The flat landscape of Lincolnshire has provided an unexpected solution to North Lincolnshire Homes’ need to replace its wide-area network.
As the owner of the three tallest building in the area, NLH realised that it was well placed to implement a wireless solution to replace its land cable system. Mike Eckersley, head of ICT, North Lincolnshire Homes, said, “The area is perfect in that it is flat and, luckily, we own the three tallest buildings in Scunthorpe. This meant that we had everything we needed to provide wireless service – flat countryside and the ability to boost the service from the top of our tall buildings.”
Working with EISON, an independent network integrator, work on the wireless service began in April 2008 and was finished in May, with only 20 minutes downtime for each office. The licensed microwave solution provides 10Mb links to each office, with a 100Mb backbone from the tower block to NLH’s headquarters, replacing its 128k fixed cable from BT. The wireless service is up to 50 times faster than the old system and is saving NLH around £25,000 each year.
