networks ICT
to converge their voice and data services on a single network or connection, driving operating and performance benefits. We are now working on the third stage of the journey – “Transform” wherein we will support the transformation of businesses communications and IT services with platforms and applications hosted in the cloud. This three-stage strategy set out how we would evolve our business and how our customers and partners could make a similar transformation from low value-add isolated communications services to an integrated solution driving the business forward.
QAnd how would you position the company when compared to the variety of organisations with whom you compete?
A In terms of what we are, Americans would call us “a facilities based provider” - at the heart of our success is our next-generation
network – which gives us the scale, capacity and flexibility on which this rapid transformation has been built. Our network gives us unsurpassed reach – we can directly connect to 93% of the UK. This reach allows us to be very cost-effective; and the technology we’ve built into the network allows us to innovate and evolve at a speed that others can’t match. Pair this with who we are – a business with a passion for improving things for customers and challenging the status quo - and our competitors find us a dangerous foe indeed.
We don’t compare ourselves with any competitors in the market because to do so would mean we’d stopped evolving. I see endless possibilities for TalkTalk Business to keep evolving, to keep challenging the status quo and to keep re-inventing communications and network services to help British business improve. 162
QWhat challenges and opportunities does TalkTalk Business face in the current business climate?
A The current business climate creates the same challenges for all businesses – how to survive, succeed and grow in an ongoing
climate of economic difficulty, not seen before in this technological age. Actually we are thriving in this current climate because one of our fundamental principles is to re-invent communications services in a low cost, more effective way. Businesses and channel partners see the technological and economic benefits our NGN can bring and in return we’re helping them reinvent their ICT solutions making them more cost-effective, more flexible, and better able to support their changing business models. Supporting and preparing them for a more technologically-enabled future.
Intelligent businesses recognise that the economic challenges we’ve
seen in the last few years isn’t a phase that we will grow out of but a new paradigm and creates lasting new challenges – such as how to invest in new services to move the business forward but how to do so whilst still reducing spend. After the first phase of “supplier bashing” to bring costs down, businesses are investing in new solutions that change their infrastructure, change their operating model and change the economics.
Cloud and hosted services are creating the next wave of change for businesses. Being able to relocate ICT services to “the cloud” and take advantage of a more flexible infrastructure, supported by the service provider and with the traditional up-front Cap-Ex model translated into an Op-Ex model is a significant transformation for businesses and more closely aligns spend with demand. Hosted services allow businesses to adopt the latest technology quicker and more cost-effectively than in the past – and all this helps businesses be more competitive in their own markets.
QCan you provide an overview of the services that TalkTalk Business offers the data centre market?
A We are all starting to recognise that the data centre sits at the heart of the cloud transformation. There are three key components
to a cloud service: 1) the connection that gets you to the service; 2) the data centre that host the service and 3) the service itself. And a chain is only as strong as its weakest link so we endeavour to ensure all parts of the solution are business grade and meet the needs of the market. So we provide a range of network services that provide “Business Grade” levels of speed, reliability and cost-effectiveness; we’ve built data centres employing the latest technology to maximise the performance, reliability and cost-effectiveness and these data centres are amongst the most environmentally friendly in the UK. We’re now starting to deploy services in data centres and leverage services hosted in our network.
QSpecifically, can you tell us something about your IT networking and security portfolio as it relates to the data centre?
A We’ve been providing secure data networking services for many years and these continue to advance and evolve. If you want
to provide a secure connection to your data centre or you want to incorporate a data-centre hosted service in your secure data network, we have solutions to meet this need. TalkTalk Business is the UK’s leading provider of network-based internet security. For consumers we provide the acclaimed Homesafe network-level internet security service to a third of the households that join us and for business networks and applications we supply a range of industry leading network and internet security solution. We’re working on IL2 and CESG224 accreditations for network security and our data centres employ multiple “lines of defence” to ensure their security.
QOf these, hosting is central to the data centre market – how do you differentiate yourself in this very competitive space?
A Firstly, our data centres sit at the heart of our network so they’re probably the best connected. And we power our network with 100%
carbon-neutral power. The data centres themselves are secure, can support a wide range of applications and our latest Next Generation data centre offers the latest and greatest technology to maximise cost- effectiveness and security, reduce power consumption and in doing so, support your environmental targets.
QAre there any other technologies and/or services you plan to add to your data centre portfolio in the coming months?
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www.dcsuk.info I May 2012
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