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CASE STUDY | 12 MINUTE READ

Virgin Media O2
Migrates to New
Solution in 4 Months

The UK’s largest telecom provider used Liferay to launch a self-service website that customers can use to make payments, upgrade their devices, and explore account options.
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Logo
15X
scaling capabilities
99%
4G Coverage
4
month migration
Outline
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Key Takeaways

  • Don't compromise on security.
    Like Virgin Media O2’s Liferay-powered website, your solution should have the functionality you need without sacrificing security and peace of mind.
  • Factor in flexibility.
    With requirements for both cloud and on-premise environments, Virgin Media O2 took advantage of Liferay’s multi-host platform capabilities.
  • Make sure your solution can scale.
    Now Virgin Media O2 can scale up their environments as necessary, which is crucial because traffic sometimes balloons up to 15X the average.

Background

Virgin Media O2 is a joint venture between the UK’s largest and most reliable mobile network and the fastest widely-available broadband network. As a customer-first organization serving millions of people with a variety of connectivity services and covering 99% of the population with 4G, Virgin Media O2 has a clear mission: to upgrade the UK.

Challenges

Virgin Media O2 built their website with a SaaS solution, but they encountered difficulties that left them frustrated and wanting more flexibility.

Their old solution gave them problems with:
  1. Security and downtime. Cyber-attacks were frequent because of the insecure cloud environment, leading to outage periods.
  2. Platform rigidity. Virgin Media O2 had to host their entire platform in the cloud, even though the SaaS model wasn’t the best for their business needs.
  3. Lack of scaling. The solution was not scaled for peaks, which could increase traffic by 15X or more at the time of a new product launch.
These problems put a greater burden on Virgin Media O2's support teams as call volume increased. Without self-service options available during outages, customers weren't able to modify their accounts or complete purchases.
Liferay underpins our new online services, which we introduced as part of our 360 transformation program.
Lee Wolfe
Service Delivery Managaer

Implementation

In Liferay, Virgin Media O2 found a better, more flexible solution that would address their challenges, including the crucial ability to host both on-premise and cloud platforms.

Because of Liferay’s extensive out-of-the-box capabilities, Virgin Media O2 was able to implement Liferay without major customization over a four-month migration period. Hitting the aggressive timeline was critical, as support contracts were ending.
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Results

With Liferay as their foundation, Virgin Media O2’s new platform has reaped these benefits:
  1. Protection from cyber-attacks. Now that Virgin Media O2 can host the way they need to, they've been able to protect their services and minimize outages.
  2.  No more security vulnerabilities. Previously, Virgin Media O2 had to deal with 2-3 vulnerability issues annually.
  3. Support for peak usage times. The solution can scale as the number of visitors fluctuates, sometimes handling 15X the usual traffic.
Customers use the website to manage their accounts, start the upgrade process for a new device, add new offers, and more. Service Delivery Manager at Virgin Media O2 Lee Wolfe explains that, “Liferay underpins our new online services, which we introduced as part of our 360 transformation program.”

Despite recent economic turbulence, Virgin Media O2 has been able to hit their targets and attract unique visitors as well. And as more and more customers migrate to the new platform from the old, Virgin Media O2 is eager to see the success of their Liferay solution continue while they improve their services.