Cavendish Delivers VMware Solution to Brighton Based Internet Service Provider, Fastnet
FastNet is an independently owned Business Internet Service Provider and specialist VMware service provider based in Brighton. FastNet has been pioneering business Internet services for over 12 years, with its own nationwide network infrastructure and secure resilient data centres in both London and Brighton. Business expansion meant that FastNet needed to relocate to new larger offices and it was the task of FastNet Technical Director James Parker to choose a suitable solution for the expanding operation.
The Requirements
FastNet required a resilient communications solution that incorporated a call centre solution, which supported wall boards for displaying call centre activity and provided management reporting information to ensure FastNet provide adequate telephone support to its many clients.
Choosing VMware
As VMware providers, Technical Director James Parker was very keen that FastNet adopted a VMware solution for their communications. Talking about this James said, “naturally we have absolute confidence in our own network, and we were keen to use the technology we sell.”
Choosing SIP Trunking
As an Internet Service Provider FastNet had more than enough bandwidth available to make using SIP Trunking an easy choice over traditional PSTN connection with its flexibility, resilience and disaster recovery advantages. James explored a number of hosted communication solutions on the market and discovered that Mitel was the only manufacturer offering a fully VMware compatible solution.
Mitel The Perfect Choice
The combination of the virtualisation capability, SIP compatibility and unified communications functionality made a VMware solution from Mitel the perfect choice for FastNet. As an accredited Mitel VMware reseller Cavendish were able to provide advice and guidance on which applications and hardware to choose.
Choosing Cavendish
FastNet has had a reciprocal working relationship with Cavendish for a number of years when Cavendish sells FastNet business broadband products and FastNet buys business telephone lines on which to provide clients with broadband. Therefore, when FastNet needed a new Mitel telephone system, Cavendish were the natural choice.
The Solution
Cavendish designed and installed a VMware compatible Virtual Mitel Communications Director solution with the Virtual Unified Communications Advanced application. This provided FastNet with a fully featured telephone system, which could be hosted on a FastNet VMware server. The solution provided the instant messaging capability and Outlook integration which delivers ‘presence’ or on-screen indication of colleague’s status busy, on a call or absent etc. FastNet chose a range of Mitel IP Handsets including some IP5360 colour touch screen display handsets with cordless DECT handsets and headsets.
The Installation
Working with FastNet, Cavendish planned a phased migration from their previous telephone system, porting existing telephone numbers into ‘the cloud’ and minimising any disruption to normal business.
When asked about the installation of the new solution James said, “the installation was painless, the Cavendish engineering team were very knowledgeable and understood the technical issues. I cannot praise them enough. As a technology company ourselves, being able to engage with Cavendish at a technical level mean that any issues were resolved very quickly.”
Cavendish completed a detailed scoping document capturing all the FastNet requirements and were able to preconfigure and test the Mitel VMware solution before installing it on site. This made the actual installation very simple.
The Training
As about the training provided, James said, “the training was excellent and was adapted for the different handsets and individual requirements of our team. Everybody was given a quick reference guide and having the Cavendish training videos available is ideal for new starters at FastNet.”
The Overall Experience
Asked about his overall experience of partnering with Cavendish James said, “Cavendish were great from the outset. We did quite a lot of planning beforehand, which meant that when the time came to install the system it was simple. Our engineers were able to work with the Cavendish engineers to get the system up and running in fairly short order. Ongoing it has been great when we’ve had requests for changes or new features we would like. Cavendish have been really reactive in sorting out any problems we had.”
“Cavendish were great from the outset, I would be happy to recommend them”
Integrated Mobiles
In addition to the VMware solution Cavendish provides the business lines and mobile phone fleet for FastNet and has integrated them with the office communications. Mobile phones are ‘twinned’ with desk telephones and can be set to ring simultaneously or instead of the desk telephone when users are out of the office. The business lines, VMware communications and mobile services are all provided to FastNet on a single bill as part of the Cavendish One Bill service. In summing up James said, “I am happy to recommend Cavendish. This continues to be an enjoyable and mutually beneficial partnership.”
