Aardman

Evolving service and supporting business growth

 

Founded in 1972, Aardman has grown to become a globally renowned company employing hundreds of the best creatives in the industry. It's a fantastic achievement and due in no small part to the company's willingness to move with the times from a technological perspective.

In recent years, we've worked with Aardman to accommodate its changing communications needs, and to facilitate and support rapid growth by providing the cost-effective, reliable data, voice and internet solutions required.

 

Ensuring reliable communications

Responsible for worldwide successes including 'Creature Comforts' and the Wallace and Gromit films, Aardman is one of the animation industry's biggest success stories. The company works across all media in Plasticine, Flash, Computer Generated Imagery (CGI) and model animation. Its portfolio covers commercials, feature films, TV specials, series and short films and future projects include the production of High Definition (HD) feature films in partnership with Sony. Our next generation, scaleable technology has helped staff communicate and share ideas, as well as accessing the data they need – fast.

 

Keeping pace with change

While presenting an incredibly exciting array of offerings, Aardman's varied and pioneering approach is not without its issues. To support its industry-leading production processes and techniques, the company demands reliable, uninterrupted communications, which has led to eight increases in bandwidth in just four years.

Howard Arnault-Ham, Head of IT at Aardman Animations explains, "The current move towards HD and digital filming brings with it an enormous data challenge. The process creates huge amounts of data that needs to be backed
up, stored and moved between people, sites and countries. A high-speed, high-performance communications network is therefore essential to keep pace with these growing requirements."

When the company conducted a network management audit it discovered that its existing 10Mbps inter-site network link was unable to cope with the current and anticipated data explosion. "We had already outgrown our existing network bandwidth so data access was occasionally slow and inefficient. Delays can prove very costly, so we clearly needed to find a solution," says Howard.

 

Planning for the future

As the incumbent supplier of the company's broadband and telephony solutions, Aardman Animations called on ntl:Telewest Business' expertise once more to improve its site-to-site connectivity. "Our successful existing relationship and our in-depth knowledge of the needs of large, rapidly expanding businesses meant we were able to offer a highly cost-effective next generation solution to meet current and future needs," explains Linda Campbell, Account Manager at
ntl:Telewest Business.

 

Trouble-free implementation

Implementation of 100Mbps Ethernet Extensions to form a Wide Area Network (WAN) between the company's sites was rapid and seamless. Howard comments, "All the work took place out-of-hours to minimise any disruption and the speed was astonishing. The local ntl:Telewest Business team was extremely accessible and helpful, and the process was very smooth."

He continues, "The fact that we are based across several sites, and now working increasingly with international clients, means we need the high-performance and reliability that a WAN can offer. Traditionally, WAN projects are time-consuming, costly and error-prone. However, our upgrade was excellent value, painless and so far it's been error-free. I can't fault it."

 

What it has made possible

Thanks to the project, Aardman now has all the bandwidth it needs at all times. "Staff don't have to compete for bandwidth any more and work doesn't grind to a halt at 5pm every day when data is being sent to clients in different time zones. We can collaborate effectively and efficiently now, and confidently meet deadlines on global projects. We're also fully prepared for the future," adds Howard.

He concludes, "I don't have time for unnecessary meetings. I need a supplier and a solution that requires minimum input and involvement from me and that's exactly what ntl:Telewest Business provides. No issues mean we aren't in regular contact from a support perspective, so I really can't ask for anything more."