W"urth South Africa, the local branch of an international company supplying fixing and assembly materials, chemical products, furniture, construction fittings, stock keeping and picking systems, has implemented a forklift upgrade to its network, leap-frogging its information and communications technology (ICT) infrastructure forward to provide a scalable platform that caters for future growth. KSS implemented the solution using Cisco equipment.
W"urth approached KSS in October 2004 when the company realised it needed to improve its network infrastructure. The South African operation was running its business on an outdated network that required an overhaul to prevent downtime, increase access speeds and ensure security was not compromised.
Says Mauritz van Niekerk, IT Manager at W"urth South Africa: "We decided to standardise on Cisco equipment on the recommendation of our international head office in Germany, which had previous experience of, and success with, the vendor. Connectivity to the office in Germany was also an important consideration and compatibility with their infrastructure was guaranteed with Cisco equipment. On the local front, we were also familiar with the Cisco brand which offers stable, reliable equipment that will support our business needs for speed and uptime.
"We decided to go with KSS as they are a focused reseller that specialises in the field of networking and convergence. It was important for us to partner with a company that would be around to meet our current and future support and maintenance needs."
The challenge, the solution
W"urth South Africa had two servers based at its head office in Isando, Johannesburg, containing auto process, stock management and financial data. Branch offices in Durban, Cape Town, Port Elizabeth, Bloemfontein and George required access to this centralised data. Slow response times were creating a negative impact on efficiency and a collection of mixed vendor networking equipment needed to be replaced.
To solve this problem, KSS suggested W"urth replace all switches and routers at both branch and head office level with a standard vendor product to ensure future compatibility with add-ons. KSS supplied a combination of Cisco`s 2811 and 2821 Integrated Service Routers (ISR) at its various branches.
Says Amit Ramkissoon, technical manager at KSS: "The equipment provides W"urth with the latest technology available from Cisco. It caters for future needs as well as growth on Internet Protocol telephony (IP telephony) and voice over IP (VOIP) platforms, which are set to become the `de facto`.
Having the foundations in place will create a smooth migration path that reduces costs and complexity.
It made sense to replace older equipment at the newly opened branch in George in the Eastern Cape with a `greenfields` installation. Additional branch upgrades were completed in a phased approach. Cisco`s backward compatibility made continued communication possible between branches that incorporated the newer equipment and those awaiting upgrades.
On KSS` recommendation, W"urth also decided to phase its implementation of Cisco routers and switches and run the networks in parallel to ensure business continuity. This allowed the company to resolve any installation issues without compromising the business. KSS supplied the equipment and handled the scoping, design and implementation. The switchover took place after business hours, ensuring minimal impact on the business.
Meeting future needs
Says Van Niekerk: "Although the implementation is not yet complete, the solution will provide us with the scalability and flexibility we need to meet future needs. We currently have numerous satellite branches throughout the country with sales staff making use of pen, paper and fax technology to communicate with head office. We envisage a `remote` workforce that is empowered through access to information that increases customer service and efficiencies.
"Our growth strategy includes the addition of more satellite branches in remote areas. This expansion will allow us to extend our reach to previously inaccessible markets and create greater brand awareness among consumers."
The installation is still under way and phase two will see the fine-tuning of the network and the implementation of best practices. Identifying and resolving bottlenecks will further increase network speeds and allow for faster access to information.
Future plans include implementing IP telephony to enable increased flexibility in office planning. "IP telephony will also allow us to maximise our investment in the equipment," notes Van Niekerk. "The platform supports running Private Branch Exchange (PBX) software on a router making use of IP communication. We can thus use less equipment for more branches."
The contract was sealed with a service level agreement (SLA) signed between KSS and W"urth. It will ensure W"urth`s future support and maintenance needs are taken care of within the required response times.
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