The SAS Group delivers new WAN infrastructure with managed services to BNP Paribas Real Estate UK

Nov. 22, 2010 - PRLog -- The SAS Group delivers new WAN infrastructure with managed services to BNP Paribas Real Estate UK

London – 22 November 2010 -  The SAS Group, an international provider of IP-based network and managed communication services, has just completed the design and installation of a BT MPLS wide area network (WAN) for leading property adviser BNP Paribas Real Estate UK (BNPPRE). The new network is underpinned by an SAS managed services agreement which provides 24/7 monitoring and support for the company’s eleven UK offices, including a single point of contact for all moves, adds and changes as well as faults and billing queries.

BNPPRE was introduced to the SAS Group after contacting BT for advice on upgrading its wide area network; the company was planning to centralise a large part of its applications infrastructure and recognised the need for a more resilient and powerful network.

“At first the idea of working with a BT partner felt odd as we’d always dealt directly with BT,” said Peter Watts, IT Director for BNPPRE. “I couldn’t really understand how the model worked. But once I understood who we were dealing with at SAS and saw the level of responsiveness we got, I could see that we were moving in the right direction.”

The SAS Group carried out an audit of the company’s WAN and found that the company’s requirements in areas such as bandwidth were not as significant as previously thought. By switching to BT’s 21CN technology, BNPPRE could access all of the enhanced functionality it required, along with advanced monitoring and management services, without the need for significant additional investment.

Satisfied with the SAS Group’s findings, BNPPRE commissioned the company to work with BT for both the delivery and management of its new wide area network.

Over the three months that followed, the SAS Group designed and deployed a new IP Clear MPLS WAN to BNPPRE’s eleven UK offices; this included provisioning the circuits and supplying and configuring all routers and switches.

To provide resilience for the company’s London data centre, the SAS Group created a diversely triangulated secondary network, using Etherflow Short Haul data services, which will automatically failover to another London site if the primary circuit is lost; secondary connectivity was also provided at each of the company’s remote offices using BT’s 21CN ADSL Connect product.

“Overall, this was a complex project to deliver but the SAS team managed it well,” said Peter. “We can now provide faster access to our substantial network of regional offices and we’ve got the resilience we need.”

Since successfully completing BNPPRE’s network installation, responsibility has now passed to the SAS Group’s managed services team which provides 24/7 support and monitoring for the company’s WAN, voice estate and existing Cisco LAN technologies. The SAS Group also acts as a single point of contact for all moves, adds, changes and faults on the BT WAN.

“We’ve always had a fully managed network but the service level we get from SAS is significantly higher and more hands-on,” said Peter. “Having proactive monitoring has really made a difference because it gives us a head start on resolving issues and we can also see exactly we can see where the pinch points are on the network.”

“When companies adopt a centralised applications strategy, network visibility becomes increasingly important to maintaining performance and business continuity,” said Charles Davis, CEO for the SAS Group. “By working with SAS in partnership with BT, BNPPRE has secured a networking solution that not only delivers the 21CN technology essential for managing applications centrally but also provides a level of service management and network visibility that can protect and support its strategy moving forward.”

About the SAS Group

The SAS Group is a major UK and international provider of IP-based network and managed communications services.  In partnership with leading technology organisations including BT, T-Mobile, Cisco, Microsoft, HP and Symantec, the company specialises in the delivery of unified voice, data and video communications solutions.  Founded in 1989, SAS is headquartered in Horsham, West Sussex.

For more information about the SAS Group visit: www.sas.co.uk

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