Cornwall Vacuum Services
Established in 1991 by Kevin and Mandy Cocks Cornwall Vacuum Services has grown steadily to become the largest company in Cornwall and Devon dedicated to providing and servicing floor cleaning equipment, from small tub vacuums to large ride-on sweepers, scrubber driers and polishers. Their client list is varied and includes NHS Hospitals, nursing homes, hotels to B&B’s colleges and primary schools.
The business premises have been located at Enniscaven near Roche, St Austell, since 1997. Unfortunately, when the Nanpean exchange went live in January 2004, CVS was located too far away to receive broadband. Despite numerous advances in technology and many visits from engineers it was eventually concluded that CVS would not be able to get ADSL broadband due to the unusually long length of the phone line.
Kevin explains their disappointment at not being able to get broadband: “It was becoming more and more difficult to run a business without broadband. We have a contract with a national cleaning company to service all their equipment across Devon and Cornwall and all of the reporting and logging of work is done online. So we really struggled to achieve our objectives without broadband.”
actnow, having researched the alternative solutions to ADSL broadband, advised Kevin that wireless technology, rather than satellite, would be the best solution for his situation. Together actnow and Kevin researched local IT companies who could deliver such a solution and this led to a great working relationship between Kevin and Greg Walton, who set up the system.
The wireless system involves beaming a broadband signal, using antennas and equipment smaller than a burglar alarm, across from a neighbour 2km away who has ADSL broadband.
CVS is the first business in Cornwall to receive a broadband connection wirelessly from another location. Kevin says “It’s incredible! We’re delighted to have broadband and already we’ve noticed we can do things much faster and our time is more productive. Greg really went the extra mile in helping us to get connected and we’re really happy with our wireless system.”
“We didn’t realise our far behind we had got; it is so much easier to view suppliers parts and diagrams now we no longer have to wait for designs to be posted. Now we can look to move our business forward and set-up an e-commerce website, which we will be able to manage and update ourselves, fabulous.”
actnow gave CVS a rebate on the set up, installation and equipment costs for their broadband as part of the project’s continuing mission to bring broadband to 100% of Cornwall.
