The challenge
Starcom offers a range of managed services, cloud services, backup, disaster recovery and consultancy services to its customers, predominantly from its Edinburgh-based data centre but also from key sites in London and Manchester. Following a recent merger with K3 Hosting, Starcom needed to accommodate an expanded customer base while also supporting its continued organic growth. This required Starcom to boost the capacity of its network interconnects between its three core data centres to meet growing demands from both new and existing customers.
London, Manchester and Edinburgh are integral to Starcom’s business. With a presence in more than 65 data centres throughout the UK, we are well placed to help Starcom and our optical networking service, LIGHTNOW – which virtualises 23 leading London data centres and nine in Manchester with affordable 1 and 10Gbps Ethernet wavelengths – made us an ideal fit for a crucial part of the deployment.
The outcome
Starcom initially approached us to install a single Gbps point-to-point circuit between its data centres in Edinburgh and London. However, after an in-depth consultation with our network experts, Starcom opted for a 10Gbps network ring between its Edinburgh data centre and its core facilities in London and Manchester, which are now connected with our high-speed and ultra-resilient optical wavelength network. In doing so, Starcom has dramatically increased the capacity of its backhaul network at an equally competitive rate as its initial requirement. The new network ring is not only providing enhanced reliability and availability, the subsequent efficiency savings are also enabling Starcom to become a more competitive player by passing on economies of scale to its own customers.
Availability and reliability were top of Starcom’s list of priorities. Being renowned as a trusted network provider for keeping the lights on for our parent company, the SSE Group, was therefore an important factor in Starcom’s decision, as was the ongoing investment in our network – including the launch of phase two of Project Edge, dubbed ‘Edge 2’. Our online price comparison engine, LIVEQUOTE, which compares and analyses Ethernet quotes from major UK carriers as well as Neos Networks, also allows Starcom to find and provision network services for its customers in real-time and at the most cost-effective price possible.
“Neos Networks has enabled us to improve efficiency and cost effectively increase the capacity of our backhaul network, but most importantly it has given us the peace of mind that comes from a truly resilient and diverse network circuit. Our customers will now benefit from improved disaster recovery and high availability services, which were the fundamental business drivers for the project. As for the implementation itself, our dedicated account team did a brilliant job in ensuring that everything ran smoothly and on time. We view this as just the beginning of a longstanding relationship with Neos Networks as our trusted network partner of choice.”
Craig Bright, IT Infrastructure Manager, Starcom
About Starcom
Starcom is a managed services and hosting specialist. With more than 25 years’ experience providing on-premise and cloud server design and support, it has a unique combination of skills, experience and ability to help businesses of all sizes, from SMEs to blue chip organisations.
