Overview
BT Wholesale has a reputation for providing international carriers and communication service providers with best-fit network, data centre and cloud solutions, but engagements with indigenous telco companies are just as circumspect when it comes to matching technologies to the business need.
The challenge
Synoptic, an Irish telecommunications company, has been selling BT circuits with network and infrastructure services for eight years, confident that BT Wholesale would always provide the technical skills and people on the ground to get the job done, however challenging the client requirement. When Pembr, a leading provider of serviced offices in Dublin, was looking to upgrade its network infrastructure across 16 Dublin sites, David O'Farrell, Synoptic’s Chief Technology Officer, knew that BT was the best-fit provider.
“We’re carrier agnostic and always look to bring to our clients the best networks for their needs, and we knew that BT was right for this project,” he said. “They have the network reach across Dublin which means that they could easily deliver the service.”
Synoptic had impressed Pembr’s IT Director with an initial phase of work, after which the project quickly evolved from upgrading two sites to 16. Pembr had previously relied on three different network service providers but when Synoptic made the business case for consolidating onto BT, and future-proofing each site with up to 10Gb connectivity, the scope of the upgrade evolved into something more ambitious.
The solution
BT Wholesale was the enabler of the gear change with its Wholesale Internet Connect product, which Synoptic resells as Dedicated Internet Access (DIA). David O'Farrell cites three reasons why BT won the contract:
BT people
From the account manager and the service delivery team to support engineers in the Network Operations Centre, Synoptic knows it will receive consistent and committed support, reflecting the emphasis that BT places on customer experience across its organisation. Always being attentive to client needs is built into the DNA of BT Ireland.
BT products
Synoptic knew that BT’s network reach across Dublin was strong, making it easy to connect the 16 sites to its fibre network. Reliability of the product was also a selling point, what O'Farrell calls a “rock steady network”. Because the DIA service that BT provides isn’t shared with other companies, bandwidth is guaranteed, 24/7, with unlimited data usage and no restrictions. As well as internet access, it’s optimised for high-quality voice and video calls with an industry-leading latency of less than 20 milliseconds.
BT value proposition
Synoptic appreciated the value proposition that BT presented, not just a competitive price point which is important for every project, but an ambitious lead time. “We recommend BT because they're all-serving; the price point is usually better and the lead time for delivery is going to be the best,” said O’Farrell.
The final part of the proposition that convinced Synoptic to go with BT was our fully managed service. BT takes responsibility for the whole circuit and network behind the DIA service, backed up by a 24/7 support team run out of BT Ireland’s Network Management Centre.
As well as installing the service, we provide fix maintenance, base configuration, and connectivity testing. For ongoing support, BT’s NOC (Network Operation Centre) provides a single point of contact for rapid issue resolution.
The result
Understanding that existing and future clients demands can change at a moment’s notice, BT worked with Synoptic to deploy 10Gb access bearers at all sites from the outset. This was a unique and innovative approach, enabling Pembr to rapidly increase bandwidth without any disruption to the business or need for physical work.
The future-proof strategy is already paying off. Pembr has strong ties with the IDA (Industrial Development Authority), which is responsible for bringing foreign direct investment into Ireland. With a minimum of 1Gb connectivity and a maximum of 10Gb, Pembr is able to offer highly desirable office space for companies who need turnkey solutions with capacity on demand.
The approach has been good for business – both for Synoptic and BT. In the first year of a three-year contract, Pembr was already upgrading sites to take advantage of the available capacity. “BT had the foresight to say, ‘we can see growth on each site, so let's provision for it and put in high-grade infrastructure from the outset’. We're already reaping the rewards with additional orders coming through,” said O'Farrell.
The success of the project also hinged on BT’s expertise. Rod Walsh, Synoptic Sales Director, extols the virtues of working with BT people at both ends of the project, the rollout of the fibre and the ongoing support. “A couple of times we had challenging installations and BT was always there to step forward,” he said. “Few people in the industry could give the level of support that came from BT on this project; they were second to none”.
BT’s international reputation also made a difference. Synoptic is transparent with customers about its suppliers, which worked well in this engagement because the BT brand was well known to Pembr, and gave them added confidence in the delivery of the project. “Knowing that we're bringing in a core BT network certainly makes our customers feel that little bit more secure,” said O’Farrell.
He sums up the broader benefits that BT brings to his business: “We know that having 16 sites with BT infrastructure in place isn’t going to cause us any additional support work; that once their circuits go in, they manage themselves. We don't deploy solutions that cause grief, and BT just never causes us grief.”
Find out more about Synoptic here: www.synoptic.ie