Press Release
MLL Telecom, a leading provider of secure managed network services for the UK public sector, today announced that it has been has been named as preferred Health and Social Care Network (HSCN) supplier by Norfolk County Council (NCC) and Partners. NCC and Partners appointed the company to provide access to the new network for 164 health and social care organisations in the region, facilitating the reliable, flexible and efficient sharing of information. Norfolk County Council is also predicting an improvement in cyber security through the introduction of a dedicated and resilient primary connection.
The five-year Norfolk County Council (NCC) and Partners contract, awarded to MLL Telecom in September 2018, will supply Norfolk County Council, its Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, and Clinical Commissioning Group partners with individual Ethernet connections for HSCN connectivity, internet and guest internet. The collaborative procurement, led by Norfolk County Council, was driven by a need for increased bandwidth, better value for money, and improved flexibility. Norfolk County Council and Partners required a complete migration of all services from N3 to HSCN by 30 April 2019, and chose MLL Telecom based on its flexible approach, experience working with the public sector and its competitive offering. The company’s ability to provide a tailored solution to suit each organisation’s individual needs, with ongoing engagement levels and partnership, was also a key consideration.
“Norfolk County Council will achieve a considerable improvement to performance and resilience through the introduction of the new MLL HSCN service, while at the same time making significant cost savings,” said Geoff Connell, CIO of Norfolk County Council. “We were impressed by MLL Telecom’s strong references in the region – such as the Norfolk and Suffolk Foundation Trust and Norfolk–Community Health and care NHS Trust (NCHC). These not only prove the company’s ability to deliver in the UK, but also its ability to deliver in East Anglia. The network is the plumbing for all-important future healthcare services for our local residents, and we look forward to using this connection in the future to enable the best possible patient care.”
“Aggregated procurements such as this one led by Norfolk County Council are not a one-size-fits-all approach,” said Neil Woolerton, Director of Client Management, MLL Telecom. “Partners must be able to benefit from economies of scale, but also receive bespoke network elements according to their specific needs. We’ve been working with each individual organisation to define an IT roadmap to ensure this, and to show our commitment to ongoing support. We look forward to continuing to lead this ecosystem in East Anglia.”
MLL Telecom will deliver HSCN connectivity directly to each site over an MPLS core network, providing the organisations with additional bandwidth at a lower cost. James Paget Hospital, Norfolk & Norwich University Hospital, and Queen Elizabeth Hospital will particularly benefit from primary and secondary 1Gigabit per second resilient connections. Each partner will also have the flexibility to overlay additional services, such as video conferencing, Voice over IP (VoIP), internal messaging and web browsing, over their internet access according to their needs. MLL Telecom will also assume responsibility for reporting on and managing the capacity of the network end-to-end.
“We’re delighted to have been awarded this contract. It’s a really strong validation of the work we’ve been doing in the region since we enabled the first HSCN connection in Norfolk this year, as well as our commitment to the healthcare market,” continued Woolerton. “We’ve really shown our ability to offer viable commercial and technological solutions, as well as delivering them too. We’ve also doubled our workforce over the last 12 months to further boost our commitment to improving connectivity. We’re proud to work in partnership with these organisations to extend the benefits of connectivity to the people of East Anglia.”
