Neos Networks, one of the UK’s leading connectivity providers, has today announced a partnership with Bakkavor, the UK’s leading provider of fresh prepared food (FPF), to transform the company’s multi-site network.
As a Critical National Infrastructure (CNI) provider with more than 19,000 employees globally, Bakkavor operates across the length and breadth of the country and supplies all of the UK’s major supermarkets with white label food goods and several private label brands. To ensure the smooth running of its operations, a robust, resilient network that maximises uptime and productivity is of paramount importance.
The project has seen Neos Networks deploy a comprehensive SD-WAN solution across 22 UK sites and one international site in Spain. The network has been built to support secure, reliable connectivity across Bakkavor’s entire footprint including all its food production and data centre locations.
Bakkavor’s legacy network had become outdated and wasn’t flexible enough or able to adapt to the company’s cloud and digital transformation plans. By bringing Neos Networks on board, the business has already begun to gather much greater visibility of its operations; with real-time network insights providing diagnostic data, better traffic management, and greater value for money as well as enabling the all-important shift to the cloud.
The resilient network transformation afforded by SD-WAN is also helping Bakkavor to connect its large, data-rich warehouses and fast-moving supply operations both reliably and securely. The technology allows the full utilisation of bandwidth across multiple connections offering automation and improved delivery of service to its users.
Bakkavor will now be able to undertake tactical work focused on improving overall performance and productivity, with the adoption of SD-WAN also providing the business and its UK-based IT team with added control and uniformity over its growing network.
The delivery by Neos Networks has been such a success that the initial contract was extended earlier this year to support continued network automation and improvement. The additional scope of work will see SD-WAN technology cover additional sites in the US.
Pete Asman, Managing Director for Public Sector and Enterprise, Neos Networks said: “We’re very excited to be working on such a large-scale project with Bakkavor, helping to provide the connectivity to digitally transform the UK’s leading fresh food provider. As a fellow CNI organisation, we are well positioned to support them with resilient, robust networks ensuring uptime and reliability.
“This project is the perfect example of SD-WAN’s effectiveness in providing network resilience, performance and visibility in a fast-moving, multi-site environment.We’re incredibly proud to continue to play a vital role in helping large enterprises transform their digital operations within key UK industries through our connectivity solutions.”
Richard Barton, Network & Datacentre Domain Lead, Bakkavor said: “As a CNI provider, ensuring our production facilities and multiple sites have a reliable, resilient network to operate is essential.In support of our continued digital transformation and international growth, we selected Neos Networks due to its vast experience in similar projects and knowledge of managing large scale network transformations.
“We firmly believe in the power of SD-WAN technology to help bring independence to our sites with network visibility and resilience, ensuring maximum up-time for our essential production facilities. We’re looking forward to continuing the relationship in the coming years.”