SSE Enterprise Telecoms has been selected by Starcom Technologies to boost the capacity of its backhaul network. Starcom offers a range of managed services, cloud services, backup, disaster recovery and consultancy services, predominantly from its Edinburgh-based data centre but also from key facilities 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.
After an in-depth consultation with SSE Enterprise Telecoms’ network experts, Starcom opted for a 10Gbps optical ring between its Edinburgh data centre and its core facilities in London and Manchester, both of which are now connected with SSE Enterprise Telecoms’ high-speed and ultra-resilient optical networking service, LIGHTNOW.
“SSE Enterprise Telecoms 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,” said Craig Bright, IT infrastructure manager at Starcom. “Our customers will now benefit from improved disaster recovery and high availability services, which were the fundamental business drivers for the project.”
Reliability was also at the top of Starcom’s list of priorities. Being renowned as a trusted network provider for the SSE Group, was therefore an important factor in Starcom’s decision, as was the ongoing investment in SSE Enterprise Telecoms network – including the launch of phase two of Project Edge, dubbed ‘Edge 2’ which allows service providers to access over 250,000 business postcodes in areas of high demand. Couple that with SSE Enterprise Telecoms’ online price comparison engine, LIVEQUOTE, which compares and analyses Ethernet quotes from major UK carriers as well as SSE Enterprise Telecoms, allowing Starcom to find and provision network services for its customers in real-time and at the most cost-effective price possible.
Bright added: “The upgrade has also enabled us to begin selling layer two and three Ethernet services, which was also a key factor for us as a growing business looking to diversify into different areas. 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 SSE Enterprise Telecoms as our trusted network partner of choice.”
“We’re delighted that our LIGHTNOW service, in part, has helped Starcom to support its newly expanded customer base following the merger with K3 Hosting and as it continues to grow organically,” said Colin Sempill, managing director of SSE Enterprise Telecoms. “The new network ring is not only providing enhanced reliability and availability, the subsequent efficiency savings will also enable Starcom to become a more competitive player by passing on economies of scale to its own customers.”
