Food Standards Agency appoints Exponential-e to boost connectivity across 220 sites

Enterprise-grade connectivity designed to improve operational efficiency and compliance process

The company will connect around 220 remote abattoir sites with four main sites in York, Cardiff, London and Belfast using fibre and ADSL services. Alongside this, Exponential-e will provide resilient, centralised Internet which provides the resiliency, availability and performance the Agency requires as it digitalises operations. The solution provided by Exponential-e, is also scalable to meet current and potential future data requirements.

The FSA is responsible for food safety and food hygiene across the UK. As part of its role the organisation employs inspectors on site at each abattoir who file reports on meat quality and standards to ensure food safety regulations are being met. The new, connected environment will provide a high quality and reliable connected environment in which inspectors can access and submit data critical to the food chain in a more efficient, productive and secure way.

Phillippa Tasselli, Head of IT Services, at the Food Standards Agency, commented:

"It's vital for us that we're able to provide a secure communications platform to our team of inspectors who are on the coal face of food standards. A slow, jittery connection that is constantly dropping does not enable a good user experience; it's just a time consuming frustration. Working with Exponential-e, we've been able to put in place an architecture that will mean our inspectors can file important documentation in a timely manner that ensures the integrity of the food chain."

"Whilst we've implemented this new infrastructure to meet our current needs, the environment in which we operate is pretty fluid. Therefore, what really appealed to us about the Exponential-e team was their expertise in being able to migrate us from one environment to another and the innovation that they bring to the table. With their technology, we know that we've got a future proof networking platform that can support our operational requirements and ambitions," Tasselli continued.

David Lozdan, Head of Public Sector Sales, Exponential-e commented:

"When your organisation is geographically spread, robust connectivity is a vital strategic asset to underpin effective remote working and access. In these situations, a good end user experience is key, because people can't understand why such a simple thing should be so hard. The network we've implemented with the FSA is designed to create a better and more productive working environment and provide the stable platform required to meet compliance and regulation timeframes. We're delighted to be working with them."