East Coast, the train operator, has turned to O2 Unify in order to consolidate the firm’s communication and IT infrastructure. The deal is valued at £2.6m.
O2 was given a contract for three years, during which they will be responsible for overseeing an infrastructure redesign and refresh covering 23 UK sites, all owned by the firm.
Part of the work will include the updating of local-area networks and wireless-access networks, which will upgrade the firm’s IPT systems to incorporate unified communications, as well as relocating 1,600 mobile phones to the O2 network.
Newly implemented processes and security systems will improve PCI compliance and SIP trunking will enable the firm to deliver information to travel customers.
The company will further form partnerships with other areas of Telefónica, the parent company of O2, which allows the media team of the mobile operator to interact with its customers via mobile devices.
Tim Kavanagh, Finance Director for East Coast, said:
“As a business, we were looking to simplify the way that we ran our communications in order to make savings but we also wanted to streamline our processes to create easier, more user-friendly systems that benefit East Coast employees and our customers.
“O2 offered us a simple solution to our needs, and this, combined with its strong background in the transport sector, means we know we are in safe hands going forward.”
O2 Unify Managing Director Paul Osborne believes the contract highlights an ongoing plan by the telecommunications company to move away from offering purely mobile services and towards providing communications and enterprise IT. He said:
“This win demonstrates how our strong service culture and customer focus from our core mobile business is continuing to put us in a very strong position to provide wider communications.”
O2 secured a contract last year with Network Rail that will offer maintenance and support, in addition to replacing Cisco network hardware in 450 sites.
