Flamingo flourishes with Opal

Background

Flamingo Holdings is an international agribusiness operating primarily in the UK and East Africa. Currently the company is one of the largest vertically integrated added value horticulture producer and exporter of flowers, fruit and vegetables from Africa to the EU. It is also a major importer from suppliers worldwide in Europe, South America, Asia and the Middle East.

Supplying flowers and fresh vegetables to major supermarkets such as Marks and Spencer, Tesco and Asda, Flamingo Holdings’ mantra is ‘from field to table in 48 hours’. As such, running a highly efficient, ultra-productive operation with first class data communications is critical in order that it can meet the demands of its key customers.

Established in 2000, Flamingo Holdings today owns four companies in the UK and two in Africa, bringing together a worldwide supply chain with its manufacturing and distribution companies in Britain. Flamingo’s four UK sites suggest a deceptively simple operation. However, the UK is the hub of global VPN with operations covering dozens of sites across the world and some 10,000 remote workers, - many via satellite.

Challenge

“The Flamingo operation is very complex due to the nature of the business and the fact that it encompasses a number of geographical locations,” explained Tony Thompson, Group Network Manager at Flamingo Holdings. “All sites across the world operated independently and on different domains. We wanted to create a single global network which would make for easier and smoother communications,” he added.

Flamingo’s requirements were detailed and comprehensive. Tony Thompson, an expert in remote access and network management, had spent 18 months designing and planning a system which would meet the Company’s own individual requirements. However, when beginning to source a supplier for the project, he found many were unable to meet these needs. “We had discussions with many of the larger carriers who were simply unable to deliver the system we wanted. Our requirements were very specific and so the typical “one-size-fits-all” approach wasn’t appropriate for the business. We needed a solution that could meet all our needs,” said Thompson.

As a 24/7 operation, Flamingo Holdings cannot allow any form of system downtime.

Not only would a new solution need to offer high availability and reliability, but it would also have to be implemented with the least disruption possible to the company’s operations.

The nature and operation of Flamingo’s business means that network traffic is very high which was causing latency issues. In addition, the company’s current email filtering system was failing to provide the business with the high levels of control needed.

Flamingo has a high number of roaming users and having the ability to access applications and files from any site worldwide is critical. In addition, the company wanted to be able to access the corporate email system from anywhere in the world with an internet connection, yet still retain the same “look and feel” of Microsoft Outlook, to which its staff are accustomed.

The solution

Opal delivered an MPLS network based on its dual backbone hybrid VPN architecture. It optimised uptime by delivering diverse connectivity into the offices via a blend of copper and, fibre circuits to eliminate common failure modes in the access layer. Essentially providing two physically separate and independent networks, the dual backbones and sophisticated routing scheme protects the Flamingo business from individual circuit or equipment failure. Opal also included a hosted internet hub with managed security and VPN elements with integration to a satellite system terminating in London for connectivity to sites in Kenya.

One of Flamingo’s UK sites is a main data centre accessed via Citrix. By installing a copper circuit and load balancing, Opal gave this site a high level of resilience – a major priority and important requirement from Tony Thompson.

In addition, Flamingo selected Opal’s MailController – a fully managed email filtering system which removes spam and viruses from corporate email before it reaches the network perimeter. 

 Since implementation, Flamingo has enjoyed very low latency with complete visibility of the network and faster communications.

“The system has transformed the way the business operates,” said Thompson. “We now have the stable, central hub that we needed for data communications which has allowed us to develop group wide applications. It’s a completely tailored system designed for our needs which provides all the functionality that we were seeking.”

“MailController is superb – I would recommend it to any business. Unlike our previous solution which required 48 hours notice for reconfiguration, it allows us to make changes immediately all without any visibility or disruption to the business. For an IT department, that’s obviously very valuable,” he continued.

And it’s not just Opal’s technology that Flamingo is so impressed with: “The support Opal offers is excellent. I was given direct access to a dedicated engineering resource which, in my experience, simply isn’t offered by any other carrier,” commented Thompson. “The team are very experienced. They listen and work with you to deliver exactly the solution needed – and within budget – what more could you want from a supplier?”