CASE STUDY: THE WEATHER NETWORK

ONE CONNECTION. INFINITE POSSIBILITIES.™

COMPANYPelmorex Media Inc., Parent Company of The Weather Network and MétéoMédia

INDUSTRYMedia

LOCATIONSOakville ONMontréal PQ

SIZE375 +

PRODUCT SOLUTIONFibre Internet for Business

BACKGROUNDThe Weather Network and MétéoMédia are dedicated to providing viewers with up-to-date meteorological information around the clock, every day of the year. Their global forecasts are available across several media platforms, providing Canadians with the weather information they need to plan their day and beyond. Through their Commercial Services division, The Weather Network and MétéoMédia also deliver weather monitoring solutions to a variety of markets and industries such as transportation, energy, municipalities and media.

CHALLENGEThe Weather Network aims to be “the best weather and weather-related content and information provider in Canada.” As one of Canada’s largest websites in terms of traffic generated, they require a systems backbone that allows them to fulfill their commitment of round-the-clock availability.

Originally, the project requirements called for redundant data connectivity, with both a primary loop and a redundant loop feeding into the Oakville facility from diverse geographic locations. In addition, the timeframes for implementing the solution were tight. The Weather Network was moving from their current Mississauga facility to a new one in Oakville over the course of a weekend. Their mandate was to remain fully operational for the end user, with no business interruptions as a result of the move.

www.RogersBusinessSolutions.com

SOLUTION Rogers Business Solutions (formerly Blink Communications) partnered with The Weather Network to provide a solution that is both scalable and reliable. By assessing The Weather Network’s requirements, Rogers Business Solutions (RBS) developed an understanding of the mission critical business activities.

It became clear that not only did The Weather Network require both a primary and redundant loop to mitigate a catastrophe on one of the links, but they also needed to be able to scale their bandwidth as website traffic fluctuated, much like the weather itself. Inclement weather meant that more people would visit the site for the most up-to-date information, and outbound traffic could climb up to 800 Mbps. The ability to scale bandwidth to meet capacity needs was an integral part of the solution.

To handle the internet traffic, RBS implemented a dual link fibre business internet diverse route solution. The primary link provides The Weather Network with 400 Mbps Internet to support their push technology for weather reports and their website, as well as mobile applications. They also have the ability to switch one of the links from passive to active mode, allowing them to meet accelerating capacity requirements on demand. The Weather Network’s traffic continues to increase since the installation of the fibre connection, and the option to increase overall bandwidth requirements allows for completely seamless growth to occur at any time, providing both reliability and a high level of peace of mind to The Weather Network. “We have a very good relationship,” says Mounir Semghouni, Director IT Networks, “and if we need more bandwidth it will be provisioned in a very short time.”

EXCEEDING EXPECTATIONSRogers Business Solutions took the time to understand The Weather Network’s challenges, and were able to connect their new location one month before the assigned deadline. We even helped them move to their facilities in one weekend, and systems remained fully operational for their consumers. The success of this project and their satisfaction with our partnership prompted Pelmorex to renew their service agreement with RBS for another five years at both their Oakville (The Weather Network) and Montréal (MétéoMédia) locations. As Mounir Semghouni, Director IT Networks puts it, “Why would we move to another company? They are meeting all of our expectations and helping us to grow. I am personally very happy to work with the Rogers Business Solutions team because they listen to us and they make it happen. We see a difference between RBS and our other service providers. We can rely on RBS.”

BUSINESS BENEFITS

• Assessed the client’s project requirements to understand the mission critical business activities.

• Eliminated business interruptions by developing a robust infrastructure solution capable of handling extreme situations.

• Developed network connectivity that is flexible, future-ready and scalable up to 10 Gbps, resulting in an unparalleled customer experience for website users.

They listened to our requirements which were very challenging, and they committed themselves to deliver.

ABOUT RBSRogers Business Solutions (RBS) employs leading-edge technology to provide voice, data, IP and Ethernet solutions to small, medium and large enterprises across a vast spectrum of sectors and industries as well as to domestic and international carriers. RBS operates its own robust facilities-based, transcontinental fibre optic network and is committed to providing flexible, scalable and reliable products and services to meet your evolving business needs.

Mounir Semghouni, Director IT Networks