Bignet

Company: PerleCustomer: BignetSubmitted by: MCC InternationalDate: August 2000As customer demand for Internet access increases, ISPs (Internet Service Providers) have to upgrade their technology accordingly. Essentially they must be able to continue providing highly reliable communications technology for both existing clients and rise to the demands of new customers in this increasing marketplace.Based in Nottingham, Bignet provides ISP services to over 1500 corporate and residential subscribers throughout the UK. The expansion of the company and mounting technical difficulties has required Bignet to upgrade its communications system. The company needed a system that would enable it to expand its subscriber base to include customers with both on V.90 analogue and ISDN connections.

The network also had to be capable of maintaining the high levels of customer service and reliability to existing clients. But a critical component to Bignet was after sales service and support for customer availability to their services.As a growing ISP, Bignet needed to ensure that the upgrade was reliable in order to retain its existing customer base but also scalable to handle new clients dial access needs. David Foster, Managing Director of Bignet explains, “We had to upgrade our communications system in order to retain our current clients. There were instances when users couldn’t connect successfully, which we needed to resolve.

In addition, we needed to grow our business, so our network had to be able to handle more people using the service. At the end of the day, customer service is what it’s all about.”To achieve these aims, the company chose Perle from among the many alternatives in the marketplace. David Foster explains, “We wanted to upgrade the system and subsequently looked on the Internet at what was available. We discovered Perle’s remote access solutions after a month of searching many vendors and products at varied prices.

“From an early stage, David Foster was aware that Perle would be able to offer that all-important ingredient to Bignet – after-sales service and support. “We needed a vendor that supported their product after installation. In addition, we liked the way the Perle 833AS addressed our need for high modem densities in a single chassis,” David Foster recalls. “Reliability is extremely important to us. The Perle 833AS delivers a number of unique features, including unparalleled reliability, that set it apart from all other dial access products.”In addition to the Perle 833AS being reliable, it offered exceptional flexibility in its support of up to 120 E1/PRI simultaneous connections of both remote analogue, 56 Kbps V.

90 and ISDN PRI users. David Foster explains, “No other product on the market seemed to offer modem densities in this range. This scalability allows us to choose expand our modem capacity as Bignet grows.”Foster admits that reliability is still extremely important to high-density remote access server applications, such as Bignets’ Point of Presence. Power supplies are a critical component where high levels of availability are required. The Perle 833AS recognised this by providing dual hot swappable power supplies as standard.

So even if a power supply or power source fails at Bignet, the Perle 833AS will continue to run. David Foster adds, “Other vendor products that we looked at only offered optional dual power supplies, which are not hot swappable, so they required specific downtime for initial installation and for any ongoing repair.”The successful installation has garnered high praise for Perle, having provided a high quality of service from the time the equipment was delivered. “The service we have received has been second to none. Perle has provided us with the backup and service we require,” says David Foster.”Thanks to Perle, we can now take on ISDN customers as well.

This is a huge bonus to the company and we can now expand accordingly. It had been difficult to maintain a consistent level of service for our customers, but the Perle 833AS has made life easier.We have already started growing more rapidly and getting more corporate customers since the implementation, which has benefited Bignet immensely,” he concludes.Due to the scalability of the Perle 833AS to support high capacity throughput for multiple dial access, David Foster is confident that he has the platform in place to grow his business and will attract more corporate subscribers to Bignet.