Gateshead-based IT firm Aspire Technology Solutions have secured a high-profile new client in the organisation behind the Simplyhealth Great North Run. The technology company, headed up by founder and Managing Director Chris Fraser, now provide managed services for The Great Run Company’s offices in London and Newcastle upon Tyne.

“The company were looking to move away from their current managed services provider, so we jumped at the chance to show them what we could do to simplify and improve their network, and lower costs,” said Aspire’s Dave Maltby, The Great Run Company’s Account Manager.

The technology firm had a strict deadline to adhere to and managed to significantly reduce their lead time to observe this. Aspire’s standard lead time of three months was cut down to only one month plus a month of testing, in order to ensure their new client would not be left without support between providers.

Neil Gregory, Infrastructure Manager at The Great Run Company, said, “We are delighted to be working with Aspire and are looking forward to a long, successful working relationship. They have already demonstrated their excellence in service delivery and technical support in the short time we have been working with them.”

The Great Run Company made use of their newly-implemented leased line connectivity in January with the ballot for the Great North Run, while still hosted on their own servers, run using their new and improved connectivity from Aspire.

As the popularity of the annual run grows year on year, thousands of entrants were hoping to secure one of the 57,000 places in the famous half marathon that runs between Newcastle and South Shields.

In addition, a logical next move for The Great Run Company after their connectivity solution was put in place was to migrate to Aspire’s revamped DRaaS (Disaster Recovery as a Service) solution, with the technology firm eager to continue providing excellent support and delivery throughout the length of the contract.