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Brewer Marston’s ISP upgrades core network with SSE

Marston’s house networking unit Marston’s Telecoms rolls out a resilient nationwide network to accommodate demand for its managed services offering

Alex Scroxton
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Published: 28 Apr 2015 13:10

Marston’s Telecoms, the network services provider owned by brewer Marston’s, is embarking on a network upgrade to be powered by SSE Enterpise Telecoms.

Marston’s Telecoms was set up during the recession to save money by taking control of the brewery’s network – which also serves its 1,700 UK pubs – in-house.

Since then it has become a wholesale internet service provider in its own right, and besides its parent, it has branched out into serving other businesses, many of them also in the hospitality sector.

It offers a number of services through a managed services model, including basic line rental and landline calls, carrier pre-selection, ISDN2 and ISDN30 lines, broadband and Wi-Fi, non-geographic numbering, and mobility and data services.

Growing demand

Since expanding its horizons beyond its parent’s specific needs, Marston’s Telecoms has seen increasing demands placed on its network.

In light of this it has now taken the decision to embark on a major network upgrade, and has chosen to implement Lightnow, a new optical networking service from SSE Enterprise Telecoms, itself a spin-off from energy supplier Scottish and Southern.

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It will deploy three 10GbE wavelengths to provide a more scalable and resilient base for Marston’s core network and managed services platforms.

It will also be making use of SSE’s recent Project Edge network expansion, up to and including its Edge Plus service, which will allow Marston’s to interconnect with other network providers beyond the SSE footprint.

“To deliver a fail-safe solution to UK businesses, as well as our own core network, we needed to create a highly secure and reliable infrastructure,” said Marston's Telecoms operations manager Rob Derbyshire.

“We take pride in offering a resilient network built on a foundation of connections, which enables us to offer the best in network failovers. That’s why we looked for a trusted network partner to facilitate our growth as a managed service provider.”

Derbyshire said that SSE’s network footprint – it owns a 13,700km private network and 15 datacentre facilities in the UK – and its interconnections onto other carrier networks, had been a key factor in his decision to run with the firm.

Marston’s will also be taking SSE’s online price comparison engine, Livequote, which will allow it to source, compare and analyse Ethernet quotes from other UK carriers and provision real-time, robust network services for its own customers at a more cost-effective rate.

“The Livequote tool allows us to swiftly source the most competitive quotes available regardless of location, something that will be vital as we grow,” added Derbyshire.

SSE Enterprise Telecoms managing director Colin Sempill said his business could offer the capacity and service delivery assurances that would be vital for Marston’s Telecoms to grow its own business, and help it become a trusted partner for its own customers.

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