Dartford-based ISP Astro Communications has completed the roll out of a new MPLS network and data centre migration project for restaurant chain TGI Fridays UK.
Astro has had a longstanding partnership with TGI Fridays for the supply and management of the wireless network for its restaurants and support centre, and after competing in a formal tender process late last year has been awarded a three year contract for the supply and management of the WAN and the centralised data centre services.
With a range of connectivity types including Ethernet, FTTC and ADSL, many backed up by 3G failover, the TGI Fridays WAN delivers all essential services to the restaurants including payment traffic, supplier orders, internal team communication via the intranet and hosted VoIP voice traffic along with the usual services of email and web browsing.
The WAN and infrastructure in the primary and secondary data centres along with the shared services centre (Head office) are monitored 24×7 by the Astro Network Operations Centre (NOC) and a granular and bespoke alerting process has been put in place to ensure that the maximum available uptime and minimum disruption to the network is guaranteed.
Jeremy Dunderdale, Head of IT for TGI Fridays UK, said: "Combining the provision and management of all our services and infrastructure through Astro has enabled us to have better visibility of the service we offer and simplify troubleshooting of any issue.
"We are able to fully monitor and manage all issues and improvements within our infrastructure through the close relationship of a single partner. The drivers for change were a combination of a need for an improved level of service, an improved network performance and reduced total cost of ownership."
Steve Hodges, MD of Astro Communications, added: "The performance of the infrastructure and the managed service are living up to the expectations we set with TGI Fridays, and I am looking forward to a long-term working relationship with them and transitioning more services over the network as TGI Fridays continues to grow in the UK."