McBride invests in major network upgrade

Deployment aims to increase business continuity

McBride is a major supplier of own-label products to UK retailers

McBride, a supplier of private label household and personal care products, has implemented a centralised local area network (LAN), voice-over-internet protocol (VoIP) and digital surveillance system from network integration specialist Telindus.

The nine-month, £800,000 deployment, covers McBride's London headquarters and six manufacturing sites across the UK

McBride's existing networks at each of the UK sites had reached capacity and could no longer cope with the increasing volumes of voice and data traffic, impacting the firm's service delivery to its customers. The telephony systems also offered little resilience.

Systems at each site can now be managed locally and remotely, giving the IT and management teams increased mobility.

"The LAN is now faster and more resilient than our original network and we are no longer experiencing single points of failure, thus enabling each site to improve service delivery to our customers," said Gary Wilson, factory systems controller at McBride. "I had some reservations about VoIP in the old days, but they have not materialised – it's been absolutely superb."