Spitfire ensures always on connectivity for Antic London’s pubs across the capital
Spitfire Network Services, a provider of telecoms and IP engineering solutions to UK businesses, today reveals how its delivery of a combination of broadband and mobile backup solutions has completely transformed the operations of Antic London, a pub-management company with over 30 pubs across London.
Antic London used to operate using two broadband connections for each pub to minimise the impact of any downtime. Although both broadband connections utilise two different wholesale providers, the analogue line for both connections are supplied by Openreach and therefore, when Openreach has a failure in its infrastructure both connections tend to fail, which was causing significant operational issues. Each pub’s reliance on connectivity is even more important with EPOS machines operating via the broadband connections. If they lose connectivity, they cannot accept payments – making it mission critical for Antic London.
Solution:
Sales process and evaluation of the solution required
Spitfire Network Services’ team evaluated the situation in detail, formed a comprehensive understanding of Antic London’s requirements and of their network before designing an appropriate solution to meet these needs. As always, this consultative process walked Mark through the options on offer and highlighted what the result would be.
Combining Broadband and Mobile backup for ‘always on’ connectivity
For all of Antic London’s real estate (30+ locations), Spitfire Network Services has delivered a fibre broadband internet connection as the primary circuit and a mobile data connection configured as the backup if the broadband line fails. Each connection utilises independent infrastructure meaning should there ever be a failure on the primary circuit it would have no impact on the backup circuit, even at infrastructure level. Now Antic London are reassured that they can keep their tills always working and communicating with the cloud. Antic London cannot entertain a lack of connectivity – it needs to be as bulletproof as possible.
This solution was deployed across multiple sites in a seamless manner.
Analogue & ISDN Switch Off 2025
In anticipation of the analogue phone lines being phased out as part of the ISDN switch-off, Antic London will now also embark on a new digital switchover project with Spitfire Network Services. This will begin by adding IP telephone lines to each of the pubs forming a single phone system across the whole estate. From a practical point of view, it means calls can be diverted easily to the correct location. Operations will be more joined up, which will increase efficiency across the business.
Results:
Overall, the solutions delivered by Spitfire Network Services for Antic London have been transformational. Downtime across all locations has been significantly minimised, and even if there is a small issue, payments aren’t affected due to Spitfire Network Services’ mobile data backup solutions now in place. With a flexible solution now in place, Antic London can address many different business challenges around resiliency, flexibility, access and more.
From a digital switchover standpoint, Antic London is now on its journey towards becoming fully digital as an organisation. Whilst many businesses across the UK are yet to act, Antic London will have a solution in place that will not only make the company’s communication internally and externally significantly more efficient, but the business will also avoid the disruption caused by waiting too long to switch.
Mark Boyd, IT Manager, Antic London, said: “I had worked with Spitfire Network Services in a previous role when I was setting up a call centre so I knew they would be a good fit for Antic London. It was about customer service, really. I have a dedicated account manager that I can call on and get something fixed – someone who solves my problems. Overall, the solutions delivered by Spitfire Network Services for Antic London have been transformational for our business.”
Dom Norton, Sales Director, Spitfire Network Services said: “To hear the challenges Mark and Antic London faced with regards to connectivity really motivated our team to find the best solution. In a hospitality scenario connectivity matters more than ever, with EPOS machines so critical to how venues operate, ensuring there is minimal downtime is pivotal. It’s great to see how the solutions have impacted Antic London.”
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For more information about Spitfire Network Services Ltd, visit www.spitfire.co.uk.