When Eurostar doubled its number of passengers within two years, it
turned to Integralis to help install new, future-proof
technology
The quality of Eurostar's network services has improved
significantly and there has been a considerable reduction in
network downtime. It is now better equipped to isolate network
redundancy while network throughput is much faster. Now, as
Eurostar grows, it has a stable, supportive IT infrastructure.
Eurostar is the privately owned rail company whose core business is
the operation of passenger services from London to Paris, Brussels
and other destinations in continental Europe via the channel
tunnel. Eurostar also operates a rapid parcel service across the
English Channel. More and more people are using Eurostar to travel
to the continent. With passenger numbers increasing from 3 million
two years ago to 6 million last year, ticket sales are also rising
rapidly. "The majority of Eurostar's revenue comes from passenger
ticket sales," says Rod Fife, general management networks and
operations at Eurostar UK. "For this reason, our sales, via ticket
offices, travel agents, telephone and in the future the Internet,
need to be supported with a resilient network infrastructure that
can meet the growing demand." In summer 1996, Eurostar decided to
replace its old networks, which had developed over time with new
technology, and create a robust infrastructure. Eurostar's primary
objective was to make these networks operate as one to create a
high performance, high availability solution.Eurostar began by
looking at replacing a wide area network (WAN) that linked its nine
locations around the UK, including its head office at Waterloo,
London, the call centre in Ashford, Kent, the main depots in Acton
and Manchester, Waterloo International Terminal and Ashford
International Station. "Our network was too expensive and could not
perform consistently to support Eurostar's future growth plans,"
Fife explains. "Network downtime and delays proved damaging to our
bottom-line profits. This was because such a large proportion of
our revenue stream relies on electronic ticket sales. In addition,
increasing network bandwidth would give us greater capacity to sell
tickets as and when demand grew." Eurostar decided to employ
external network expertise to help it choose the best
infrastructure and suppliers that would provide it with the right
solution. For this reason it turned to network integration and
security specialist Integralis. As Eurostar entered the ITT process
for its replacement WAN, Integralis consultant Tim Eccott came on
board to provide independent advice, consultancy and evaluation of
responses to the tender. From these responses, Integralis helped to
draw up a list of recommended suppliers. "Integralis helped us
evaluate what each network supplier offered. By applying its
knowledge of network industry and technology standards its was able
to help us establish the correct network design and suggest
possible solutions," Fife says. The new WAN was provided by Energis
as a managed service and commissioned during the summer of 1997.
Eurostar's next step was to upgrade the local area networks (LANs)
on each of its nine principal UK sites. Fife says, "The success of
the WAN implementation highlighted the fact that LANs were also
outdated and would require upgrading to support the company's
future growth." Based on its successful approach to the WAN
implementation, Eurostar employed Integralis once more to produce
costed LAN designs for the majority of its UK locations. As a
result of its recommendations Eurostar invested in Lannet chassis
and stackable hub equipment for three of its key sites.
Improving call centre productivityOne area where improved
network resilience and high availability is particularly crucial
for Eurostar is in its Ashford-based call centre. The call centre,
which accounts for a large proportion of Eurostar ticket sales,
currently employs 220 staff and is continually growing to handle
increased business. Eurostar's call centre is equipped with the
Tribute ticketing and booking system. Within the next year Eurostar
will replace the Tribute system with an in-house development system
called Elgar designed to change the workflow and questioning
process used in the call centre. This will increase productivity
and create capacity for more ticket sales.
Internet
securityA further project for Integralis and Eurostar was to
implement a secure firewall between the network and its Internet
service provider. Integralis recommended and supplied Firewall-1
from CheckPoint Software Technologies, which was successfully
deployed and provides necessary security that will, in the near
future, allow customers to purchase travel tickets over the
Internet. The firewall will protect Eurostar's network from
unauthorised external access through this source.Overall, Fife says
that Eurostar has reaped many benefits from working with Integralis
on its network design and planning. "Benefits are ongoing, but so
far the quality of our network services has improved significantly,
with a considerable reduction in network downtime." "We are also
better equipped to isolate network redundancy so that when part of
the network goes down it does not affect everyone. Most
importantly, network throughput is much faster due to increased
capacity and updated equipment. This gives us the ability to grow
as an organisation with a stable and supportive infrastructure."
Integralis' 10 years' experience of network design and consultancy
provided very specific advantages to Eurostar. Its involvement in
evaluation of the network technologies available on the market, and
objective, industry-facing focus helped Eurostar find the right
solution for its future growth. Fife concluded, "Integralis was and
is a crucial aspect of the success of our networking projects."
( Integralis 1999Compiled by Mike Burkitt