Managed Site — connectivity managed per location
Most connectivity problems are not really about the line. They are about who noticed it was down, who is chasing the provider, and whether anyone can say when it will be back. A Managed Site replaces buying a standalone circuit with a complete managed outcome for that location: the access service, the equipment on it, monitoring, fault handling with the underlying supplier, and reporting you can actually use.
Three tiers, chosen per site according to what an outage costs there. Sites on the same contract can sit on different tiers.
Essential
For ordinary branches and offices where connectivity is important but full redundancy is not required.
- Access service
- One primary business connectivity service using fibre, broadband, fixed wireless or LTE
- Managed equipment
- Stem-managed business router with remote configuration and configuration backup
- Monitoring
- Central availability monitoring and automatic fault detection
- Fault management
- We log and escalate faults with the underlying supplier
- Reporting
- Monthly service availability report
- Support
- Standard business support and remote troubleshooting
- Customer visibility
- Stem Control Standard access
- Optional additions
- Managed Wi-Fi, voice, static IP, firewall and backup connectivity
Resilient
Recommended defaultThe recommended default for multi-site customers that cannot tolerate extended connectivity loss.
- Primary access
- Business fibre, broadband or fixed wireless selected for the site
- Backup access
- Secondary service using a different provider or technology where feasible
- Failover
- Automatic failover through a managed dual-WAN router or firewall
- Monitoring
- Continuous monitoring of both links, including availability, latency, packet loss and failover state
- Incident response
- Proactive notification, supplier fault logging and coordinated escalation
- Support
- 24/7 incident support for monitored outages
- Reporting
- Monthly SLA and availability reporting for both links
- Customer visibility
- Stem Control Advanced access
- Preferred combinations
- Fibre plus LTE; fibre plus fixed wireless; diverse FNO fibre; broadband plus LTE
- Optional additions
- Managed firewall, SD-WAN, managed Wi-Fi, voice and security services
Critical
For operationally critical, payment-dependent or high-impact locations.
- Diverse connectivity
- Two independently delivered services using diverse providers, paths or technologies where feasible
- Traffic management
- Managed SD-WAN with active-active or active-standby operation and performance-based path selection
- Security
- Managed firewall with central policy and secure remote administration
- Monitoring
- Continuous availability, latency, jitter, packet-loss and application-path monitoring
- Operations
- 24/7 NOC support, priority escalation and formal major-incident management
- Service management
- Named service manager and scheduled service reviews
- Reporting
- Monthly performance report and root-cause analysis for material incidents
- Equipment lifecycle
- Configuration backup and defined replacement process
- Customer visibility
- Stem Control Advanced with multi-link and performance reporting
- Optional additions
- Managed Wi-Fi, voice failover, tertiary mobile or LEO backup, SASE and enhanced on-site support
Tier comparison
The practical differences, side by side. Availability of any particular combination is address-dependent and confirmed before we propose a design.
| Capability | Essential | Resilient | Critical |
|---|---|---|---|
| Primary connectivity | Included | Included | Included |
| Backup connectivity | Optional | Included | Included with diversity requirement |
| Managed router | Included | Dual-WAN | SD-WAN or HA edge |
| Automatic failover | Optional | Included | Included and policy-driven |
| Managed firewall | Optional | Optional | Included |
| 24/7 monitoring | Availability | Both links | Full performance and path monitoring |
| Supplier escalation | Included | Proactive | Priority and coordinated |
| Service manager | No | Optional | Included |
| Root-cause report | On request | For major incidents | Included for material incidents |
| Stem Control | Standard | Advanced | Advanced |
| Best fit | Ordinary office | Business branch | Critical operational site |
What a Managed Site is built from
The tiers describe the outcome and the operating model. The underlying services are the same ones we deliver individually, and each has its own detail page.
Primary connectivity is usually business fibre for ordinary offices, or enterprise fibre where a site cannot tolerate contention. Where fibre routes are unavailable or slow to deliver, business wireless is often the practical primary instead.
Backup is commonly LTE or a second fibre service from a different network operator. On Critical sites, SD-WAN manages traffic across both links rather than simply switching between them.
Edge security is delivered as Stem Secure Edge, our managed Sophos firewall — optional on Essential and Resilient, included on Critical.
Optional site layers include managed Wi-Fi and hosted PBX, which sit on top of any tier.
Frequently asked questions
The questions that come up most often when businesses move from buying circuits to buying managed outcomes.
What is the difference between a Managed Site and buying a circuit?
A circuit is a line into your building. A Managed Site is the line plus the equipment, monitoring, fault handling and reporting around it. If the connection breaks, we already know, we log it with the underlying provider, and we tell you where it stands. You are buying an outcome for the location rather than a service to plug in yourself.
Which tier should we choose?
It depends on what an outage costs that specific site rather than on its size. Essential suits offices where a few hours offline is disruptive but survivable. Resilient adds a second independent connection and automatic failover, and is the usual default for multi-site customers. Critical is for locations where payments stop or operations halt, and adds diverse providers, SD-WAN traffic management and 24/7 operations.
Can different sites be on different tiers?
Yes, and most multi-site customers do exactly that. A head office or payment-dependent branch might be Critical while smaller offices sit on Essential. Tiers are chosen per location; Multi-Site Network is the layer that keeps them consistently designed, delivered and reported.
What does backup connectivity actually mean?
A second service into the same site using a different provider or a different technology where feasible, so a single provider fault does not take the location offline. Common combinations are fibre plus LTE, fibre plus fixed wireless, or fibre from two different network operators. Feasibility is address-dependent and we confirm it before proposing anything.
Do we have to move our existing connectivity to you?
Not necessarily. Feasibility per address determines what is possible, and in some cases the sensible design keeps an existing service and adds management, monitoring and backup around it. We confirm what is available at each site before recommending a change.
Where to go next
The pages that usually matter once the tier question is settled.
Multi-Site Network
The layer above individual sites: one design, one rollout programme, one support model and consolidated reporting across every location.
Network and coverage
What is feasible at a given address, likely lead times, and where resilience genuinely needs planning rather than assuming.
Browse the technical products
If you already know the access type you need, the individual product pages carry the detail on each one.
Note: Availability, diversity and lead times are address-dependent. We confirm feasibility per site before any commitment.