Poynting Antennas, a supplier of advanced antennas with branches in Gauteng and Cape Town, has resolved its connectivity issues with the implementation of a 4Mbps fibre optic solution from XDSL at its Samrand offices in Johannesburg.
The solution has delivered immaculate speed and reliability, reducing business risk for the organisation, improving interactions between business branches and enhancing customer communications.
“Connectivity between our Cape Town branch, Samrand and Johannesburg Head Office is critical as all the applications used by the business reside on a server located in Samrand,” says Coenraad Ryksen, IT manager of Poynting Commercial.
“We have a VPN connection between the two branches (Samrand and Wynberg) with a PABX hosted in Samrand. The Cape Town office has extensions on the same PABX and works on a Web sales portal and the application server in Samrand. In addition, sales depend largely on incoming calls. We had multiple challenges to resolve.
“With our Telkom ADSL services, we had the download (512kbps) but not the upload capabilities we needed between branches and with regular incidences of copper theft in the Samrand area, we were without any communications for long periods.
“Our ISDN service from Telkom, which gives us 64kbps up and downstream and which we use for voice, was similarly affected as it runs on copper. This severely impacts profitability.
“Quite simply, if we have no data connectivity, we cannot run our business. Communication between our branches, with suppliers and with customers is lost. Crucially, our sales operation is crippled.
“We investigated multiple connectivity alternatives but found the costs prohibitive and the time to delivery unsuitable. XDSL proposed a proof of concept, offering to lay fibre to our door and letting us make use of the service free of charge for a month to ensure smooth migration from our existing service.
“Within 10 days of making the proposal, XDSL installed the fibre optic cable and within three to four days we were up and running. We were making full use of the fibre connectivity even before our existing contracts with service providers had expired.”
“XDSL is a new breed of telecoms service provider. We have multiple agreements with owners of telecoms infrastructure and can tap into national and international infrastructure, providing our clients network neutrality and all the agility and reliability that comes with that,” says Danie Fourie, director at XDSL, part of the JSE listed Convergenet Holdings Group.
“In terms of fibre, we are connected to more than 200 000km of fibre nationally.
“For organisations, such as Poynting Antennas, that are located in office parks, we deliver a much needed niche service, partnering with our sister companies in the Convergenet Group to take dark fibre to the doorstep of these organisations, then making use of our 24/7 national operations centre, as well as our presence in other data centres nationally, to provide full time monitoring and ensure SLAs are met.”
XDSL installed a 4Mbps fibre optic line for Poynting Antennas which delivers reliable connectivity. XDSL also offered a service level agreement that includes a 99,5% guaranteed uptime and two hour response time which is necessary for their business.
“In the time it has been in use, the XDSL fibre link has delivered immaculately 24/7 on the promised throughput, speed and reliability,” says Ryksen.
“We have not yet taken on the XDSL VoIP service, which makes use of virtual PABX hosted at XDSL’s data centre, but we have tried it out and are happy with the service. As our current voice contract commitments expire, we will consider it, especially as there are plans afoot to completely change the connectivity architecture at our Cape Town office too.”
The telecoms sector is truly opening up, notes Ryksen.
“There’s not just one telecoms provider in South Africa anymore – we have more bandwidth and an increasing amount of infrastructure available.
“To perform at world-class levels, we need to seek out and support service providers like XDSL who understand service excellence, can provide the necessary solutions and have the technical expertise, process and resources to deliver on their guarantees. XDSL went well beyond the service one would expect in a first world country.”
“Connectivity between our Cape Town branch, Samrand and Johannesburg Head Office is critical as all the applications used by the business reside on a server located in Samrand,” says Coenraad Ryksen, IT manager of Poynting Commercial.
“We have a VPN connection between the two branches (Samrand and Wynberg) with a PABX hosted in Samrand. The Cape Town office has extensions on the same PABX and works on a Web sales portal and the application server in Samrand. In addition, sales depend largely on incoming calls. We had multiple challenges to resolve.
“With our Telkom ADSL services, we had the download (512kbps) but not the upload capabilities we needed between branches and with regular incidences of copper theft in the Samrand area, we were without any communications for long periods.
“Our ISDN service from Telkom, which gives us 64kbps up and downstream and which we use for voice, was similarly affected as it runs on copper. This severely impacts profitability.
“Quite simply, if we have no data connectivity, we cannot run our business. Communication between our branches, with suppliers and with customers is lost. Crucially, our sales operation is crippled.
“We investigated multiple connectivity alternatives but found the costs prohibitive and the time to delivery unsuitable. XDSL proposed a proof of concept, offering to lay fibre to our door and letting us make use of the service free of charge for a month to ensure smooth migration from our existing service.
“Within 10 days of making the proposal, XDSL installed the fibre optic cable and within three to four days we were up and running. We were making full use of the fibre connectivity even before our existing contracts with service providers had expired.”
“XDSL is a new breed of telecoms service provider. We have multiple agreements with owners of telecoms infrastructure and can tap into national and international infrastructure, providing our clients network neutrality and all the agility and reliability that comes with that,” says Danie Fourie, director at XDSL, part of the JSE listed Convergenet Holdings Group.
“In terms of fibre, we are connected to more than 200 000km of fibre nationally.
“For organisations, such as Poynting Antennas, that are located in office parks, we deliver a much needed niche service, partnering with our sister companies in the Convergenet Group to take dark fibre to the doorstep of these organisations, then making use of our 24/7 national operations centre, as well as our presence in other data centres nationally, to provide full time monitoring and ensure SLAs are met.”
XDSL installed a 4Mbps fibre optic line for Poynting Antennas which delivers reliable connectivity. XDSL also offered a service level agreement that includes a 99,5% guaranteed uptime and two hour response time which is necessary for their business.
“In the time it has been in use, the XDSL fibre link has delivered immaculately 24/7 on the promised throughput, speed and reliability,” says Ryksen.
“We have not yet taken on the XDSL VoIP service, which makes use of virtual PABX hosted at XDSL’s data centre, but we have tried it out and are happy with the service. As our current voice contract commitments expire, we will consider it, especially as there are plans afoot to completely change the connectivity architecture at our Cape Town office too.”
The telecoms sector is truly opening up, notes Ryksen.
“There’s not just one telecoms provider in South Africa anymore – we have more bandwidth and an increasing amount of infrastructure available.
“To perform at world-class levels, we need to seek out and support service providers like XDSL who understand service excellence, can provide the necessary solutions and have the technical expertise, process and resources to deliver on their guarantees. XDSL went well beyond the service one would expect in a first world country.”