"We chose Timico because the ADSL connection is used as part of the transmission network between the remote site and the studio and as a result we can only afford to go with a top quality network such as that of Timico's.
Timico only deals with business customers and in this market quality is paramount. They operate an uncongested network with no traffic shaping policies which means that we are guaranteed to get the best network performance available. We did not believe that this would be possible with a consumer orientated ISP."
Mark Bodenham
Technology Operations Manager
Virgin Radio
Ramboll UK Ltd
When Ramboll UK Ltd, the UK engineering company, was expanding, opening new offices across the UK and updating its IT systems, it turned to Timico to provide security for its internal communications on the Internet and soon also called upon the integrated communications specialist's expertise to provide a rapid service when other suppliers failed to respond on time.In 2001 Ramboll UK Ltd had been using ISDN lines for communications to link its nationwide network of offices. Although, these private ISDN line connections provided relatively high levels of security, Internet communications had been showing how communication costs could be slashed and data transfer speeds increased dramatically.
"As an expanding company with six offices around the country and 270 staff, all of whom needed access to centralised applications and some of whom needed to access servers at different offices, we needed to rethink our whole approach to telecom connectivity," said Ramboll UK Ltd Systems Manager, Charlie Tonkiss.
Realising that its relatively slow ISDN lines were becoming out-dated, Ramboll UK Ltd saw communication over the Internet as the answer, but had to ensure that the security of their data transfers.
By using a VPN (Virtual Private Network), Ramboll UK Ltd can use un-trusted public networks operated by their Internet Service Provider without the needing for an additional expensive private communication link. Remote sites or computers are authenticated and the data exchanged with the VPN firewalls at each location are encrypted. Once a VPN connection is successfully made, the remote sites and computers can be trusted by all local computers on the corporate LAN and be treated as a 'local' computer.
"We used Timico to install and maintain our VPN product and soon discovered the versatility and speed of their comprehensive service," continued Charlie Tonkiss. "They were able to demonstrate beyond doubt that some of our kit was near the end of its life and that we really needed to reassess our equipment needs. They also saved us money by removing an unnecessary layer of software which the original supplier/manufacturer hadn't taken the time to indicate was superfluous."
Moving to the Internet from ISDN was a revelation for Ramboll UK Ltd. The company reduced communications costs dramatically and increased speeds thirty-fold from 128kilobits per sec to four megabits per second with the associated benefits of reduced waiting and connect times. For a company that generates a large amount of complex data that it needs to routinely move between offices, this was a major time saving.
Ramboll UK Ltd Directors, its mobile workforce and homeworkers now enjoy fast, secured communications while all the company offices have secured access to the centralized email and enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems.
"Our relationship with Timico is excellent," continued Tonkiss. "At very short notice they were able to supply a line to a remote office after a major telecoms company say they couldn't do it within four weeks. Timico has always been on call whenever we have needed them. The only hiccups I can remember were with other major suppliers, not Timico."
