NetworkFlow

Client background

Currie & Brown is a global consultancy dedicated to advising their clients on the planning and implementation of their whole life Asset Management Plan and Strategies. Founded in Glasgow in 1876, it has global reach with local delivery into 30 countries with 8 UK offices.
 
The worldwide operation of Currie & Brown is managed through principle hubs: “Worldwide Centres of Excellence” which are located in the America’s, UK, Australasia, Middle East and Europe. In the UK they are one of the largest consultancies and currently have 8 offices across the UK and a further 25 worldwide employing a total of just over 1,000 personnel.
 
Global Clients include: Aldar, HSBC, Defence Estates, M&S, Shell, National Bank of Abu Dhabi, BT, GSK, Al Quadra Holdings, Primark, Wells Fargo, Esso, BBC, BP, RBS, The Leela Group and Foreign & Commonwealth Office.
 
Global Projects include: Yas Island, Formula 1 circuit, Abu Dhabi; Infinity Tower, Dubai;  British Deputy High Commission, India; Building Schools for the Future Programme, England; BBC Headquarters, London; Yale University, Connecticut; New Glasgow Hospital, £842m, Scotland; Leela Hotels, India; British Council Office, Tokyo
 

Network highlights

NetworkFlow were approached in May 2009 by Nigel Lackey of Currie and Brown via NetworkFlow’s unique online quotation system. Nigel was contacted by Steve Sugden (Sales Account Manager) and after further clarification of what Currie & Brown needed to achieve with the new network, a revised quotation was provided.
 
Currie & Brown were currently using a BT IPClear network to link their UK offices – NetworkFlow’s proposal would give Currie & Brown the advantage of having separate data carriers on the one Multi Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) IP Virtual Private Network (IP VPN) network (EnterpriseFlow) giving a level of resilience to the network not previously available on their existing network.
 
Following on from their rigorous tender procedure, Currie and Brown awarded the 3 year contract to NetworkFlow for a fully resilient MPLS network. This would provide automatic fail over/fail back services via BGP routing, Quality of Service (QoS) for ensuring mission-critical data is prioritised over all other network traffic, separate carrier routing where required and a link into Currie and Brown’s datacentre in the City. It would also provide links to some of Currie and Brown’s client offices to facilitate the management of these projects.
 
One major issue that arose during the migration from the old network and implementation of the new MPLS network was the new Head Office site. As fibre was being provided, wayleave was required from the buildings landlord. However, obtaining permission was being protracted which could have resulted in unacceptable delays.
 
NetworkFlow provided a 10Mb Ethernet copper service whilst these wayleave issues were resolved thus enabling the whole project to keep to previously agreed timescales. No other provider would have had the flexibility within their product portfolio to be able to switch technology so quick so as to keep the client’s business up and running.
 
The network is future proofed and will easily accommodate increased capacity (including Voice/Video) for any new offices and/or projects that are added to the network.
 
Commenting on the performance, costs and delivery of the new MPLS network, Nigel Lackey explained:
 
“We went to tender and looked at a few solutions. NetworkFlow were not only keener on price, they were also so fast moving. As the rollout has taken shape this past 9 months, we’ve been really impressed with how accessible they are; that’s the benefit of dealing with a smaller company I guess.”
 
“They really are proactive; when we moved into new premises recently they took control and provided an interim solution to ensure continuity of service. They have the knowledge and contacts to get things done quickly and properly at a very competitive price. In the current downturn, you can’t ask for much more from a comms provider.”