The opportunity
The popular Italian restaurant was referred to FluidOne through a partner that manages Carluccio’s IT systems. The rapid expansion experienced by the restaurant meant that the company needed an Internet provider that could provide both a secure network connection between the stores but also Wi-Fi for customers and staff.
Previously there were individual broadband lines in place to each store. This solution worked while there were a limited number of restaurants, but as the company grew it needed a network that could grow with it. The new connections had to be stable, secure, flexible and within a reasonable cost.
Head office needed to communicate with stores and stores needed to send valuable data between each other and head office. As Carluccio’s was targeting growth, scalability was also essential.
The solution
As the number of restaurants grew, FluidOne decided that a fully managed private wide area network (PWAN) was required to support the business. The WAN was in addition to the Wi-Fi networks in place at the restaurants.
The PWAN simplified management of the entire network by eliminating existing VPN tunnels. It also provided a single secure gateway enabling the disconnection of Carluccio’s own Internet firewall. This increased security along with the provision of an off site disaster recovery facility housed in Hemel Hempstead.
To prevent unnecessary down-time and resilience for the Wi-Fi connections, multiple carriers were provided over DSL lines into every UK store.
The PWAN will continue to grow with the business – as more restaurants open and as the business flourishes it will continue to become increasingly cost effective. By means of proactive management, FluidOne have made available the capacity to upgrade lines to newer technologies wherever available.
The flexibility of the network has meant that there is the provision of Fibre into the restaurant in Covent Garden, London allowing the split of bandwidth for data and voice. In addition, FluidOne has put in place a back-up leased line for Carluccio’s Islington location.
The results
The FluidOne WAN has reduced the number of telecom providers to Carluccio’s thereby greatly simplifying the management of telecoms and reducing costs through the use of VoIP. To cater for increasing customer demand, the company is now also able to provide free Wi-Fi.
Carluccio’s is now able to be more efficient with its time. With a dedicated FluidOne managing connectivity, the management team has been able to focus on expansion plans.
Frank Bandura, Group Chief Financial Officer, Carluccio’s said, “ FluidOne is great to work with. The whole team is always approachable, even when things don’t go according to plan – I can speak to the MD direct and know that everything is in hand. Throughout the organisation, they are highly customer and service focussed and work extremely hard to get things done for their customers in the time required and at an excellent standard”
Carluccio’s now has a network that is adaptable and highly scalable. As new restaurants are opened they can be added easily, meaning they are up and running in the shortest time possible.
With resilience and consistency central to the network, Carluccio’s can be assured that their daily operations are well supported by top-end and carrier-diverse connectivity.
Most recently, the demise of O2 Wholesale has meant that careful planning was required to migrate the bulk of services onto an alternate network. As FluidOne has incorporated resilience into the network this was done with minimal disruption to stores or customers.
