Logicalis has been signed up by Phones4u to design and implement a new core network for the mobile phone retailer. The Cisco-based network underpins customer-facing and back-office operations including point-of-sale across 680 stores, customer service and call centre applications, CRM, and finance and HR systems.
Unlike the many other sad High Street tales from the past few years, Phones4u is expanding. It opened 100 stores in 2012 and is on track for similar growth this year. Online sales are growing too. With the new network design, the company gains much improved visibility of its infrastructure components, making it easier to introduce new services and/or move servers into a cloud environment. Furthermore, Phones4u has expanded the original contract and Logicalis is now set to manage the entire LAN infrastructure.
Logicalis in the UK has evolved in the recent past (see Logicalis edges towards optimal services balance) and has built a very credible services business, with particular strengths in networking and data centres. Furthermore, the company is about to head into a new and interesting phase with the appointment of Gary Bullard (Gary Bullard appointed Logicalis CEO), who has spent many years in the IT services industry – including stints at Logica (now part of CGI), BT and IBM.