21c Telecom, a Derbyshire based, converged telecoms provider, were purely a mobile solutions company until 2006 when they decided to expand their portfolio and drive into the ‘converged communications’ space. They worked with Foehn, a system integrator, to win a bid to implement a fully converged solution to all sites nationwide as part of a three year contract. 21c is providing all fixed lines, co-location set-up, Ethernet provision, exchange server migration and provision, PBX installation and wi-fi configuration across the estate. It is also providing the migration of all fixed lines and fixed line calls, non-geographic number provisioning and reporting, the migration of mobile account with BlackBerry Express installation and on-site store engineering.
“This contract was won despite fierce competition from rival networks and solutions companies. The flexibility and overall product portfolio of 21c Telecom was the deciding factor. We were able to analyse the current technology employed and to create a compelling bid, which was not only cost effective but very scalable. We worked with Griffin on the data network to allow financial transactions to be securely transmitted over IP. We were able to develop Quality of Service profiles to ensure that traffic could be identified and prioritised quickly over various connectivity speeds with a backup solution for the head office. Although the MPLS part of the deal made up a small part of the overall solution, we were able to use the Griffin’s resources in solution design and support during roll out.” Richard Hunt, 21c Telecom.
“The importance was to consolidate the telecoms infrastructure which was spread across multiple companies, rationalise provision of lines and to provide resilience for business critical solutions with the 3G backup proving invaluable over the World Cup period. We chose 21c from over 7 suppliers due to their ‘can do’ attitude and from the outset being clear in their provision of a single supplier approach.” Jeremy Dunderdale, IT Manager, T.G.I. FRiDAY’S UK.
Andrew Dickinson, Griffin’s MD said, “MPLS can open the door to bigger deals for converged resellers. We offer technical engineers to help understand requirements and to design and price solutions to help our Partners win big, recurring revenue deals.”