Onwave helps Osborne to avoid construction delays through seamless IP connectivity to

critical IT infrastructure

Peplink partner offers innovative multi-path and bonded solution utilising cellular, satellite and DSL

based technologies for UK construction firm

UK – 5th January 2015 - Onwave, an IP connectivity specialist, has announced a successful on-going partnership

with Osborne, a leading UK construction business , to improve IT access for its construction sites to critical

information technology resources. The Onwave service helps to avoid costly delays.

With an annual turnover in excess of £320 mill ion, Osborne employs around1000 staff and several thousand

sub-contractors working on up to 90 sites across the UK. Osborne clients span both private and public sector

including critical national infrastructure such as rail, road and health and education projects. The company has

been an early adopter of technologies such as Building Information Modelling (BIM), thin client and

virtualisation to help streamline the construction process .

Osborne originally covered the connectivity gap by providing 3G dongles, 3G routers, or wired Broadband. Phil

Gilbey, Head of IT at Osborne explains “Where possible, we would install ADSL connectivity, but the lead times

on lines are unpredictable and could be anything from a few weeks to several months . These delays and

uncertainties add significant frustration and potentially cost to projects.”

Osborne also found a great deal of inconsistency in this approach, “We had projects near railway stations

where using standard 3G routers would result in the sudden loss of connectivity each time a train arrived as

passengers’ 3G usage swamped the local network for a few minutes. 3G and 4G proved inconsistent with

problems of both coverage and increasing network saturation” Over the years, Gilbey and his IT team have

tested out technologies such as satell ite and running their own multi SIM 3G routers but these options had

significant complexity and cost drawbacks “Our industry is increasingly reliant on information technology to

make sure that all building information is current and available on site” explains Gilbey, “Delays in getting up-

to-date information to our site teams can be very costly. Having a reliable IP connection from the site to our

data centre is critical.”

IT connectivity is also essential to meet the UK government mandated use of BIM on centrally-funded projects

by 2016. BIM tools include the use of 3D models to virtually construct a building, with the ability to identify

and eliminate errors and clashes before they occur.

Osborne runs its network from two separate datacentres for resil ience and has around 900 users accessing

core applications including document management, industry-specific financials, scheduling, materials

management, HR and BIM. Network Services are delivered over a VPN for security and in many cases as a

virtual desktop or thin client connection to allow it to serve both its 250 remote laptop users and a growing

number of tablet, smartphone and sub-contractors using BYOD. “When we started looking for a more reliable

and predictable method of assuring site connectivity, we found Onwave to be a great fit for our needs ,” says

Gilbey.

Since 2008, Onwave’s innovative managed service takes advantage of any available access method to improve

the performance, reliability and flexibil ity of IP connectivity. The service uses flexible combinations of 3G, 4G,

FTTC, leased lines, xDSL and satell ite to provide a guaranteed level of IP connectivity and bandwidth over a

flexible contract period at any location in the UK. As an ISP, Onwave delivers a complete managed service

comprising hardware, software and maintenance and will deliver traffic from each site through its own

network directly into the clients own data centre.

“Before we allowed the Onwave solution on site, we tested Onwave at our Reigate Head office by moving

some of our own IT helpdesk team onto the service and for two months, and it was flawless, which gave us the

confidence to roll it out onto sites,” Gilbey explains.

To date, Osborne has deployed Onwave to around 15 sites across the UK, “The setup time is now measured in

days instead of weeks or months and we now have a fixed cost and guaranteed level of connectivity,” says

Gilbey, “For longer projects, we can order an ADSL connection from Onwave who then switch over to this

when it is installed on site. As this is just a connectivity source for the Onwave service that is already on site,

we can remove the 3G/4G connectivity which means our monthly costs are reduced, bandwidth goes up but

we don’t have any disruption in terms of reconfiguring routing tables, access points, firewalls or VPNs. This

method allows us to transition our connectivity needs over the cours e of the project and then stop

immediately when the project is finished.” The Onwave service handles around 300GB of data each month for

Osborne at sites ranging from larger academic and health developments to smaller, shorter duration road and

rail projects.

“Peplink allows us to seamlessly add the best blend of connectivity for our customers into our service; this is

possible because of the Peplink IP bonding technology. Peplink allows us to maximise bandwidth from

multiple sources and different providers” says Stuart Ladbrook, Commercial Director for Onwave.

Peplink Routers allow Ethernet, Satell ite, DSL, Wi -Fi, 3G and 4G networks to be bonded together forming a

single resil ient l ink to increase bandwidth, enhance Internet reliability, and reduce costs. The portfolio also

includes a number of innovative cloud based management and monitoring tools.

Onwave has secured wins with several other major UK construction companies and to date has over 100 sites

using its service. “One of the key sell ing points of our solution is that it allows our customers to scale up and

down and take advantage of whatever connectivity option is most appropriate at a particular location and

time in a project while avoiding the complexity of provisioning and managing multiple vendors, delivery and

ongoing support is all handled by Onwave’s managed service,” says Ladbrook.

The wide product portfolio and management toolset allows us to efficiently and consistently deliver the level

of service and range of use cases required by our broad range of customers” Ladbrook adds.

About Peplink

Peplink is the leader in Internet load balancing and VPN bonding solutions. Routers have been deployed

around the world, helping thousands of customers from varied industries to increase bandwidth, enhance

Internet reliability, and reduce costs. Our complete product l ine includes models for business of all sizes, and

provides an award winning Internet experience for customers. Peplink believes that quality, innovative products, and passionate customer service can help everyone

experience a better Internet. That’s why customers around the world depend on Peplink.

Peplink operates globally with offices in North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. Our solutions are

sold and supported by distributors, system integrators, and strategic partners worldwide. http://www.peplink.com/

Press Contact:

Anne Harding

The Message Machine

+44 (0)1895 631448

anne@themessagemachine.com

Peplink Contact:

Martin Langmaid, Solution Architect and Technology Evangelist

+44(0)5603 684 546

mlangmaid@peplink.com