Science and R&D
Laboratories and technology firms with sensitive data, grant or investor obligations, and collaboration spread across several organisations.
Business parks and technology clusters
IT support for NETPark and Aycliffe businesses
NETPark and Newton Aycliffe run on precision: an instrument that has to hold a result, a line that cannot miss a delivery window, a supply chain with no slack in it. When the systems behind that stop, the cost lands as delayed milestones, missed orders and an awkward email to a parent company. We keep those systems running, and we keep the evidence for the people who ask about security.
30 mincritical response, SLA backed
24/7monitoring and alerting
On site from our Shildon head office, minutes down the A167
What this protects
Your milestones, your contracts and your answers to head office
A stopped line or a lost dataset costs more here than a slow afternoon. It shows up in delivery dates, in a customer who wants assurance, and in a report someone has to explain upward.
Production and delivery milestones
A research run or a manufacturing shift that stops does not come back. Revenue and a delivery promise both move when the systems underneath them fail.
The security questionnaire
Parent companies, investors and larger customers ask how you protect their data before they commit. A clear, evidenced answer is often what keeps the work.
Research and design data
Formulations, drawings, test results and source code are the value of the business. Losing them or leaking them is the cost that is hardest to recover.
Two sites, two economies, one set of pressures
NETPark is the North East Technology Park at Sedgefield, where the work leans toward research, development and small-batch precision manufacturing. Newton Aycliffe is a different shape: a large business park and industrial estate where firms run production, engineering and distribution at volume.
Both are served from our Shildon head office, a short drive away, rather than a staffed office on either site. That matters when a line is down and someone needs to be standing in front of a rack, not booking a train.
The pressures differ by firm but not by much. A research team cannot lose a dataset it spent a year building. A manufacturer cannot lose a shift. Both have to answer to someone above them, whether that is a board, an investor or a customer with a security team of its own.
The firms we look after here
Advanced manufacturing
Production and precision engineering businesses where a stopped machine is lost output and a broken promise to a customer.
Engineering supply chains
Firms feeding larger programmes, where the customer audits the supplier and the evidence has to be ready before the order.
Parent-company reporting
Sites that answer to a group elsewhere and inherit its security policy, its audit process and its sign-off.
Lean back-office teams
Businesses of ten to a few hundred people with no full-time IT staff, where the finance or operations lead carries the systems as well.
Mixed estates
Industrial control kit, laboratory instruments and office laptops that grew up separately and now have to sit safely together.
The production floor and the office
On a manufacturing site the industrial network and the office network should never be the same network. A machine controller, a weighing system or a test rig often runs an operating system far older than the office estate, and it cannot simply be patched on a Tuesday night.
We separate the two, then manage each on its own terms. Production keeps running on the software it was built around, while the office and the finance system get the patching, protection and backup they need. Where a legacy system genuinely cannot be moved, we isolate it and watch it rather than pretending it is current.
Questionnaires, due diligence and evidence
A security questionnaire lands on a desk with a deadline attached. It might come from a customer qualifying its supply chain, a parent company applying group policy, or an investor doing diligence before money moves.
We help you answer it honestly. That means knowing what you actually have, closing the gaps that matter, and assembling the evidence for the standards involved. We help you get ready for Cyber Essentials or ISO 27001 where a contract calls for it. We do not claim to hold certification ourselves, because that would be your certificate, not ours.
Where an engagement usually starts
- A walk of the site and an honest inventory of what is actually running, including the kit nobody has documented
- Separation of the industrial or laboratory network from the office network, with the routes between them closed down
- Backup that covers the data that matters, restored on a schedule so recovery is proven rather than assumed
- Protection and monitoring across servers, laptops and the systems that quietly hold business data
- Access control that stands up to a questionnaire: multi-factor authentication, least privilege and a real leavers process
- A short, plain summary of where you stand against the standard your customer or parent company is asking about
Answering to someone above you
A lot of the businesses here are not the final decision-maker. The policy arrives from a parent company, the budget is watched by an investor, or a customer with a large security team decides whether you keep the contract.
The rules often come from elsewhere. It is not enough to keep the systems running. You have to show what you did, when, and to what standard, in a form that can travel up the chain without being rewritten on the way.
We build the reporting and the evidence into the service as standard, so a request from head office is answered from records we already keep. We will also tell you plainly where you fall short, which is more useful than a flattering summary that collapses under scrutiny.
Supported from our Shildon head office
Thirty-minute response
Critical issues get a 30-minute response, backed by SLA. Sedgefield and Newton Aycliffe are close enough that an engineer can be on site quickly.
Round-the-clock monitoring
Servers, networks and critical systems are watched continuously, so a problem is often caught before anyone on site notices it.
Named engineers
Two named engineers and an account manager know your site, so you are not explaining your setup to a stranger each time you ring.
Rolling monthly terms
No multi-year lock-in and no exit fees. The agreement rolls monthly, which keeps the service earning its place.
No call queues
When you ring, you get an engineer. There is no tiered helpdesk passing you between people who cannot see your systems.
Hands on site when needed
Cabling, hardware and anything a remote session cannot fix are handled by our own team, not a subcontractor you have never met.
The businesses this cluster is built for
- R&D and science businesses
- Advanced manufacturing
- Engineering and the supply chain
- Firms owned by a parent company or an investor
- Businesses facing customer security questionnaires
Where to go next
Questions we get asked around NETPark & Aycliffe
No. NETPark and Newton Aycliffe are served from our Shildon head office, which is a short drive away. We do not claim a staffed office on either site, and we will not pretend otherwise. The response times and the on-site cover are the same as any of our branches.
Yes. We help you work out what you actually have, close the gaps that matter, and put the answers together with evidence behind them. That includes getting ready for Cyber Essentials or ISO 27001 where a contract asks for it.
We prepare you and help assemble the evidence. Certification itself comes from an accredited body, and that separation is deliberate. We do not hold those certificates on your behalf and we never claim to.
Usually yes, by separating the industrial network from the office network rather than trying to patch a machine that cannot be patched. Where an old system has to stay, we isolate it and monitor it instead of leaving it exposed.
Yes. We can build your monitoring, backup and reporting to the standard the group expects, and produce the evidence its audit needs. We are also used to working alongside a group IT team without treading on each other.
Talking to a parent company, an investor or a customer's security team?
Most firms around NETPark and Aycliffe eventually have to answer for their IT to somebody else. We can help you get the evidence in order before the question arrives.