Sportscotland deploys managed communications system

Sportscotland deploys managed comms service for in-house staff

Sportscotland is to roll out a new communications network that the agency says will give "far greater operational flexibility" when it moves to its new headquarters in Glasgow ahead of the 2014 Commonwealth Games.

Sportscotland is to relocate to a new office on the site of the National Indoor Sports Arena and Velodrome, but before then it is having to operate from a temporary home at Doges Templeton on the Green – a mile from the heart of the Games site.

Given the upheaval it was facing, Sportscotland needed a replacement for its old voice switch telephone system that was easy to relocate and manage.

The IP multimedia service rolled out by ntl:Telewest Business will allow 130 employees to work remotely with access to instant messaging (IM) tools, presence indicators and instant file transfer capabilities.

"Due to the planned relocations, we required a sophisticated communications system without the complexity of having to house a local telephone exchange," said Sportscotland ICT manager Craig Worsley.

The ntl:Telewest Business offering will also save money by being a fully managed, network-based service.

"We haven't had to spend a fortune on expensive telecoms equipment to replace our legacy system and IT staff no longer have to worry about its day-to-day running," said Worsley.

"Being so closely involved with a modern sports event, it seems only fitting that we have a modern communications system in place to support the staff helping to facilitate it."