Facewatch & Gordon's Wine Bar

Two businesses, one broadband provider – how G.Network are serving Gordon’s Wine Bar and their neighbours.

The Challenge

As both businesses shared founders and a location, they needed a reliable broadband connection to power both a tech company and a busy wine bar. The old copper connection couldn’t keep up, causing issues for Facewatch's cloud-based systems and Gordon’s payment processing.

Facewatch provides businesses with facial recognition technology that sends instant alerts when subjects of interest enter the premises. Their office is right next to Gordon’s Wine Bar, a family-owned business, set in the heart of the West End near Trafalgar Square.

The Challenge

Though totally different businesses, the two share founders and a location, so the team needed broadband that would suit the needs of both. Before G.Network arrived, full fibre broadband was not an option for businesses in the West End. Facewatch and Gordon’s both struggled with a slow, unreliable connection that was preventing them from doing business. 

“Being a tech company, Facewatch relies on good broadband, especially because most of our systems are cloud-based. And the real pain point we had at Gordon’s was the tills system, as payments rely on a solid internet connection. Our previous connection was getting in the way of running both businesses. When we saw G.Network digging the streets, we jumped at the chance to get better broadband.”

“With G.Network, we know exactly what we’re getting – guaranteed speeds and reliability. We really notice the difference now we have our own dedicated connection and we’re not contending with other internet users. I’d recommend all businesses to get a full fibre connection.”

Simon Gordon, Chairman

The Solution

They connected to G.Network Premium Full Fibre at the beginning of 2020 and since then, despite the pandemic, Facewatch has grown hugely. They now have hundreds of customers across hundreds of sites and with that comes a whole lot of data. 

“We need to be able to securely access our cutting-edge equipment including camera tuning and this is done over VPN from cloud management systems, so it relies on good broadband. Security is vital to us as we are the only fully GDPR compliant provider of facial recognition in the UK. In addition like most companies we work from home as well as office so being able to run virtual meetings is really important. We all know the frustration of buffering and dropouts by now!” 

Facewatch and Gordon’s have been G.Network customers for 2 and a half years now, and Premium Full Fibre has been a great choice for both businesses.