This decentralised model has meant that WSP has, since its inception, had a strong requirement for a reliable, quick and cost-effective Wide Area Network (WAN) that connected the company’s multiple geographically disparate locations  together. The initial long haul leased-line network it had in place, which connected only three of its branches was proving too costly, so in 2003 WSP went in search of a more cost-effective WAN solution that would deliver improved capacity, as well as the ability to connect more of its branches to the WAN.

 

After investigating a number of different technologies and options WSP decided to run a Virtual Private Network (VPN) over the Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) backbone of one of South Africa’s enterprise Internet Service Providers (ISPs) other than Internet Solutions.

 

The solution went some way towards solving the challenges WSP faced in connecting all of its offices and their accompanying staff members to a single corporate network, but issues with the stability and performance of that provider’s network forced it to look at switching service providers within a year of migrating to MPLS, which is when they turned to Internet Solutions.

“We immediately took the decision to migrate our three primary branches across to Internet Solutions’ MPLS backbone, each with a 256Kbps link and a single point of Internet breakout from Internet Solutions’ data centre. The rollout took no more than two months, including two weeks for scoping and the six weeks it took for Telkom to install the lines between our branches’ closest point of presence,” he continues.

Kennagh says one of the key value propositions that attracted WSP to Internet Solutions was the fact that it only had a single party to deal with throughout this process. “Internet Solutions placed the orders for the lines we required, managed Telkom throughout that process and ensured that the required infrastructure was installed in time to make the deadline promised,” he says.

 

“Once the lines were installed, the migration took two days,” he enthuses. “Furthermore, the switchover was completely unhindered by bugs or technical difficulties. In fact, we carried the switchover out on a Friday afternoon, expecting to use the weekend to iron out any issues.

“By the time we left the office on the Friday, we were cut over to Internet Solutions’ MPLS network and all of our applications were functioning perfectly,” he comments.  Six years later, that relationship is still in place and going from strength to strength.  “With points of presence in the vast majority of locations we do business in throughout South Africa, connecting our outlying branches and temporary site-offices to the WAN couldn’t be simpler,” he says.

 

“Internet Solutions geographic reach and the ease with which the MPLS network can be expanded has also proven to be a pleasure to work with when it comes to integrating the back-end systems of a number of the companies we have acquired over the past two years,” he adds.  From the initial requirement for three 256Kbps links to Internet Solutions’ MPLS network, WSP Africa has increased the total value of services it draws on Internet Solutions for by a factor often.  The company today has 18 sites active across Internet Solutions’ MPLS network, a wealth more Internet breakout capacity and has upgraded its links to the network to 4Mbps for its head office and 2Mbps for its other, smaller branches.

 

WSP’s growth has been so strong in the past couple of years, Kennagh says that the capacity available to each of its branches is re-evaluated every three months and upgraded where necessary. “We have furthermore moved away from the separate ADSL VPN we were running to connect our smaller branches together and today have our entire branch infrastructure connected to the Internet Solutions MPLS network. “We get great performance and reliability from the MPLS network regardless of whether links comprise leased-lines (as is the case for larger branches), ADSL (as is the case for smaller branches) or wireless (where ADSL isn’t available),” he says.

 

“Our main servers are also now hosted in Internet Solutions’ central data centre, since this means our core IT systems are less prone to downtime as a result of power failures, our head-office link going down or some other form of unforeseen glitch,” he says. The next steps for WSP Africa, says Kennagh, will be to deploy the ERP solution it is currently investigating onto its server in the Internet Solutions’ data centre and to embark on a branch-wide move to Internet Solutions’ enterprise voice product, namely VoIS.  “While we’re still in the process of deciding on an ERP solution, the move across to converged data and voice is inevitable,” he says.

 

“Having been through all of the growing pains associated with implementing voice over IP between our Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban offices, we believe we’ve reached a level of stability with VoIS that warrants us moving the rest of our branches across too,” he says.  “While the move to VoIS hasn’t been the easiest, it’s a road that Internet Solutions has walked with us every step of the way,” he adds.  “And largely, that’s been the primary reason we’ve stayed with the company, for the past six years. Working with Internet Solutions’ team feels like we’re working with any member of our own core IT team – they’re constantly looking out for our best interests and the level of support we’re afforded is far above the industry average,” he confirms.

 

“The best part however is that this doesn’t even come at a price premium. We conducted a price comparison 18 months ago and the services Internet Solutions provides us with are on a par with the industry norm,” states Kennagh. “We would gladly recommend Internet Solutions to any company with similar requirements and challenges,” he concludes.