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2005

THUS plc today announced that it has been selected to deploy a fully managed MPLS IP VPN to Murray International Holdings (MIH), one the UK's largest privately held corporations and with interests across the world. The next generation technology is being used across 27 UK locations, providing a diverse range of MIH’s business organisations with increased bandwidth, efficiency and enabling prioritisation of network traffic.

As a truly international company, Murray International Holdings currently employs 3,500 people worldwide in the metals, property, technology, sports, marketing and mining sectors. Carnegie Systems Management (CSM) handles all MIH’s IT infrastructure and implemented a review to look at how it could replace the original network with a low-risk, future-ready solution. With network technology continually changing, a resilient, diverse solution was required that could bring all of MIH’s UK sites, each of which is autonomous and supporting different applications and software, onto one Wide Area Network (WAN). This included sites that were historically not networked. After a comprehensive and competitive tender, CSM chose THUS to roll out an extensive MPLS IP VPN to support all MIH’s existing business traffic.

James Hamilton, Managing Director at Carnegie Systems Management, said: “Though it was only 3 years old, the existing data network that MIH was using was not performing to an optimum level and we wanted to work with a company that could replace what MIH had while supporting the entire infrastructure and linking all the individual MIH businesses together. After a thorough evaluation, THUS proved to be the only UK operator that could demonstrate the flexibility, in both terms of technology and commercial benefits, that its Next Generation Network could provide. It took the time to educate us on the options available using its Next Generation Network before enabling us to take the plunge in uprooting the old network and deploying the already proven THUS MPLS IP VPN solution.”

The THUS any-to-any network topology will enable any of MIH’s businesses to talk to each other. The joint relationship with CSM provides MIH with a technologically advanced IT infrastructure and gives end users additional bandwidth for transporting content as well as enabling faster access to services.

The MPLS IP VPN solution will initially support 27 sites but has the flexibility to allow MIH to add new sites as extra business units are added. Once roll-out is complete, reporting is provided, which was not available through the previous network provider, enabling greater visibility and control of the entire network infrastructure.

The fully managed service includes proactive monitoring, fault management and resolution. THUS has also tailored its MPLS solution to deliver ISDN backup via an MPLS cloud. This addition to the solution is a necessity for MIH as it provides the ability to differentiate data traffic for each organisation and prioritise delay and packet loss sensitive traffic, such as voice, over lower priority traffic such as email transfer.

Phil Male, Chief Operating Officer at THUS plc, explained: “THUS has been using its Next Generation Network for a number of years to deliver new wave solutions to customers throughout the UK. The solution we are delivering to MIH today, is yet another example of our capabilities in this area. By working closely with CSM, we have delivered a solution that exactly fits requirements and budget and we have put a dedicated project manager in place at Murray International Holdings which has made a significant difference to the deployment of the project and provides continual innovation. Our ongoing service management also benefits the customer as we can continue to adapt the network to reflect MIH’s needs.”