Northumbria Police awards MLL next generation network contract

This is for the design, provision and ongoing support of a next generation Software Defined Wide Area Network (SD-WAN). It will replace the existing network WAN currently used by around 5,300 police officers and staff for providing secure, high availability connectivity to critical services, the Internet, the PSN-P, Airwave and branch offices.

The contract award follows Northumbria Police having conducted an extensive review of its future network strategy and the issuing of a request for proposal (RFP) via the CCS Network Services 2 Framework (RM3808). Key evaluation criteria included the ability to propose and deliver a cost-effective, reliable and flexible network solution, offering high capacity and high resilience alongside secure connectivity.

In early 2023, MLL will commence migration of Northumbria Police’s existing data centres, critical HQs and office sites to the new network and the implementation of a central firewall security solution. The migration includes 75 sites with primary circuits (10G, 1000M, 100M, FTTP and SoGEA) and 75 secondary circuits (RO2 10G & 1000M and 100M, FTTP and SoGEA). The delivery of the new network will involve MLL working closely with various connectivity carriers including Vodafone. 

Michael Mcgill, Head of Procurement, Northumbria Police said, “MLL Telecom provided a very strong proposal and we are confident that they will meet all our requirements.  We are looking forward to working with them on this contract.” 

Ross Billington, Strategic Client Director, MLL Telecom, added: “We are delighted Northumbria Police has entrusted MLL with the delivery and ongoing management of their new next generation core network. Our agile and cost-effective SD-WAN solution will support their wide range of digital requirements well into the future.”