Providing seamless connectivity for the world's first Electric Forecourts - a new era of sustainable energy
A pioneer in the field of sustainable energy, GRIDSERVE have been developing innovative solutions for transport, energy supply, industry, food and nature, ensuring environmentally friendly options can be both accessible and affordable, all over the UK. Their current focus is the deployment of their pioneering Electric Forecourts across the UK's road and motorways, providing electric vehicles with a safe, convenient and affordable way to recharge.
The singular nature of this project meant that GRIDSERVE had highly specific requirements when it came to the technology partner that would help deploy and maintain the underlying infrastructure, providing secure, reliable connectivity across all sites for both staff and visitors, fully isolated from the charging units to ensure operational resilience.
With high expectations for the Electric Forecourts among owners of electric vehicles, it was vital that this infrastructure was not just delivered on time, ready for the planned openings, but would offer consistently high performance at all times. Furthermore, with multiple technology and construction suppliers already involved in the creation of these sites, it was essential that the connectivity provider be able to successfully collaborate and coordinate with them, in order to ensure all elements would be effectively integrated.
The specifics of the deployment - from the type of connection to the accompanying hardware requirements - had already been discussed, reviewed and confirmed, which meant it was simply a question of selecting a partner who could fulfil these requirements on time and to budget. Following a personal recommendation, Exponential-e were invited to tender and subsequently selected, having quickly established a rapport with GRIDSERVE's own teams.
Exponential-e deployed a Layer 2 VPLS, private managed WAN across the first Electric Forecourt at Braintree, hosted at two data centres and secured with Fortigate firewalls, with a further fifteen sites planned across the UK. While this differed from GRIDSERVE's original specifications, Exponential-e's deep understanding of the project's short- and long-term goals, gained during the tender process, meant they were perfectly placed to deliver a fit-for-purpose solution. This included collaborating with other GRIDSERVE partners on fabricating custom-designed cabinets to house the specialist switching that would not only ensure a successful launch, but provide optimal scalability, in line with GRIDSERVE's long-term plans for the development of these sites.
Throughout the entire deployment process, a dedicated account team were readily available to provide hands-on support and ensure targets were met.
This consultative approach meant their role soon expanded beyond simply fulfilling connectivity requirements, as they worked closely with GRIDSERVE staff and other contractors to ensure the end result would prove fit for purpose.
Thanks to strong, sustained communication and collaboration throughout this project, Exponential-e have swiftly transitioned from acting as GRIDSERVE's connectivity provider to a trusted technology partner. The focus of the partnership has moved beyond ensuring high-performance connectivity was in place for the first launch site to establishing a robust foundation for further expansion, with weekly meetings taking place to identify new opportunities for enhancements and innovations across the next fifteen sites and beyond.
In this way, the future of sustainable energy in the UK is off to an exceptional start.
I am especially happy because the journey we have just been on is an unorthodox one. The rule book to follow when deploying corporate data infrastructure has been rewritten and we did this together, teams from GRIDSERVE, Exponential-e and our partners working in tandem. Deploying into a construction site such as Braintree has been challenging every step of the way. I think it's accurate to say this is your A-Team and we are extremely pleased to be working with like-minded individuals, with whom we have successfully delivered what is, as far as we know, the world's first Electric Forecourt, which officially opened yesterday and I look forward to delivering the next fourteen together.
