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X-Lab

When the UK’s national Covid-19 Track and Trace programme needed to scale rapidly, X-Lab required HSCN connectivity that could go from zero to live in days, not months. Cloud Gateway provisioned a working proof of concept within minutes and had a full platform tenant operational in 11 days, enabling X-Lab to process more than 550,000 tests per day in support of the national Track and Trace programme.

From zero to 550,000 Covid-19 tests per day
HSCN connectivity live in 11 days

We were ready to launch - however, other potential HSCN connectivity solutions were proving to be a huge blocker. And then within a matter of days, or even hours, we had it - thanks to the Cloud Gateway team. We were very impressed by the speed,
quality and customer service we received.

Tom Keble

CTO at X-Lab

The speed of response from Cloud Gateway was the real benefit. The fact that we could build something very quickly, that was secure, scalable, and affordable, meant we could remove any delays in being able to build out our services. The whole onboarding process was really slick and easy to follow and everyone understood the need to move quickly.

Mat Barrow

X-Lab CEO

The challenge

X-Lab’s Labgnostic platform holds 90% UK market share for lab-to-lab diagnostic test referrals under the NPEx brand. When Covid-19 hit in March 2020, X-Lab’s focus shifted overnight to processing large volumes of Covid tests as part of the national Track and Trace service.

X-Lab’s existing HSCN integration service, running on an incumbent connection, was consistently hitting its bandwidth allowance. To meet Track and Trace targets across Pillars 1 and 2, X-Lab needed to scale bandwidth fast. A direct HSCN connection was assessed but ruled out: lead times were too long and costs too high to meet the urgency of the programme.

What we did

We deployed our cloud-native HSCN connectivity platform, connecting X-Lab’s Microsoft Azure environment to the Health and Social Care Network. A working proof of concept was established within minutes. The full tenant was provisioned and onboarded in 11 days from first engagement, without the lead times and cost of a direct HSCN connection.

The impact

Working proof of concept established in minutes from first engagement
Platform tenant fully provisioned and onboarded in 11 days
Bandwidth scalable on demand, with X-Lab supporting the UK Government’s
Track and Trace daily targets across Pillars 1 and 2
Platform capable of processing several million tests per day if required
More than 550,000 Covid-19 tests processed per day at peak, in support of the UK Government’s Track and Trace programme