Telindus Revolutionises Customer Service at McBride With Next-Generation Network
Telindus centralises McBride’s voice, data and digital surveillance
for multiple sites onto one IP network
Odiham, UK – 10 July, 2008 - Telindus, a network integration specialist, has implemented a centralised LAN, VoIP and digital surveillance system for McBride plc, Europe's leading supplier of private label household and personal care products. The deployment, which covers McBride’s London headquarters and six manufacturing sites across the UK, will enable increased business continuity and enhanced security measures.
Since the first McBride company was set up in North Manchester in 1927 to supply chemical processing products to Lancashire’s cotton industry, the organisation has grown into a multinational business that operates from sixteen factories in seven countries. The company’s existing networks at each of its six UK sites had reached capacity and could no longer cope with the increasing volumes of voice and data traffic. Being prone to failure when under the pressure, the networks had started to severely impact McBride’s service delivery to its customers. McBride was also running a number of separate archaic telephony systems on old telephone exchanges, which offered little resilience and affected business continuity across individual sites and the company as a whole.
In addition, the existing analogue CCTV cameras at each of McBride’s large manufacturing sites in Burnley, Bradford and Middleton had restricted views of their perimeter zones, offering limited security and health and safety capabilities.
Recognising the need for a full upgrade of its Local Area Network (LAN), VoIP and surveillance system, McBride put the replacement project out to tender and chose Telindus over three competitors to design and manage the implementation.
Working with Cisco and DVTel, Telindus designed and deployed a centralised system that enabled the LAN, VoIP and CCTV to be controlled and managed from its site in Middleton. As a result, each sites’ systems can now be managed locally and remotely, giving the IT and management teams increased mobility as they can log in at any location and work efficiently and effectively.
The analogue security cameras were replaced with 27 IP CCTV cameras, spread across the 5-acre site at Burnley, the 13-acre site at Bradford and the 11-acre site at Middleton. The new digital surveillance system enables recording for up to 30 days at a time and facilitates 360° monitoring at each site’s perimeter, acting as a security deterrent as well as supporting McBride’s fire detection and safety procedures. The IP CCTV deployment also facilitates access to a large storage bank of high quality images and footage can also be exported onto DVD if extra storage is required.
Gary Wilson, Factory Systems Controller at McBride, said: “McBride had an existing relationship with Telindus and we knew we could trust the team’s technical expertise and knowledge. We also had complete confidence in the team’s project management skills and ability to meet our extremely tight and aggressive deadline of just nine months.
“Telindus’ team engaged with us from the start and fully understood the business implications of upgrading our systems. The team managed to implement our centralised ICT system with minimal impact on the 1,000 or so members of staff involved in the project. Furthermore, the LAN is now infinitely faster and more resilient than our original network and we are no longer experiencing single points of failure, thus enabling each site to improve service delivery to our customers. Our jobs have also been made infinitely easier as technical issues can be diagnosed and fixed efficiently and quickly, and our single service level agreement and point of contact at Telindus has saved us vast amounts of time when we have any queries.”
Mark Hutchinson, Managing Director of Telindus, said: “The new IP system at McBride is a great example of how a next-generation network can revolutionise business practices and provide the flexibility and scalability that may be required for future applications and upgrades. There would have been a significant risk to the business if McBride had stayed with its existing LAN and telephony infrastructure, and there was pressure to implement the new centralised system quickly and efficiently. We are proud that the team has been able to meet McBride’s tight timeframe.”
Following this essential project replacement, McBride intends to work with Telindus to roll out CCTV internally at its manufacturing sites.
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About Telindus
Telindus is a group of companies offering ICT Solutions and Services. Telindus serves business and public market needs as a solution and sourcing partner, delivering secured converged networking, and secured systems & applications underpinned by management and support services.
With over 38 years experience in ICT, Telindus is investing considerably in expertise to service modern IT and telecommunications infrastructures throughout their life cycle. Telindus' enviable track record and longstanding partnerships with leading equipment suppliers offers a safe route for enterprises, telecom operators and government bodies looking to deploy long-lasting ICT solutions.
In January 2006, Telindus joined the Belgacom Group to become the IT Services Branch of a new business leader in the market. Belgacom SA/NV [Euronext Brussels:BELG] is the leading telecommunications company in Belgium and a market leader in a number of areas, including retail and wholesale fixed-line telephony services, mobile communications services, broadband data and Internet services. Together, Belgacom and Telindus are building a Belgian champion in the European IT landscape, presenting the market a unique offering, uniting Connectivity and IT Services. http://www.belgacom.be/
With a highly skilled international team of 2,753 employees, Telindus is present in 15 countries in Western Europe, Hungary, China and Thailand. Telindus is headquartered in Belgium. http://www.telindus.com/
Telindus is an ISO 9001:2000 (Quality Management System) and ISO 27001:2005 (Information Security Management System) accredited company.
About McBride
McBride is the leading supplier of private label household and personal care products for Europe's largest and successful retailers. The company is structured to give its customers a complete private label service that includes marketing and category development, product and packaging design, logistics and supply chain management and fast responses to market needs with manufacturing centres in seven countries across Europe.
Robert McBride Ltd is the UK business and is based in Middleton, Manchester.
For more information please visit http://www.mcbride.co.uk/