Healthcare Commission signs £17m IP deal

The independent National Health Service (NHS) watchdog has signed a deal worth up to £17 million for new wide area network (WAN) services.

The The Healthcare Commission will use the communications network of Cable&Wireless provider THUS to initially carry internet protocol (IP) data, voice and internet traffic to its sites across the country.

The fully-managed service is expected to provide cost savings and improved Quality of Service (QoS) levels, as well as a platform for further upgrades, including the deployment of managed, hosted unified communications in future.

Mike Holderness, IT service manager at The Healthcare Commission, said the provider was able to offer a package tailored to the Commission’s needs during the tender process.

“THUS has provided us with a network that will deliver efficiencies this year, while at the same time establishing a platform able to absorb future services and network growth,” he said.

The network will provide a secure and reliable network, with capability to take on additional IP communications services that could include combined voice and video conferencing, public switched telephone network (PSTN) voice break out and mobile voice and data.

The contract signed covers the fully managed deal including voice and data services, support, maintenance, consultancy, network monitoring and disaster recovery.

THUS will have operational responsibility for the network according to clearly defined service levels for network availability and fault management times. And its Customer Management Centre will monitor the network 24 hours a day and provide analysis and management in the fault resolution process.

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