Bernard Matthews Gets Internet Bandwidth To Remote Turkey Farms
CI-Net is piping Internet connectivity to 40 turkey farms including hard-to-reach locations where other service providers have failed.
Leading turkey farmer, Bernard Matthews Farms, has chosen fully managed wide area networks, hosting and internet solutions company, CI-Net, to roll out a managed ADSL Internet connectivity service to 40 farms in Norfolk, Suffolk and Lincolnshire. The project includes delivering bandwidth to several remote sites that other service providers had been unable to connect to.
Bernard Matthews Farms and its farmers depend on Internet connectivity to access the companys bespoke inventory management software via a Wide Area Network (WAN). The software enables accurate planning and management of supplies, including stock control and the scheduling of weekly deliveries of thousands of tonnes of turkey feed from their own feed mill.
Previously, wed sourced bandwidth for the farms using individual domestic broadband contracts, explained Edwin Pearson, Information Systems Director
for Bernard Matthews Farms. But we were interested in finding a provider that could help minimize connectivity outages and successfully connect some of our very remote sites.
Other providers had been unable to deliver broadband to several of these rural sites in some instances it was impossible to even get a wireless Internet signal. So we were pretty amazed when CI-Net succeeded. It was a tough initial test that we set for them. It proved they really knew what they were doing and it helped convince us to move all our farms Internet connectivity requirements over to them.
Graham McLean MD of CI-Net pointed out that his companys expertise in working with hard to connect sites comes from its long experience in the construction sector, where it often has to deliver bandwidth to remote or greenfield sites that are poorly supported by the telecoms infrastructure:
Weve developed a never-say-die attitude and have picked up an intimate knowledge of the hoops you need to jump through when connecting some of these tough locations. Weve been through the process so many times and got to know the tricks of the trade that you need to try. We just keep going until we find a solution.
Mr Pearson said Bernard Matthews Farms would benefit from having a single managed service:
CI-Net will monitor all the lines and fix any faults so individual farmers wont have to worry about loss of connectivity any more. And its a lot less time consuming dealing with a single service catering for all our farms than having a series of individual contracts.
As part of phase two of the connectivity project, CI-Net is deploying a firewall designed to optimise connectivity and boost business continuity at Bernard Matthews Farms head office site in Norwich.
The StoneGate firewall appliance is being configured to load balance traffic along two Internet connections to help ensure traffic flows efficiently into and out of the company WAN. The firewall incorporates an automatic failover facility so that data will be routed through the remaining line if one of the connections fails.
About CI-Net
Over 2,000 UK organisations rely on CI-Nets secure, resilient, managed wide area networks (WANs). These organisations choose CI-Net to manage their WAN because of the flexibility and comprehensive services we offer, the unrivalled quality and resilience of our network and our unparalleled reputation for innovation and customer support. Working closely with customers to understand specific requirements, CI-Net builds and supports solutions crafted from an extensive portfolio of connectivity solutions, security and optimisation products plus web and professional services to support a huge variety of on-line and e-business activities. CI-Net enables businesses of all sizes to communicate better with their customers, suppliers, partners, home workers, branch offices, temporary sites and mobile workers no matter what the circumstances. CI-Net was formally called Community Internet plc.