mediaburst

mediaburst is a leading provider of SMS, MMS and mobile marketing services. Based in Manchester, thousands of companies around the globe use its services to deliver their message to customers, from owner-managed businesses to some of the world’s largest brands including Tesco, Kellogg’s, Morrisons and O2.

“TelecityGroup’s strict security procedures, including its adherence to the ISO27001:2005 standard for information security management, are crucial reassurance for our customers. We have always been very impressed in the protection that TelecityGroup offers from every potential threat; there are no other providers we would trust to safeguard our customers’ data.”

Gary Bury,
Managing Director, mediaburst
 

mediaburst initially launched its commercial service in 2000, following the development of a simple web-based application that allowed users to send and receive SMS messages from a PC. Since then, the company has grown exponentially. It now custom-builds systems that operate some of the largest on-pack promotions in the UK and Ireland, utilising a wide range of mobile delivery mechanisms including SMS, MMS, mobile video and integrated website services.

For example, through integrated SMS and postcode look-up, mediaburst enabled Salford University to intelligently deliver prospectuses to potential students. It also recently implemented a mobile market campaign for Durex, whereby consumers were able to request samples by SMS.

Constant communication

For mediaburst to operate, an ultra-resilient IT infrastructure is crucial. Its success is dependent on the continuous availability of its back-office functions; if a customer’s SMS service goes down – even for an hour – both revenue and reputation would immediately be lost. Critically, this would cause mediaburst’s relationship with the customer to be irrevocably damaged.

For the past seven years, mediaburst has hosted its entire back-office function at TelecityGroup’s Manchester data centre. Through the provision of a fully redundant power and cooling infrastructure, TelecityGroup ensures 24/7 availability for mediaburst’s services. This inherent resilience, along with the connectivity and security associated with TelecityGroup’s facilities, means mediaburst can provide a premium service for its customers, as Gary Bury Managing Director, mediaburst explains:

“SMS and MMS have revolutionised marketing communications through the speed and efficiency with which companies can engage and interact with consumers. Our relationship with TelecityGroup means we can help customers do this, without any fear of service interruption. TelecityGroup’s data centre is our company’s lifeblood; it is both our storage warehouse and our distribution channel. Without the connectivity, resilience and security provided by TelecityGroup, our business simply could not survive.”

Securing customer data

A critical element to mediaburst’s ongoing success is ensuring its customers’ data is absolutely secure through stringent physical and data security policies. The company runs ultra-secure 128 bit SSL encryption over its dedicated server architecture at the Manchester facility, ensuring incoming and outgoing communications are absolutely protected. Additionally, the data centre operates with state-of-the-art physical security measures including secure perimeters and video surveillance.

A widened focus

mediaburst recently expanded its relationship with TelecityGroup to support the launch of its new ecommerce website, through which it can directly engage with potential customers. Previously the company sold the majority of its services through channel re-sellers. For example, one of its longest-running and most successful re-seller partnerships is with O2, which rebrands and resells mediaburst’s services in bulk. To ensure the new website is as reliable as the back-end services, mediaburst decided to expand its hosting presence at TelecityGroup’s Manchester data centre, as Gary Bury, mediaburst concludes:

“Now that our website is an added sales channel, its resilience is paramount; any prolonged downtime will result in lost potential business. The service guarantees provided by TelecityGroup for our back-end services have been vital in our growth up until this point, and the Group has a proven track record of supporting ecommerce sites in terms of availability, connectivity, security and reliability. It made perfect sense to expand our relationship with the company for the re-launch of our website; the partnership will be crucial for our continued expansion.”

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