Nasstar appointed by VINCI Facilities to run new secure network

New SD-WAN network for VINCI Facilities with supporting applications ensuring secure connection to public and private cloud

Nasstar has begun work on a major new contract awarded to VINCI Facilities to run a new secure network required by the Ministry of Defence (MOD). In June 2021 VINCI Facilities was appointed by Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO) to provide hard facilities management services. The South East FDIS contract, awarded to VINCI Facilities in June 2021, provides hard facilities management services for over 6,200 buildings and infrastructure assets at 59 MOD sites in London and the South East. It is for an initial seven-year term, with three additional performance-related option years. The contract is worth £1.1bn across the 7 years, comprising £423m for the core FM contract and a potential £732m for additional works The Future Defence Infrastructure Services( FDIS) contracts represents a shift in DIO’s service delivery approach to better manage military built estate across the UK.

By providing a highly secure, resilient network to these 59 sites, Nasstar will help VINCI Facilities deliver on this crucial contract which takes effect from 1st April 2022.

Nasstar was appointed after an 11-month tender process beginning in January 2021. Security was a fundamental criterion of the contract, with Nasstar differentiating itself via a blueprint for a ‘secure by design solution’ to meet VINCI’s security and compliance requirements. This consists of a state-of-the-art, highly secure SD-WAN and Network Access Control (NAC) to provide VINCI Facilities with more control on their application routing to private and public cloud applications. This will be remotely monitored by the award-winning Nasstar incident response team to ensure a further layer of protection and instant support, if needed.

The network and supporting applications will be delivered via a single control pane, making it easier to manage. As a Fortinet Expert partner with years of experience, Nasstar is using ‘SD-Branch’ technology, including a Local Area Network, switches, and wireless access points which have already been approved by the MOD. This provides VINCI Facilities with enhanced Network Access Control to better manage user profiles – whether they be VINCI employees, contractors or IoT devices. With a single security and control fabric across the entire estate this reduces the burden on IT teams whilst improving overall branch security.

Ben Paddick, Business Solutions Director at VINCI Facilities comments: “We see this as the beginning of a strategic partnership between VINCI and Nasstar which will transform the performance and flexibility of our networks across various client sites. Clearly, for the MOD, security is a critical concern and Nasstar working with Fortinet has developed a solution that will enable us to run a more flexible and resilient network that enables us to take advantage of all the benefits that the cloud and IoT devices can bring with security at its core.”