Details
South Western Railway

The challenge

Due to the dynamic nature of each site, South Western Railway required a flexible, adaptable and innovative network specialist, providing technical expertise whilst maintaining the high levels of safety, which are of paramount importance in the rail industry.

Some tasks involved working within track side areas, and to do so, comprehensive risk assessments and detailed work package plans were required. These needed to be assessed and authorised prior to the commencement of works.

Neos Networks’ staff are highly trained with appropriate accreditations and certificates to fulfil the most stringent requirements placed on contractors when working within these busy and potentially precarious environments.

The challenges didn’t stop there, due to logistical issues of working in more than 200 stations across eight counties. SSE Enterprise Telecoms used its extensive and geographically spread workforce to deliver appropriate resources in the required location at the right time.

The flexibility of Neos Networks’ approach also reassured South Western Railway that minimal disruption would be caused. Works were undertaken in unsociable hours – either early mornings or overnight – while at all times maintaining exceptional standards of safety and quality.

The outcome

South Western Railway now runs a comprehensive voice and data network across its entire estate, including all managed stations, remote holdings and its head office in Friars Bridge Court, London.

Neos Networks has a close working relationship with South Western Railway, having been the preferred contractor for more than a decade. During this time it has overseen a roll-out of a Customer Information Systems and Ticket Vending Machines throughout its estate and assisted with major station renovations such as Waterloo, Clapham Junction and Basingstoke.

“By only working with a small number of contractors we have built up a trust in Neos Networks that it will consistently deliver projects on time, within budget and work with principle contractors to achieve a satisfactory conclusion to major projects. More importantly, as a train operator, we expect high standards of safety whenever one of our contractors works on our stations; with Neos Networks we have that confidence in its engineers’ ability to get the job done safely without putting anybody at risk.”

John Matton, IT Technical Manager, South Western Railway

About South Western Railway

South Western Railway operates around 1,600 trains a day on a network in the south and south west of England, serving more than 200 stations and employing around 6,000 people.

For more information, please visit www.southwesternrailway.com

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