Freshways

Vaioni-Quote-Icon It’s given us the capacity, resilience and security to add more and better services with confidence.

Customer Story

Freshways logo

Better connectivity brings udderly brilliant results

Freshways started as a family business back in 1980, supplying local customers with milk and bread in East Berkshire from one small site. They've since grown to become a major dairy, chilled and ambient food supplier with depots throughout the UK.Freshways processes over 100 million litres of milk every year at its Severnside dairy. It provides branded and retailer own-label milks and creams, all sourced from the company’s dedicated group of over 140 British farm-assured dairy farmers.

The Challenge

Freshways is a fast growing business facing the challenges that rapid expansion often brings. In terms of IT, that meant a disparate and ageing connectivity estate. Organic growth and acquisition had led to a diverse range of legacy solutions across sites, and a network that didn’t communicate and often worked at snail’s pace.

That was deeply frustrating for staff and customers, and highly labour intensive to manage. Freshways recognised the need for a complete network overhaul. The business wanted to implement more advanced technology in a range of areas, but needed the solid network foundation to meet those ambitions.

Freshways also had growing concerns about security, and storing business-critical data and applications in-house. They needed a back-up system that would secure company and customer data and ensure compliance with the latest data security laws.

The Vaioni Solution

Freshways needed a supplier who could take this huge IT headache away. They wanted someone who could do it all, rather than having to manage a portfolio of providers. The chosen partner would have to offer a wide-range of technologies to meet the needs of dispersed locations with different connectivity requirements.

Freshways chose Vaioni because of our long expertise in connectivity and networking, and because Vaioni guaranteed to connect even the most remote rural locations. The company also valued our experience in security and collocation, as it sought to protect its valuable data.

Vaioni engineers built a powerful MPLS Wide Area Network (WAN), using a hybrid architecture of broadband and Ethernet to service each site. This was a bespoke solution tailored to Freshways precise requirements, using a mixture of connectivity technologies, from ADSL2+ and FTTC to GEA, EFM and Fibre.

Vaioni added a centrally hosted next-generation firewall with unified threat management, and scalable colocation services for resilience. Freshways now has peace of mind from knowing that, should a disaster recovery or business continuity situation arise, their applications and data are securely mirrored off site.

The Results

The results have been game changing for Freshways. Because of Vaioni’s position as a connectivity exchange, the company now has a robust MPLS WAN, based on a range of access technologies, for the best possible price. Most importantly of all, sites now communicate easily with each other, and with their headquarters. That’s as true of rural sites as it is with more urban locations.

This is a robust solution that allows staff to work at speed, and also supports Freshways digital transformation strategy. As the business transfers more services to the cloud, it has the connectivity to ensure the network is always working optimally. The network is easily scalable, and will flex to meet the changing needs of the business.

All data and infrastructure is backed-up in a secure colocation facility, providing real business resilience. And as more data is passed between in-house servers and the cloud, it is protected by an advanced, centrally managed firewall. The firewall is continually updated, protecting the business from both known and emerging cybersecurity threats.

The business benefits of Vaioni’s solution are clear. Freshways staff work more efficiently and effectively. Sites communicate easily and securely with each other. Customers are delighted by smoother ordering and a more reactive service. And all this is delivered by a single supplier, minimising both cost and complexity. Freshways own IT team now has more time to focus on other tasks.

I would highly recommend Vaioni. In terms of technology, service and price, our solution is exactly right for our needs. It’s turned a messy, dislocated IT estate into one that works seamlessly across sites and services. It’s given us the capacity, resilience and security to add more and better services with confidence.

Find out how Vaioni can bring your business to the next level.