Home  |  About Us  |  Press Room  |  2005  |  THUS deploys MPLS VoIP enabled network for ScottishPower’s converged call centre connectivity connectivity

2005

THUS plc today announced that it is connecting ScottishPower to its advanced IP-based MPLS core network. The network will provide the backbone for ScottishPower’s voice and data services carrying VoIP traffic between five ScottishPower locations at Cathcart, Falkirk, Warrington, Wrexham and Caernafon, and IP data connectivity between all sites and Kirkintilloch in Scotland. 

As a leading international energy business, ScottishPower required an integrated, resilient and transparent network infrastructure that would support continued evolution of the business, and allow ScottishPower to reduce risk and ensure maximum return on investment.  ScottishPower’s IT Business Services (ITBS) had a requirement to provide voice links between its new call centre switches and chose to facilitate this requirement by making a strategic decision to move onto THUS’s MPLS network providing them with VoIP capability.  The solution is currently being deployed and will carry voice and data traffic on an any-to-any basis across a secure and dedicated IP VPN.  Each connected call centre site will be directly connected to the MPLS network using resilient Ethernet links. 

“The MPLS network will bring a number of immediate benefits to ScottishPower including reducing the number of links required to each site.  The ITBS team will have access to online tools to monitor, in real-time, the actual traffic usage on each link, enabling us to forecast bandwidth requirements in the future,” said Jim McEwan head of ITBS at ScottishPower.  “THUS provides ScottishPower with appropriate solutions to meet our overall networking needs and stringent quality of service requirements.  Through our relationship with THUS, ScottishPower is now starting to experience the benefits of technologies such as Ethernet connectivity over a wide area network and use LAN extension services, MPLS and Voice over IP for our call centre applications.”

When using a single IP network the separation of voice and data traffic is achieved by using defined Class of Service (CoS) metrics rather than using physical links to differentiate the services.  Integration of voice and data services into a single packet-based infrastructure using IP requires the careful planning and implementation of a Quality of Service (QoS) strategy for the underlying network infrastructure. THUS has full operational responsibility for ScottishPower’s networks and has clearly defined service level agreements with ITBS. 

Phil Male, Chief Operating Officer at THUS plc, explained: “As the requirements for business success continue to evolve, network and IT infrastructures must evolve with them.  Greater security, mission-critical application availability, simplification and increased transparency are all challenges that Scottish Power’s ITBS must meet to remain competitive and at the forefront of telecommunications developments.  Using MPLS to converge voice and data is the most efficient way to accomplish all its objectives.   When the network is fully deployed ScottishPower will experience a streamlined communications network that eases the logistical barriers that companies usually experience when they have offices and call centres spread over a wide geographical area.”

THUS has been providing ScottishPower with a fully managed solution covering voice and data network services across all its UK sites for the past six years. Following a rigorous open tender process, THUS was awarded a £26m contract in September 2004 to continue to support ScottishPower’s existing and future networking needs.