Waste firm installs VPN to aid supplier access

Orange survey revealse SME are using VPNs more than previously thought

Rubbish disposal firm London Waste has installed an IP virtual private network (VPN) to improve mobile access to its systems.

The company, which has an annual turnover of £65m, provides services for the North London Waste Authority (NLWA), a consortium of London boroughs.

The network infrastructure will make life easier for the company’s suppliers, says Mark Beattie, IT director at London Waste.

‘Our software suppliers will now have access to our network if we have to log a software support call,’ said Beattie.

‘Employees who are working from home can also get access in the same way.’

Research conducted by Orange reveals that 82 per cent of small- and medium-sized (SMEs) firms use VPN technology and 57 per cent use voice over IP (VoIP) – figures that are higher than previously thought.

The survey says VoIP is the most rapidly growing technology for SMEs, coming second only to laptops in investment planning for 2007.

Beattie says large firms should pay more attention to the technology trends coming from smaller companies.

‘I’ve always believed that big business can learn from SMEs in terms of being agile in business, and responding to what their workforce and customers are saying,’ he said.

‘If you’re smaller you’re more in tune with the specific benefits technology can deliver. In big business these often become political decisions rather than what’s needed at the coal face.’

But Beattie says some SMEs still consider technologies such as VPN and VoIP to be complicated and expensive.

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