Code is a Manchester-based web/multimedia design and production agency whose underlying principle is the appropriate combination of design with functionality.

With blue chip clients including Dr Martens, UCI Cinemas and Thus, Code (www.computerlove.co.uk) naturally have a strong focus on ensuring their top quality work is delivered to tight deadlines.

Being a young and growing company, Code quickly found their fundamental business requirement was in danger of being compromised as more users placed ever heavier demands on the company's ISDN connection.

Explains Code director, Louis Georgiou: "The work at Code is split roughly between 70% web-related and 30% other work; CD-ROM, kiosk, 3D/animation/video, therefore a fast internet connection is vital. Everyone in the company is constantly connected to the web for surfing, downloading and using mail. For us the internet is an invaluable source for information, inspiration, communication and entertainment; online gaming just before home time!

"Before ADSL, we connected to the internet via a dual channel ISDN line (2x 64 Kbit), but only used one channel for web browsing and email as the other was kept open for file transfers. This provided connection speeds of approximately 7k/sec. Whilst slow, this was an acceptable solution for us as it was relatively cheap and much quicker than a modem connection without the annoying issues associated with modems. However, as the company grew this tiny portion of bandwidth was being shared between more people until a stage when an upgrade was very overdue."

Eliminating this bottleneck, it was clear, would remove a major brake on productivity.

Code's requirements

The business challenges for Code, therefore, were a solution that would be:

• cost effective yet offer the highest connection and download speeds around
• scalable
• reliable
• and provide generous bandwidth

Code examined the whole spectrum of alternative connection methods. Initially, they investigated a leased line as a possible solution but discovered a confusing range of vendors offering a multitude of different packages with connection speeds spanning between 64k to 2Mb.

"However the price for a faster connection was much more than we were willing pay, says Georgiou. "Then ADSL appeared on the scene offering high-end leased line speeds at low end prices. Instantly we opted for ADSL because of its combination of the fastest possible connectivity speeds and attractive pricing structure compared to either ISDN or leased lines."

iomart's ADSL solution?

Deploying iomart's CopperBurst 2000 solution which involves:

• a 2Mb Ethernet ADSL connection from iomart (www.iomart.com)
• a choice of NAT or non-NAT connection
• a contention rate of 20:1
• a combined router/hub with four built-in Ethernet ports

Code chose iomart's CopperBurst 2000 because of the level of service iomart were able to offer, iomart,s ability to deliver as promised and their first class customer support.

Georgiou states that whether it be an ADSL installation or any other item for the office, he insists on appointing a provider safe in the knowledge that the job will be completed to time, price and specification agreed.

"This was the case with iomart. They delivered when promised and our contact at iomart talked us through the process involved, the possible options and their benefits and then once agreed, finished the job. Once up and running our ADSL connection pretty much looks after itself, needing no support or maintenance. On the one occasion we had a problem, iomart's telephone support gave us clear instructions on how to remedy it and all was back to normal in well under an hour," he comments.

iomart's CopperBurst 2000 has more than proved itself in the eyes of Code, exceeding their expectations and completely changing their opinion of the internet. For Code, iomart's CopperBurst 2000 solution was the most attractive connection option, beating ISDN and leased lines on both price and speed.

Remarks Georgiou: "We have now seen how the internet should be. In day-to-day use, pages load in seconds as opposed to minutes. Movies stream in seconds and minutes as opposed to hours. Any page, movie or interactive game is really just a click away.

"This has meant no time is wasted for content to load and time is spent viewing not waiting. In our business we operate at hourly and daily work rates, so time wasted is money lost and this increased performance also translates to a speedier service that we can offer our clients. We can ftp files and sites quicker, transfer larger documents, graphics, movies, etc. all happening simultaneously by our 12 staff with no noticeable loss in speed."

He concludes that after using iomart's CopperBurst 2000 solution for almost six months, he has no hesitation over recommending iomart to any company utilising the internet. iomart has delivered an ADSL service in a "friendly, efficient and very competitively priced manner". Code, therefore, whole-heartedly recommends iomart to any business considering an upgrade to ADSL or unhappy with their current provider.

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