Peplink Press Release: Onwave and Osborne Construction
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Onwave provides reliable IP connectivity to Osborne, a UK construction firm, for its construction sites using Peplink's multi-path bonding technology over cellular, satellite, and DSL. This helps Osborne avoid costly delays by ensuring critical IT systems have consistent access. Previously Osborne struggled with inconsistent 3G coverage and long lead times for wired broadband. The Onwave solution sets up in days rather than weeks and provides a guaranteed connectivity level for Osborne's 900 users and 300GB of monthly data across 15 sites.
Peplink Press Release: Onwave and Osborne Construction
- 1. Onwave helps Osborne to avoid construction delays through seamless IP connectivity to critical IT infrastructure Peplinkpartneroffersinnovativemulti-path and bonded solution utilising cellular,satellite and DSL based technologiesforUKconstruction firm UK – 5th January 2015 - Onwave, an IP connectivity specialist,has announced a successful on-goingpartnership with Osborne, a leading UK construction business,to improve IT access for its construction sites to critical information technology resources.The Onwave servicehelps to avoid costly delays. With an annual turnover in excess of £320 million,Osborneemploys around1000 staff and several thousand sub-contractors workingon up to 90 sites across theUK. Osborne clients span both privateand public sector including critical national infrastructuresuch as rail,road and health and education projects. The company has been an early adopter of technologies such as Building Information Modelling (BIM),thin clientand virtualisation to help streamlinethe construction process. Osborneoriginally covered the connectivity gap by providing 3Gdongles, 3G routers, or wired Broadband. Phil Gilbey, Head of IT at Osborneexplains “Where possible,we would install ADSLconnectivity, but the lead times on lines areunpredictableand could be anythingfrom a few weeks to several months. These delays and uncertainties add significantfrustration and potentially costto projects.” Osbornealso found a great deal of inconsistency in this approach,“We had projects near railway stations where usingstandard 3Grouters would resultin the sudden loss of connectivity each time a train arrived as passengers’3G usageswamped the local network for a few minutes. 3G and 4G proved inconsistent with problems of both coverage and increasingnetwork saturation”Over the years,Gilbey and his ITteam have tested out technologies such as satelliteand running their own multi SIM 3G routers but these options had significantcomplexity and costdrawbacks “Our industry is increasingly relianton information technology to make surethat all building information iscurrentand availableon site” explains Gilbey,“Delays in getting up- to-date information to our siteteams can be very costly. Havinga reliableIP connection from the siteto our data centre is critical.” IT connectivity is also essential to meet the UK government mandated use of BIM on centrally-funded projects by 2016. BIM tools includethe use of 3D models to virtually constructa building,with the ability to identify and eliminateerrors and clashes beforethey occur. Osborneruns its network from two separatedatacentres for resilienceand has around 900 users accessing core applications including document management, industry-specificfinancials,scheduling,materials management, HR and BIM. Network Services are delivered over a VPN for security and in many cases as a virtual desktop or thin clientconnection to allowitto serve both its 250 remote laptop users and a growing number of tablet, smartphone and sub-contractors usingBYOD. “When we started lookingfor a more reliable and predictablemethod of assuring siteconnectivity, we found Onwave to be a great fit for our needs,” says Gilbey. Since2008, Onwave’s innovativemanaged servicetakes advantageof any availableaccess method to improve the performance, reliability and flexibility of IP connectivity. The serviceuses flexiblecombinations of 3G, 4G, FTTC, leased lines,xDSL and satelliteto providea guaranteed level of IP connectivity and bandwidth over a flexiblecontractperiod at any location in the UK. As an ISP,Onwave delivers a complete managed service comprising hardware,softwareand maintenance and will deliver traffic fromeach site through its own network directly into the clients own data centre.
- 2. “Before we allowed the Onwave solution on site, we tested Onwave at our Reigate Head officeby moving some of our own IT helpdesk team onto the serviceand for two months, and itwas flawless,which gave us the confidence to roll itout onto sites,”Gilbey explains. To date, Osborne has deployed Onwave to around 15 sites acrosstheUK, “The setup time is now measured in days instead of weeks or months and we now have a fixed costand guaranteed level of connectivity,” says Gilbey, “For longer projects,we can order an ADSL connection from Onwave who then switch over to this when it is installed on site. As this is justa connectivity sourcefor the Onwave servicethat is already on site, we can remove the 3G/4G connectivity which means our monthly costs arereduced, bandwidth goes up but we don’t have any disruption in terms of reconfiguring routingtables,access points,firewalls or VPNs.This method allows us to transition our connectivity needs over the courseof the projectand then stop immediately when the project is finished.”The Onwave servicehandles around 300GB of data each month for Osborneat sites rangingfrom larger academic and health developments to smaller,shorter duration road and rail projects. “Peplink allows us to seamlessly add the best blend of connectivity for our customers into our service;this is possiblebecauseof the Peplink IP bonding technology. Peplink allows us to maximisebandwidth from multiplesources and different providers”says StuartLadbrook, Commercial Director for Onwave. Peplink Routers allowEthernet, Satellite,DSL, Wi-Fi,3G and 4G networks to be bonded together forminga singleresilientlink to increasebandwidth,enhance Internet reliability,and reducecosts. The portfolio also includes a number of innovativecloud based management and monitoringtools. Onwave has secured wins with several other major UK construction companies and to date has over 100 sites usingits service.“One of the key sellingpoints of our solution is thatitallows our customers to scaleup and down and take advantageof whatever connectivity option is most appropriateata particular location and time in a project whileavoiding the complexity of provisioningand managingmultiplevendors,delivery and ongoing supportis all handled by Onwave’s managed service,”says Ladbrook. The wide product portfolio and management toolset allows us to efficiently and consistently deliver the level of serviceand range of usecases required by our broad range of customers” Ladbrook adds. About Peplink Peplink is the leader in Internet load balancingand VPN bondingsolutions. Routers have been deployed around the world, helping thousands of customers from varied industries to increasebandwidth,enhance Internet reliability,and reduce costs.Our complete product lineincludes models for business of all sizes,and provides an award winningInternet experience for customers. Peplink believes that quality,innovativeproducts,and passionatecustomer servicecan help everyone experience a better Internet. That’s why customers around the world depend on Peplink. Peplink operates globally with offices in North America, Europe, the MiddleEast, and Asia.Our solutions are sold and supported by distributors,systemintegrators,and strategic partners worldwide. http://www.peplink.com/ Press Contact: Anne Harding The Message Machine +44 (0)1895 631448 anne@themessagemachine.com
- 3. Peplink Contact: Martin Langmaid, Solution Architect and Technology Evangelist +44(0)5603 684 546 mlangmaid@peplink.com