MT 'constantly monitoring' demand on network

Employees urged to work from home to prevent spread of coronavirus

One of the Island's telecoms providers says it's constantly monitoring its network, but is unsure how its infrastructure will react to increased demand as more people work from home.

Remote working has been recommended where possible in a bid to limit the spread of coronavirus.

Manx Telecom has already asked many of its staff to work at home.

CEO Gary Lamb insists the company is doing everything it can:

Meanwhile, Sure Isle of Man chief executive Mike Phillips said in a statement issued to Manx Radio: "Local businesses of all sizes should be prepared to operate remotely at short notice in response to the COVID-19 outbreak.

“We're working with a number of business clients to put in place the infrastructure to enable their employees to work from home for an extended period of time. Which is a scenario that these clients are preparing for.

“Many local businesses already offer employees the opportunity to work flexibly so will have the infrastructure in place to allow them to work from home. However, it is possible that we will soon see a significantly increased requirement for this, which changes things from an operational and technical point of view, and we can help.

“These include upgrades to software – to allow employees’ laptops to connect with office systems and networks remotely – and providing additional bandwidth on a pay-as-you-go basis to manage extra capacity requirements in the short term.

“We have also been implementing products such as Mitel - which will re-route office phone calls to headsets connected to laptops and mobile phones - and Mimecast, which checks that emails are safe to open on mobiles and tablets. We're also ensuring that businesses are maximising their existing technology solutions to enable effective remote working. Microsoft Teams, for example, allows collaborative working via virtual meetings and chat feeds.

“There can be many technical and operational challenges for businesses both big and small when it comes to remote working and moving operations to outside of the office environment at short notice. It’s vital to plan ahead and put processes in place now to ensure it can happen quickly and efficiently with as little disruption as possible for employees, customers and the business as a whole, therefore we are encouraging customers to contact us now to begin planning.

"As a provider of critical telecoms infrastructure on the Isle of Man, Sure has been closely monitoring the COVID-19 outbreak and has put procedures in place to limit the impact on our services to ensure out networks will be able to cope. We have business continuity procedures that can be implemented as required to maintain the resilience and capability of our networks and our operations and we are well placed to utilise these measures and meet the islands' ongoing needs."