Ultima celebrates Abbey National win

Multimillon-pound investment pays off for reseller

A £3.85m investment in managed security services by reseller Ultima Business Solutions has paid immediate dividends by winning high-street bank Abbey National as a new customer.

Abbey National will be the first new customer serviced from Ultima's £700,000 offices in the heart of City of London's financial district.

Ultima would not reveal the value of the "6 to 12 month" contract for enhancing the bank's existing security infrastructure, which is currently managed in-house.

But Lisa Dargan, business development director at Ultima, said the City office should achieve a return on the initial investment "within 12 months".

It will offer consultancy services with on-the-ground response times of 30 minutes.

"These services are in demand from City-based customers. We have got 35 per cent of our business in the City," she said.

The largest investment is in a £2.5m secure network operations centre (NOC) located in Reading next to Ultima's existing site.

The NOC will open on 19 September and will focus on managed intrusion detection and improved online monitoring and reporting services. Dargan said this reflected the demand for intrusion detection in the market.

"A firewall is not enough on its own. If someone gets through the firewall as legitimate traffic you need to know where they are going and what they are doing," she said.

"When it comes to security we understand much more than just specific security technology. We have got 12 years infrastructure experience."

Ultima has also spent £650,000 boosting its existing graduate recruitment programme. Ten new graduates - of whom five are technical security specialists - will join the company next month. Dargan said the scheme should achieve payback in two years.

Ultima's existing customers include BMW, Argos and Old Mutual.