Innovator of the Month: Trams

Simon Meredith takes a look at the project that won January's CRN/Syscap Approved Technology Innovator of the Month award.

Trams, winner of the January Computer Reseller News/Syscap Approved Technology Innovator of the Month award, has shown that you don't need to be big to deliver the services that customers really need.

When London-based business property management firm Workspace Group first decided it should look at providing an option for broadband connection to its tenants, it turned to the large corporate suppliers.

"We went to a couple of very large companies, but in the end we weren't completely happy with them," said Maddy Carragher, operations director at Workspace. "Then I just happened to run into Hugo [Kirby] in Westminster."

Kirby is managing director of reseller Trams, and at the time was a tenant in one of Workspace's buildings.

He was trying to set up a broadband connection for one of Workspace's other companies. He was able, Carragher said, to explain exactly what he was doing in very simple terms.

Following a series of meetings, Trams came up with a blueprint for what would become the first multi-site, multi-tenanted unit installation for Cisco - and particularly for its IP telephony solution - in Europe.

Trams has since designed and implemented a comprehensive broadband network that enables Workspace to offer about 3,500 micro-business customers across 21 sites in London instant access to broadband connectivity.

"They have really delivered," said Carragher. "They have converted the vision into a reality for us.

"We were frustrated by the big companies, but in the end a relatively small company has been able to deliver what we wanted. They have worked within the budget and delivered the system on time."

The broadband network uses 100km of fibre-optic cable and more than 1,000 miles of UTP at a cost of £2m so far. "It is an unusual solution and we're very proud of our achievement," said Kirby.

As well as net connectivity, voice and telephony services and other supporting services are available to users through the network. The investment has, Carragher said, been well worth it.

Tenants who move into buildings with the network connection can simply plug in. Carragher thinks this will be increasingly important to Workspace and its clients.

"A lot of people have not really understood what broadband is about, but at some point they will start taking it for granted," he said. "We are signing up customers more and more quickly now."

In some buildings about 40 per cent of the occupants - mostly between one- and five-person micro businesses - are already using the services.

Carragher explained that this is the ultimate target usage across the network. The great advantage for the customers, she pointed out, is that Trams will come and install them the next day, whereas with BT they would apparently have to wait between four and six weeks for a broadband connection.

Based in central London, Trams is a mid-sized reseller that focuses principally on the SME market. It has annual sales of about £13m and 30 employees.

Lisa Little, group marketing manager at Syscap, the specialist technology financing company that sponsors the monthly Innovator award, said that Trams' achievement gets the 2003 awards off to a great start.

"This an impressive project and a worthy winner. The awards have got off to a flying start this year and we're expecting a great number of entries every month," she said.

"That will make the judges' task even harder, but that's fine. As well as encouraging resellers to be innovative and to deliver great solutions, we want to encourage them to shout about it."

The awards are also backed by CRN's sister title Computing. The 11 monthly winners selected by the judging panel will be short-listed for two annual awards, one for public sector projects and one for those delivered to the private sector.

Winners will be featured in CRN and Computing and receive a trophy, wall plaque and marketing materials they can use to promote their achievements.

Paul Briggs, editor of CRN, said: "The standard that has been set is very high. The Workspace project is impressive and Trams is a worthy winner, but it is important to point out that it is not just the biggest projects that can win.

"Any project that delivers an innovative solution, no matter how small, could win just as easily as a multimillion-pound deal."

Little said that vendors and distributors should urge their VARs to enter and publicise their achievements.

"Computing and CRN have shown over the past two years just how willing they are to inform their readers where real innovation and value has been delivered," she said.

"That's got to be good news for the vendors and distributors that support resellers."

How to enter the awards

To nominate a company for the award, resellers or their customers should fill in the online entry form found at www.technology-innovator.co.uk. To request a postal entry form, call Lisa Glover on (020) 7316 9000 or email [email protected].

The award recognises innovation in the design, development and delivery of technology. The nine monthly winners will be put forward for two annual Technology Innovator awards, one for private sector projects and one for the public sector.