Cloud services
Ixom case study:
SD-WAN
Ixom wanted a more flexible replacement for its old traditional network solution – one that could meet its users’ needs while lowering costs. Find out how we helped with a Software-Defined Wide Area Network (SD-WAN) solution.
November 13, 2019
3 minutes
Cloud services
Ixom case study:
SD-WAN
Ixom wanted a more flexible replacement for its old traditional network solution – one that could meet its users’ needs while lowering costs. Find out how we helped with a Software-Defined Wide Area Network (SD-WAN) solution.
November 13, 2019
3 minutes
Ixom needed a new, cost-effective cloud solution that’ll connect everything and everyone in the business with the information they need, any time, anywhere.
A Software-Defined Wide Area Network (SD-WAN) solution would support Ixom with the bandwidth and network expansion capability it needs to work more online.
A new, flexible cloud network that cut costs by up to 25% and allowed Ixom employees to become more productive and collaborate better.
Overview
Ixom wanted a more flexible replacement for its old traditional network solution – one that could meet its users’ needs while lowering costs. And with 45 locations across the world, they needed a network that could connect them all.
We built a custom SD-WAN solution designed around Ixom’s business. It securely supports all its essential cloud applications, gives its users up-to-date information they need, and puts Ixom on the front foot for innovation.
The challenge
Ixom is a manufacturer and trader of chemicals and ingredients. Based in Australia and New Zealand, it ships around 15,000 products worldwide from 45 sites in 16 countries. Connecting all of the 1,000 employees is essential to keep operations running smoothly. But the company’s old traditional network solution was inflexible, and making changes was costly.
For Ixom, digital enablement is key. The team’s ambition was to connect everyone and everything in the business so users could get the information they needed, whenever they needed it – even on the move.
A cloud solution was the obvious choice, and SD-WAN seemed like the best fit.
But because the business is global, they needed the right solution that could connect them across the world. It was essential that they could make changes quickly if needed. And the team at Ixom wanted a more agile system that could help them react faster, without blowing the budget.
BT knew us well. The team knew our drive to be connected, to be mobile, and to move more and more data through our network than ever before.
The solution
After considering multiple options from different suppliers, Ixom chose our SD-WAN solution to help them on the path to digital transformation. Our market-leading system gives the company more bandwidth, which it knew it would need as it continued to expand and work more online. We connected all 45 sites to the new network using hybrid Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) and internet network across sites to create a truly global SD-WAN solution.
We worked with Ixom to design a tailored system perfectly suited to the business. Having previously worked with similar businesses in the same vertical, we used our experience to suggest the right combination of solutions. So, the team got exactly what they needed.
We set Ixom up with Agile Connect, which is based on Nokia’s Nuage technology. As well as retiring the old traditional network solution, we also retired Ixom’s internet connections through Secure Internet Gateways (SIGs) during the move to SD-WAN.
Agile Connect doesn’t just give the IT team more visibility of the network through a single portal. It adds an extra layer of security, and proactive monitoring and reporting to the already super-secure SD-WAN.
BT also set up for Ixom, a new innovative cloud networking Virtual Wide Area Network (VWAN), with Microsoft and Agile Connect, utilising the latest Azure networking solution.
Once the network was in place, the Ixom IT team modelled their application landscape to send the high-priority traffic down the best-performing route, and less important data over an internet service.
Helping Ixom on its digital transformation journey
The result
“The results have been fantastic. It’s been revolutionary for our employees – they can now run what they need, when they need it. And we’ve been able to deliver solutions to the business faster than we’ve ever been able to do before,” says Ixom’s chief information officer, Rowan Start.
Because their cloud applications perform better, teams can get the information they need faster. And customers can get real-time information on their orders. Also, Ixom has been able to roll out new solutions to the business faster than before, because the cloud-based network is easy to control from anywhere.
The extra network visibility that SD-WAN provides has also helped the IT team optimise its network traffic to prioritise what matters most. Our single network management centre is available all day, every day, so if the team need help or wants to make a change, we’re on hand to help.
And with proactive monitoring and reporting built into the solution, we’ve ensured the network stays protected and runs smoothly. It’s given Ixom the confidence to be more agile – and a powerful platform for innovation. It’s also boosted collaboration across the company, and cut costs by up to 25%.
We couldn’t have achieved this without our great partnership with BT. It’s been great teamwork, and the technical expertise they bring to the table has ensured we’ve always been able to solve things.
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