Firefighters and staff at Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service benefit from Virgin Media Business network to respond to incoming 999 calls and use bandwidth hungry applications such as Voice over IP and video conferencing.

Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service also plans to use the network to share services with other councils and fire services across the country including Kent Fire & Rescue in the coming months. The Wide Area Network (WAN) has been procured over the HPSN2, a shared framework agreement launched in 2009 that’s powered by Virgin Media Business’ nationwide, fibre optic network.

“ICT isn’t something that sits outside of what we do. A resilient network underpins every action we make, from responding to 999 calls call and assessing fire risk at premises across the county to reducing the number of fires through our prevention activities. It’s therefore absolutely critical that we can rely on our network at all times,” said Neil Moore, head of ICT at Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service. “Sharing services is very much a reality for us. Knowing that we have a network that has a high level of security accreditation means that now and in the future, we can share sensitive information, resources and knowledge with partners across the country.”