After becoming part of the Wireless Group in 2008 and broadening its clients in the media and finance sectors, Tibus needed to establish a presence in a reliable London data centre.
Tibus
Requiring diverse connectivity in the UK, Tibus chose Telehouse based on its industry leading reputation and connections with LINX.
1996
Established
6
Data centres Tibus are present in
2008
Tibus became part of Wireless Group
Client
Established in County Down, Northern Ireland, in 1996, Tibus is a hosting service provider delivering secure hosting and streaming services and solutions to organisations across the UK and Ireland. The company was initially formed as a web design, development and hosting provider, but was sold to UTV Media – now named Wireless Group – in 2008 when it also began focusing on hosting and streaming as its core services.
Now headquartered in Belfast, Tibus primarily serves businesses in London and Dublin. The company has a presence in six data centres which are linked to its own network and ensures a high quality of service for its customers. Tibus offers a variety of off-the-shelf services including colocation and virtual private servers (VPS) but will regularly tailor its services to clients’ unique or specific requirements.
Tibus has forged an outstanding reputation over the course of the last 20 years, with a client loss rate of almost zero. The company’s clients include media companies such as talkSPORT and Virgin Radio; government organisations including the Northern Ireland Assembly, the Office of the Attorney General, Cork City Council and Leicester City Council; and companies in the energy sector including Northern Ireland Electricity Networks and SSE.
Challenge
After becoming part of the Wireless Group in 2008 and working closely with more clients in the media sector, Tibus needed to establish a presence in a data centre in London. The right data centre would need to enable Tibus to offer the best possible range of connectivity options to UK clients as well as Irish and other overseas clients who were looking to expand into the UK. When it came to choosing the right data centre, a key factor that Tibus needed was unencumbered access round-the-clock so that its engineers could come and go as they needed.
It was essential that the chosen data centre would include connections to the London Internet Exchange (LINX). As one of the world’s largest internet exchanges, LINX provides connections to over 900 ASNs from over 80 countries. The chosen site would also need to be easily accessible and set up for international business as any Tibus engineers and representatives that need to visit the data centre would be flying in from Northern Ireland.
Tibus places quality of service at the heart of its offering and is fully certified under ISO 27001, the quality assurance marque for IT Security and Information Governance. The chosen data centre provider would also need to be ISO 27001 certified to ensure the company’s focus on quality is carried right the way through its end-to-end service offering.
“Whenever Tibus has needed hosting and cabinet space in London, Telehouse has always been our first choice,”
– Tibus Managing Director, Andrew Maybin
Solution
Tibus Managing Director Andrew Maybin had been aware of Telehouse after working on projects for customers branching out from Ireland into the UK. “Whenever Tibus has needed hosting and cabinet space in London, Telehouse has always been our first choice,” says Maybin.
Choosing to work with Telehouse was a strategic choice, not just because of the unrivalled connectivity options Telehouse could offer, but because Tibus wanted its UK data centre provider to be a prominent industry name that could impress any prospective client. “We never wanted to have to explain why we had chosen our data centre provider. We wanted customers to instantly recognise the name and feel secure, and Telehouse ticked that box,” Maybin says.
Not only is Telehouse an ISO 27001 compliant organisation, the data centre provider also offers round-the-clock access for its customers and its London Docklands campus which is home to four data centres and is easily accessible from London City Airport and the Docklands Light Railway. What’s more, each data centre on the campus (Telehouse North, Telehouse North Two, Telehouse East and Telehouse West) hosts a LINX point of presence.
Results
Since the relationship between Tibus and Telehouse began, Maybin and his team have been impressed with the service they have received, and they have not experienced any issues or complications in the 13 years. Whilst Telehouse has delivered on the expectation of being an outstanding colocation provider, Tibus has been impressed with the level of service and accommodation to specific requests Telehouse is able to provide. This includes equipment being delivered to Telehouse prior to its engineers traveling across from Belfast. The equipment is then stored securely in a private case, allowing the Tibus engineers to access and install the equipment without any hurdles.
Assistance has always been on hand when engineers from Tibus have needed anything on-site, whether borrowing tools or requiring large volumes of packaging from equipment installations to be sent away for recycling. “Telehouse is good at being ready for international customers,” says Maybin. “They’re professional and easy to work with.”
Telehouse’s Remote Hands service has become essential to Tibus, providing ad-hoc on-site support for the management of its equipment from Telehouse engineers when it has not been viable for Tibus engineers to travel across from Northern Ireland. Maybin has been particularly impressed by the professionalism and support that the Telehouse engineers offer. “They’re knowledgeable and can be trusted to deliver on whatever is asked of them,” says Maybin.
Scaling up to meet growing customer demand has also been hassle-free. In 2020 Tibus required an extra cabinet at short notice to support a big consolidation project and Telehouse was able to accommodate its needs quickly without any complications.
The longstanding relationship reflects the trust and ease Tibus has experienced working with Telehouse. Tibus has another upcoming project for a media client which will require further rack space from Telehouse.