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Digital transformation

Orica case study: SD-WAN

Helping the Australia-based multi-national to increase productivity within a secure and flexible environment. 

December 19, 2023
4 minutes
Digital transformation

Orica case study: SD-WAN

Helping the Australia-based multi-national to increase productivity within a secure and flexible environment. 

December 19, 2023
4 minutes

The challenge

Orica wanted to increase productivity and drive costs down, whilst giving employees the ability to work from anywhere, at any time and on any device.

The solution

By shifting from multiprotocol label switching (MPLS) to full SD-WAN, Orica could apply more granular security policies to users, no matter where they were connecting from.
The result Users can now work anywhere, any time. Orica’s on-premises data centres are now cloud-enabled. And they have best-in-class security, which is central to their transformation.

The challenge

Orica wanted to increase productivity and drive costs down, whilst giving employees the ability to work from anywhere, at any time and on any device.

The solution

By shifting from multiprotocol label switching (MPLS) to full SD-WAN, Orica could apply more granular security policies to users, no matter where they were connecting from.
The result
Users can now work anywhere, any time. Orica’s on-premises data centres are now cloud-enabled. And they have best-in-class security, which is central to their transformation.

Like many organisations, Orica was embarking on a digital transformation. As the world’s leading producer of explosives, with over 13,000 employees and operations in over 120 countries, it was vital that security sat at the centre of their strategy.

We began working with Orica back in 2015 as part of a global network and security partnership. The trusted partnership has really evolved since then as Orica have shifted their focus to become a digital and data-driven company.

The challenge

Orica needed to transform to allow employees to operate from anywhere, anytime and on any device. They wanted to increase productivity and drive costs down, whilst also giving employees the ability to work flexibly at home without any issues. This proved difficult with their static and inflexible network.

Due to their global reach, Orica needed their security to keep up with the ever-increasing number of sophisticated cyber threats. 

They needed us to deliver a transformational software-delivered wide area network (SD-WAN) with associated network security services to ensure it was secure. There were a number of controls included, such as a distributed denial of service (DDoS) solution, firewalls and secure web gateways.

Security is a key enabler sitting at the heart of our digital transformation.
Chris Crozier CIO, Orica

The solution

We transformed Orica’s static network into a secure, agile infrastructure, shifting from Multiprotocol label switching (MPLS) to full SD-WAN.

We helped them adopt a Zero Trust approach to their network access. This allowed Orica to apply more granular security policies to users, no matter where they were connecting from – while still enhancing user experience. 

We also applied user segmentation to secure certified workloads across Orica’s server estate. 

In addition to deploying a security policy and posture management platform, Orica transformed their traditional signature-based endpoint security by deploying new global detection and response capabilities.

The result

Users can now work anywhere, anytime. This allows Orica to be more productive, while keeping costs down. And their on-premises data centres are now cloud-enabled.

Our trusted partnership with Orica means they now have the best in class security, which is central to their transformation. 

According to Chris Crozier, CIO at Orica, “[BT have] been able to provide a tremendously valuable partnership with teams working on our MPLS to SD-WAN engagement, but also the ongoing day-to-day requirements of that network. 

“We have individual projects at scale to be able to roll out the new network requirements and support and finally we get very detailed insight depth and capability from BT to enable to business and drive the transformation that’s required.”

As BT, we’re an end-to-end trusted partner. We’re there to protect Orica’s organisation and their customers, whilst also equipping Orica with the knowledge they need in the moments that matter.

The way in which BT and Orica work together is one of true partnership… we’ve worked together to transform the initial contract into one that is a lot more digitally orientated as part of Orica’s wider transformation.
Tris Morgan Managing Director , BT Security