Customer Stories | Mole Valley

About Mole Valley Farmers

Mole Valley Farmers is a leading agricultural supply business with deep roots in the farming community and a strong presence across the UK. Built on a long-standing commitment to supporting British agriculture, the business provides farmers, rural communities and the wider public with the products and expertise they need to thrive.

With more than 1,600 employees working across 50+ mills, plants and stores nationwide, Mole Valley Farmers offers an extensive range of products spanning agriculture, equine care, gardening, home, tools and pet care. From essential farming supplies to everyday products for the home and garden, the business combines its agricultural heritage with a broad retail offering, helping customers access trusted products and practical solutions.

The challenge

Having first partnered with Mole Valley Farmers in 2008, we had already connected the many elements of its business through a cohesive, secure and resilient wide area network (WAN). Using our data centre as a central hub, the solution brought multiple network topologies together, providing a reliable foundation for the business’s connectivity needs. When Mole Valley Farmers began considering an upgrade, it turned to us once again for expert advice.

The business needed a more advanced network infrastructure to support the introduction of Microsoft Dynamics AX, its new enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, while also laying the groundwork for a potential future deployment of Voice over IP (VoIP) telephony. Both initiatives demanded greater bandwidth, lower latency and enhanced connectivity to support increasingly complex business operations.

Above all, Mole Valley Farmers required a highly resilient solution that would minimise the risk of service disruption. With secure, round-the-clock connectivity essential to effective stock management, production and distribution, maintaining network availability and protecting critical business operations were key priorities.

The solution

Mole Valley Farmers’ IT team benefits from streamlined service provisioning, with a dedicated mailbox providing direct access to our team for instant order confirmations and fast-tracked carrier orders. A senior project manager oversees installations daily, while a dedicated management portal provides visibility of network uptime, bandwidth usage, traffic flows and configuration changes.

The solution also allows internet access to be adjusted centrally as business needs evolve. By routing web traffic through a central point rather than relying on separate internet connections at individual offices, Mole Valley Farmers has strengthened its security and simplified compliance with standards such as PCI DSS.

By supporting data, video and real-time applications over a single network, Mole Valley Farmers has maximised its investment in the upgraded infrastructure. High speeds, low latency and dynamic traffic management provide a strong foundation for services such as VoIP, helping improve communication and support more efficient business operations.

The results

We upgraded Mole Valley Farmers’ WAN using Cisco Meraki SD-WAN technology, creating a flexible, resilient network that supports business growth and connects even remote locations. Multiple leased lines, high-speed Ethernet circuits and an MPLS network provide reliable connectivity between key sites, with backup connections including DSL and 4G helping maintain service during outages and enabling rapid connectivity for newly acquired locations.

The SD-WAN technology continuously monitors network performance and automatically selects the best available connection based on bandwidth, latency and jitter. This allows traffic to switch between connections with minimal disruption, even during voice calls. By connecting its two head offices and our data centre through a resilient, high-speed network, Mole Valley Farmers can also host services across multiple locations to improve redundancy and service continuity.

Our data centre remains central to the solution, providing secure, centralised internet access and supporting voice connectivity through a direct link to Gamma. Routing internet traffic through a central point reduces security risks and simplifies compliance, while Cisco ASA firewalls provide additional protection and failover. Together, these measures deliver a secure, reliable network that supports Mole Valley Farmers’ day-to-day operations.

“We have worked together for a number of years and during that time, they have become Mole Valley Farmers’ trusted network provider. From a personal point of view, I know they are just a phone call away should I require any assistance or need to report an issue. I have a good relationship with our account manager and the networks team, and I trust their expertise implicitly. I would have no hesitation in recommending them to other large, multi-site businesses and organisations.”

Arron Watson . Head of IT

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