London Borough of Sutton case study
Opening up the Internet for schools
It wanted to make sure that the new
network would both exceed government targets for schools and
provide connectivity to council offices and other public sites in
the future.
Our cutting-edge Metro Ethernet VPN
solution met both requirements – providing high-capacity data links
for schools and offering the Council the flexibility to extend the
network over time.
Planning for future connectivity
requirements
Known as ‘the greener, cleaner
Borough’, Sutton is a popular commuter belt serving around 180,000
residents. Many families live in the area and the Borough has more
than 60 schools. Our fully-managed data network service is
providing
students with fast access to the
internet, while ensuring the local authority can grow its
communications infrastructure easily to include other council
services in future.
Getting schools online
Faced with central government targets
for the provision of minimum bandwidth levels to primary and
secondary schools in the area, Sutton Council realised that its
existing communications infrastructure was not adequate for the
task.
It began a tender process to find a
supplier to replace its data network.
The easy scalability of our
future-looking Metro Ethernet VPN solution – offering flexible
bandwidth in small increments – was particularly compelling. “A key
deciding factor was the ease with which bandwidth could be
manipulated,” explained Gary Shambrook, Schools ICT Development
Manager. “The
upgrade path was significantly easier
and considerably cheaper with ntl:Telewest Business than with other
suppliers.”
Connections across the Borough
Because ntl:Telewest Business has
extensive network coverage, it is easy to connect schools and other
local authority sites within the Borough – and beyond.
“ntl:Telewest Business’ penetration
into the Borough and South West London is good,” says Gary. Phase
one of the programme linked 31 local primary and
secondary schools to the network.
Subsequent phases included high-speed connections to all the
remaining schools and over 75 locations. “Logistically,
implementing the solution was challenging,” said a Council
spokesperson.
“But Sutton’s schools support team
worked well with the ntl:Telewest Business project team and the
resulting service has been invaluable.”
A partnership for the long term
For the London Borough of Sutton,
providing the best possible service to its residents is an ongoing
challenge. So working with a proactive preferred supplier with
extensive experience of implementations within the public
sector can only make things easier.
In addition to our sophisticated Metro
Ethernet VPN solution, we provide the Borough with a number of
other services including telephony. “ntl:Telewest Business has
delivered solutions and services that are cost-effective and
efficient,” says Nick O’Reilly, Head of IT.
What it has made possible
Sutton Council is confident that our
flexible data network will support them as it grows and develops
its next generation communications infrastructure. “Growth is not
necessarily a smooth curve. Some areas, no matter how meticulous
the
planning, will prove to be
unpredictable. Metro Ethernet VPN can accommodate these changes and
offers the growth capacity and flexibility to meet our needs,” says
Nick.