Powertech, one of South Africa's largest providers of high quality technical equipment, support and engineering services, needed to replace its ageing legacy network infrastructure, and turned to long-term technology partner Bytes Systems Integration's (SI) networking division BytesNet to provide the answer.
"Due to there being only one big service provider to rely on, the service levels and guaranteed bandwidth we were experiencing was insufficient and unreliable and did not meet the needs of Powertech," says Etienne Viljoen the IT operations manager at Powertech.
"The transition to BytesNet did not only take away the responsibility of administering the WAN but also provided proper redundancy and improvement in service and speed."
Business and technology goals
As part of the solution, BytesNet proposed a national Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS)-based virtual private network (VPN), which was the ideal solution to meet the traffic demands and diverse networking needs of the some 1 000 users at Powertech, without the usual unnecessary costs attached to such a project.
The successful implementation of this system is a business enrichment initiative for Powertech, and will provide a host of value-added benefits to the organisation.
Solution
Armed with a key understanding of Powertech's needs, the BytesNet team needed to ensure the new network could provide future scalability, full redundancy and uninterrupted supply for the company. One of the burning issues facing the project was that the upgraded network be able to handle the ever-increasing demands of a growing company that was fast outgrowing its existing infrastructure.
The new VPN required a forklift upgrade of the existing equipment and needed to serve around 1 000 users, while at the same time consolidating the company's telecoms infrastructure. The BytesNet team worked with a number of vendor solutions to build the network, including Cisco, Packeteer, Juniper Networks, MTN-NS and Telkom, with the mammoth network needing routers at no less than 23 sites.
With improved business automation and a truly converged network, Powertech now has its own MPLS hosting facility, as well as centralised Internet services and traffic isolation, without the huge capital outlay that many service providers require when taking on such a task.
The first phase of the solution was completed in December 2007, with upgrades continuing and still in progress. The project was large scale and involved fast implementation ensuring the successful outcome and enrichment of overall business.
Conclusion
"A network is the often times the most critical component of any IT infrastructure as it provides the glue that keeps people connected," ends Viljoen.
"We needed to be sure that the Powertech network met not only the existing business needs of the company, but future business requirements as well. The project has been very successful and we consider it a true reference site to the quality of work that Bytes and BytesNet can offer as a trusted advisor to its customers."
Benefits
* Complete load balanced head office capability on new network.
* MPLS unified data carrying service.
* Centralised applications and Internet using MPLS.
Fast facts
Customer: Power Technologies Limited (Powertech)
Web site: http://www.powertech.co.za
Number of employees: 890
Country: South Africa
Industry: Electrical manufacturing
Customer profile
Powertech delivers advanced technologies for the creation, management, distribution, storage and use of electricity across industries. The company's core businesses include the reliable delivery of high quality technical equipment, support and engineering expertise to support demanding client requirements across a range of specialist applications.
Hardware, software and services
* Vendors
* Cisco
* Packeteer
* Juniper
* Networks
* MTN NS
* MPLS VPN Implementation
Partners
* Bytes Systems Integration
* BytesNet
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