• Enabling Virgin Atlantic to proactively plan and manage its future business requirements
• Streamlining systems to increase staff efficiency and customer service levels
• Managing mission critical voice and data networks across Virgin's 11 UK offices

Communications integrator Affiniti is managing and monitoring Virgin Atlantic Airways' voice and data communications networks across all 11 of its offices in the UK, in a 2-year contract worth £560k.

The nature of Virgin Atlantic's business means that all network services must be robust enough to deal with mission critical communications. Affiniti is responsible for monitoring and securing the existing network, which is carried out remotely from Affiniti's Hemel Hempstead Network Operations Centre, utilising state of the art network management and monitoring tools.  Virgin Atlantic support staff are alerted to any problems and if required, an Affiniti engineer is despatched to the site. Affiniti is also responsible for streamlining systems ensuring that processes such as ordering are centralised to increase staff efficiency and business responsiveness.

The network supports over 2,500 PCs, used by front and back office staff across a range of functions, including check-in desks, departure lounges, flight operations and engineering, who will all benefit from increased productivity and improved access to resources.

Affiniti has supplied onsite engineering to aid transition in change management processes and for reports into network traffic levels and hotspots. This is already reaping rewards. The network uptime has been improved and the fix response time has been reduced on a continual basis. The improved performance is enabling Virgin Atlantic to become more proactive in planning ahead to meet future needs.

Virgin Atlantic's communications network is intricate and geographically dispersed with offices near Gatwick, Heathrow and Manchester airports.  Affiniti is able to simplify the complexity of different service and product providers, giving a higher level of support for Virgin Atlantic's IT Managers.

Kim Pharro, Infrastructure Services Manager of Virgin Atlantic, said: "The ability to identify problems on the network in real-time, before they affect business operations is vital to our efficiency. Affiniti's integrated approach provides a clear communication channel for us. They have been very receptive to our business needs and have already significantly improved our network performance."�

Gary Young, Managing Director of Affiniti, said: "We have worked with Virgin Atlantic for a number of years, managing their PBX systems. This heritage means that we are really focused on how their voice and data communications networks can make a difference to them " whether that is getting information to the engineering staff or flight operations team more quickly or ensuring that down time at the check-in desk is minimised to make flight departures a smoother process for customers."� 

Affiniti provides managed services to more than 100 organisations, including Carphone Warehouse, British Airways, BMW and Ford.

Affiniti, the communications integrator, specialises in designing, implementing and managing intelligent communications solutions for private and public sector organisations.

Some of its customers include: Experian, Carphone Warehouse, British Airways, Ford, Admiral Insurance, Edinburgh Telford College , Royal Liverpool & Broadgreen Hospital , Cheshire Police, Citigroup, Lloyds TSB.

Affiniti is part of the KCOM Group.

KCOM Group PLC provides a range of integrated IT and communications services to businesses, and internet and telecommunications services to selected consumer markets, within the UK .

The Group's portfolio of businesses works with both leading private enterprise customers and public sector organisations. Through its Affiniti, Smart421 and JAM IP brands, the Group delivers solutions covering unified communications, contact centre solutions, data management, applications integration and managed services.

The KCOM Group also includes a regionally-focused business, Kingston Communications, which supports small to medium-sized businesses. Through its KC and Eclipse brands, the business offers a wide range of internet-based and telecommunications services. The regional business also provides telephony and internet services to targeted consumers through its KC, Eclipse and Karoo brands.

The Group is listed on the London Stock Exchange and employs over 2,700 people across the UK .

Jenny Roberts or Emma Turner
Nelson Bostock Communications
0207 792 7440
E: firstname.last name@nelsonbostock.com

Dianne White
Affiniti
01442 883370
E: dianne.white@affiniti.com