ci connect | Issue 1

VPN delivers connectivity and performance to civil engineers

Edmund Nuttall, a leading UK civil engineering company, has contracted Community Internet plc to replace its IP Clear network with a Virtual Private Network (VPN).

The Wide Area Network is vital to Edmund Nuttall’s operations and their existing system serves its Camberley head office, regional offices and a number of construction sites with a variety of 256Kbps and 1Mbps connections. However, this system was struggling to meet demand and so Edmund Nuttall identified the need for a system which could keep pace with their changing requirements for connectivity, security and data transfer.

Requirements were identified for:

  • Additional network capacity (2Mbps or greater), to cope with the increased frequency and size of data exchange.

  • Ability for new remote users and sites to access central resources via the network
    • .
  • Industry-standard encryption to provide additional security for data transmitted between remote locations.


Without VPN, this major change would have required a considerable amount of re-configuration, installation of new fibre based connections and additional testing by Edmund Nuttall staff - incurring significant cost, time and risk. Their decision to use Community Internet plc to upgrade to the new VPN service was based on the need to reduce total cost of ownership, a desire for greater flexibility for future expansion and a requirement to implement encryption for improved security.

The new system provided by Community Internet includes a 30 Mbps connection to the Head Office, a minimum of 2 Mbps to all 16 regional offices with ADSL backup and SDSL or ADSL connections to construction sites which means they can all transfer large files quickly and implement data encryption. Also included are the JetSet roaming service which enables mobile workers to access the Internet and email whilst they are travelling in the UK and abroad, IPSec VPN for static locations and SSL VPN security for flexible, remote access which enables the entire workforce to exchange information, access email, or download files from the corporate network wherever they are.

“We selected Community Internet plc for this key project because their focus on delivering business solutions means they quickly understood our requirements and proposed a flexible solution which met all our needs,” explains Steve Shepherd, ICT Managerof Edmund Nuttall. Community Internet plc is currently delivering these solutions in a phased implementation to ensure minimum disruptions to Edmund Nuttall’s core business. “We are only in the early phase of implementation, but already I have been impressed by their approach and am pleased with the very limited disruption to our day to day operations,” says Shepherd.

“Our knowledge has enabled us to design a solution that exceeds Edmund Nuttall’s expectations and moves Community Internet up a division in the level of the 'total service' we can offer to our customers,” says Graham McLean, Community Internet plc Managing Director. “We believe other civil engineering companies with comparable requirements for fast data transfer, high security and remote access, could also benefit from similar systems and we are currently discussing projects with several organisations.”