FourNet's trusted, secure, cloud platform and network broadens its digital reach

ANTENNA, the highly secure cloud platform and network which was designed in partnership with the Cabinet Office and supports dozens of UK Government departments, is expanding to cover all UK Critical National Infrastructure providers.

Digital transformation and customer experience specialists, FourNet, have today announced that ANTENNA is being opened up to unlock major digital advantage for a broader range of critical UK organisations.

Developed in partnership with the Cabinet Office, ANTENNA was launched in 2016 and is currently trusted by more than 40 UK government departments.

Announcing the expansion, Richard Pennington, CEO of FourNet, said: "Due to demand and requests from the wider CNI providers, we are making our award-winning, highly secure ANTENNA cloud platform available to all UK critical national infrastructure (CNI) providers.

"Because these organisations are delivering critical services that are fundamental to the smooth running of the country, our economy and the nation's health and wellbeing, there are bigger barriers to digital transformation and a much higher responsibility and duty of care when it comes to cybersecurity, protection of data, and digital resilience.

"That is exactly what ANTENNA has been designed and built for and we are delighted to be unlocking the benefits to a broader range of providers."

A survey carried out by FourNet ahead of today's ANTENNA announcement, suggests that one in three (33%) of UK organisations see protection against cyber threats as their key digital transformation goal, with nearly half (47%) saying their biggest challenges were cybersecurity risks.

Given the proliferation of cybersecurity threats – from malware and ransomware to foreign state sponsored attacks, and the widening attack surface for all businesses, ANTENNA offers CNI organisations many of the world's leading solutions, including next generation firewalls, enhanced SD-WAN security, endpoint, edge and cloud security and 24/7 cybersecurity monitoring and expertise.

ANTENNA was initially designed as a shared communications, collaboration and contact centre service for Central Government.

Hosted in Tier 4 Government Data Centres, it has evolved into a secure cloud platform for all organisations providing critical services to UK citizens.

ANTENNA also offers a full spectrum of market leading services through a range of leading global technology partners including voice, mobile, contact centre, video, messaging and collaboration solutions as well as world-leading network infrastructure, connectivity and cybersecurity services, enabling all CNI organisations to digitally transform safely and securely.

Pennington added: "Our expert citizen experience (CX) team is also now at the heart of our expanded ANTENNA service bringing unrivalled data analysis and diagnosis and focusing on operational and citizen outcomes.

"Our CX function makes sure that the ambitions and targets of the UK's critical organisations and the expectations of UK citizens can be fully met in the safest, most secure way, while helping to reduce costs, improve efficiency and save money for taxpayers."

Critical National Infrastructure is classified as those facilities, systems, sites, information, people, networks and processes necessary for the country to function and upon which daily life depends. This includes chemicals, civil nuclear, communications, defence, emergency services, energy, finance, food, government, health, space, transport and water services.

ANTENNA's technology is itself designated as Critical National Infrastructure and is hosted in highly secure, energy efficient data centres with a focus on sustainability.

The ANTENNA service is available on the CCS RM6116 Network Services 3 (NS3) framework and via the government's eMarketplace.