Having experienced past success with Vialtus Solutions, Kellogg’s and its digital agency magneticNorth, tasked the managed IP solutions provider with improving the availability of the Kellogg’s sites, working on a vastly expanding database. This gave Kellogg’s and magneticNorth the capabilities to bring a new, fresh, consumer-friendly face to the Kellogg’s corporate and brand websites.
The upgrade of the managed hosting infrastructure from Vialtus has provided:
- The capabilities for magneticNorth to produce more advanced content for the Kellogg’s corporate and brand websites, attracting 70 per cent more visitor numbers.
- A locally situated data centre - Server Bank™ in Manchester providing superior security and reliability.
- Round the clock, direct-access allowing full control of content and software.
KELLOGG’S AND MAGNETICNORTH
Kellogg’s is one of the most influential and innovative brands in the world, producing more than 40 different cereals such as Crunchy Nut Cornflakes and Optivita and over 50 snack products including Nutri-Grain and FruitaBu. Kellogg’s has plants in 18 countries, markets its products in more than 180 countries and employs 26,000 people in its worldwide organisation. Kellogg’s is the number one take-home grocery brand in the UK with sales of over £550 million in 2007. Kellogg’s chosen digital agency, magneticNorth (mN), is responsible for designing, building and maintaining Kelloggs.co.uk and individual brand sites. An interactive design house based in Manchester, mN also provides database management services to Kellogg’s.
CHALLENGE
Kellogg’s wanted to take the opportunity to completely re-vamp the entire range of Kellogg’s sites, from corporate to individual brands. “We wanted to refresh our online presence as the previous sites were beginning to feel a bit dated,” explains Claudia Partridge, Consumer Promotions Manager at Kellogg’s. “We needed more advanced content to attract and keep the attention of visitors.” Kellogg’s also wanted to bring all of the aspects of its online activity together. “We wanted to locate everything in the same Manchester locality, our offices, our site maintenance and our data centre.” With an increasingly large database and the need for more advanced content such as detailed graphics and videos, magneticNorth (mN) needed to upgrade the specification of the server. Whilst being able to handle the new content that was required, the servers had to be located locally and mN had to be able to access its dedicated servers directly to ensure the programs it develops for Kellogg’s run in an optimal server environment.
SOLUTION
As an existing customer, Kellogg’s knew that Vialtus Solutions could meet its requirements and provide headroom for growth. “As a managed services provider with its own data centres, Vialtus Solutions not only has the necessary infrastructure but also vast experience in corporate internet services. This gives the scalability for the future,” Partridge explains. The first requirement that Vialtus tackled was the need to move from the existing data centre in London to a location in the vicinity of the Kellogg’s office in Manchester. The servers were relocated to Vialtus’ Server Bank™ in Manchester city centre. Located in a decommissioned Bank of England building, the former bullion vault is now a premium data centre which provides high levels of physical security alongside the network capacity and resilience required for high profile websites. “The move was successful and we encountered no problems at all. We now have everything we need, all located in the same area,” explains Partridge. Vialtus provides mN and Kellogg’s with three managed servers and managed bandwidth that has given mN the ability to re-vamp the Kellogg’s sites with richer, more advanced features. The upgraded, built and managed infrastructure allows round-the-clock direct access so that mN has complete control, managing all aspects of content and software. Vialtus also provides a managed firewall as well as back-up, providing resilience and re-assurance to Kellogg’s. With the websites acting as a vital marketing function, Vialtus also provides Kellogg’s with the capability to accurately analyse traffic levels throughout busy periods of increased marketing activity by opening up the port connection. This is proving useful as Kellogg's develops marketing activities such as competitions exclusive to the website. By analysing traffic levels created by these marketing drives, Kellogg's will have another tool to gauge the success of such online campaigns.
RESULTS
Following the solution from Vialtus, Kellogg’s has seen key benefits both internally and for its customers. “Following the upgrades from Vialtus and subsequent re-vamp of our sites by mN, overall visitor numbers have increased by 70 per cent and we have experienced no drop in service. We no longer have to worry what effect a spike in visitor numbers will have on the website, it’s far more resilient.” The increased bandwidth has enabled the use of more advanced and interesting features to Kellogg’s sites such as flash videos. “The videos have given our sites more fluidity and movement, making it more interesting for the consumer. We can now, easily integrate the television adverts for each brand to the corresponding site.” The direct access that the solution provides is another key benefit for mN. “The flexibility and direct access Vialtus offers is vital to the wide range of sites we service on behalf of Kellogg’s. These are consumer facing sites with rich, interactive content and we need the infrastructure to back that up,” explains Sanj Shewhorak, Lead Technical Developer at mN. The scalability that Vialtus Solutions offers has meant that the implementation of the upgrade has been completed without any problems occurring. “It’s one of those occasions when you would expect phone calls saying ‘there’s a problem’, but in actual fact we had none. The implementation of the upgrades went quickly and smoothly,” says Partridge. “Vialtus Solutions has achieved all of the goals, upgrading our service, moving the servers to Manchester, whilst still providing the same resilient service that we have come to expect from them which allows Kellogg’s, magneticNorth and customers to get the most out of the Kellogg’s websites,” concludes Partridge.