Ericsson (NASDAQ: ERIC) has expanded its relationship with Bloor Homes, a leading UK house builder, to provide cellular connectivity at over 80 of its current sites. Since the deployment, the improved connectivity has resulted in less network downtime, and enabled Bloor Homes to simplify regulatory reporting and accelerate the planning and construction process.
New building sites are often located in areas lacking connectivity infrastructure. However, problems with Bloor Homes’ previous cellular connectivity solution, which was used to provide networks for its sales and construction teams, meant the IT team wanted to simplify the procurement and management process. This led them to transition to an Ericsson solution, provided by reseller Misco, using Ericsson’s Cradlepoint E300-5G router. This has resulted in Bloor Homes providing immediate, flexible connectivity to site offices even as they change locations in the construction site throughout a project. It has also provided a more reliable network to support critical back-office functions such as document processing and customer calls, with the IT team noting a significant reduction in the number of tickets generated in response to poor connectivity.
Construction sites have become increasingly digital over the last few years. For example, site managers often use tablets to take and upload pictures of construction work for regulation certificates. This means any drop in connectivity can cause significant delays to these processes. For instance, if an image of a new wall can't be certified due to the picture not uploading, the next stage of construction can't begin, leading to more costs for the house builder.
Commenting on the deployment, James Smith, Infrastructure Engineer at Bloor Homes, stated, "The design of Ericsson’s Cradlepoint E300-5G router has meant we've been able to easily integrate our security solution to ensure all web access is managed and protected against threats, not just for corporate users but also guests and customers. Combined with the confidence delivered by Ericsson’s advanced security solutions, and support from Misco, we’ve reduced the workload on our IT team, ensuring we have fast and reliable connectivity across all our sites as they can remotely troubleshoot issues. Finally, any housebuilder will know requirements are always changing, so we must have equipment that is flexible and can adapt to fresh challenges when they emerge. I am confident we now have this with the router and the support of the Ericsson team."
Mark Davidson, Regional Sales Manager for Ericsson Enterprise Wireless Solutions, commented, "The construction industry increasingly relies on digital tools to accelerate developments, yet without reliable connectivity, builders can't take advantage of all the benefits they can bring. Cellular connectivity is the only option in these cases, providing the flexibility, bandwidth and ease of management needed for construction firms to make the most of the technology available.”
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