GeoPlace

GeoPlace LLP is the central source of information for all UK addresses and streets. It is owned by the Local Government Association and Ordnance Survey with responsibility for collating, managing, and maintaining precision location data across the UK. It holds information on 42.8 million addresses, generating 2.5 billion data records and processing 2 million data points every month. It serves 500 public sector organisations and 2,000 private sector companies across the country.

GeoPlace’s data can be used to pinpoint the exact destination for an ambulance, determine cost-effective ways to collect waste, or for local authorities to identify the location of vulnerable citizens who were shielding during the pandemic. Delivery companies can use the data to improve the speed and accuracy of their services. Mortgage lenders to reference properties, insurance companies to identify geographical risks of a location, and utility companies to undertake road works.

The sheer amount of data handled by GeoPlace means infrastructure is at the core of what they do. Since 2016, OVHcloud has helped the company run its business, from making the transition from hardware to the cloud, to ongoing support in meeting the ever-increasing demand for location data.

‘Data is our bread and butter and OVHcloud solutions lie at the core of what we do. When we realised what OVHcloud could offer, everything fell into place.’ 

James Rodger, Executive Director of IT Services, GeoPlace

Before using OVHcloud, GeoPlace ran their systems on physical hardware from their head office. The office was not designed to be a datacentre so the company experienced problems with power supply and service outages.

The physical constraints of hardware were also challenging; GeoPlace quickly realised it had neither the physical space to grow, nor floors sturdy enough to cope with more hardware in its office. As their customers’ demand for location data continued to grow, they realised that to scale they had to totally rethink their physical and virtual infrastructure capabilities. 

One of GeoPlace’s key priorities was flexibility. To facilitate such a transition, it needed to find a partner that would allow it to redesign its systems and offer support at every step of the journey. 

To tackle the complexity of the transition, GeoPlace was looking for a partner that would help them identify the right technologies for their needs, while keeping costs down and maintaining normal business operations. They also knew that due to the volume of hardware, they needed a whole range of flexible solutions available under one single platform.

OVHcloud ticked all GeoPlace’s boxes, and they are now utilising a range of services: 

• Hosted Private Cloud
• Bare Metal Cloud
• Public Cloud
• vRack
• DBaaS
• Object Storage
• OVH VAC (and Firewall)

OVHcloud solutions enabled the transition from hardware to the cloud, enabling GeoPlace to redesign the entirety of its services. The project took over four years, with OVHcloud working closely with GeoPlace to develop a strategy to get the best out of the technology while keeping their operations running smoothly during the transition, which minimised negative impact on their customers while the new infrastructure was developed and tested. 

OVHcloud’s vRack technology also provided GeoPlace with incomparable flexibility, linking all their services to a private network without additional parameters. This enabled the company to relocate where it wanted and simply connect to a different VMware cluster without rewriting the entire infrastructure. 

The flexibility of OVHcloud’s product suite meant GeoPlace was able to utilise a multi hybrid-cloud approach with a wide range of standardised technologies to choose from to help identify the ones that work best for them. 

OVHcloud offered a competitive pricing model that had no hidden costs, as well as excellent customer service with complete transparency and instant support for any issues.

• OVHcloud’s solutions ensure GeoPlace uses the same technologies as they would in a data centre run from its own facilities – giving them peace of mind they can deal with the ever-growing demand for location data.
• GeoPlace can now pursue its mission to benefit society, as guardian and champion of location information on a national scale, while increasing speed and reliability.
• Outsourcing its infrastructure has given GeoPlace employees the support they needed and freed up their time to focus on business growth and wider projects. 
• It can hire staff with a more general skillset for open-standard industry technologies, rather than recruit for niche skillsets needed for individual cloud providers. 
• The business can now further advance its goal to scale rapidly to evolve from monthly location data updates to daily, and perhaps more frequently in the future.
• Providing GeoPlace the ability to expand their organisation without impacting current business activities. 
• The company can continue to automate its business through infrastructure as a code. 

Thanks to the comprehensive OVHcloud product suite, GeoPlace’s team will focus on what matters most: providing organisations with the data they need to find the right location as fast as possible.

‘OVHcloud plays a crucial role in what we do. We work truly in partnership to deliver the vital location data services our customers need, each and every day.'

Benjamin Daubremet, Infrastructure & Release Manager, GeoPlace