What's up with WANS?

This allowed for a phased migration, with branch migrations taking place as and when Internet circuits were provisioned, tested and verified ready for migration to the new network. The actual migrations were carried out during non-working hours in order to ensure that there was no impact to the business and no loss of productivity.

MWH office span the globe. We do not have IT staff in each office. This presented us with another challenge: how to set up and configure routers with non-IT staff doing the work. We used a USB-based provisioning process to configure the routers at each office. A “branch migration kit”, which contained the required cabling, documentation and a pre-configured USB key, was assembled for each office and sent with the router. In order to provision the router, it was connected to the new network circuit and then powered up with the USB key inserted. The USB key, then automatically configured the router and connected it to the MWH network. This process entailed considerable preparation to be completed by the project team, but resulted in a much smoother migration process which could be completed with minimal local technical input.

We did not tackle either of these challenges on our own. One of the key best practices, we employed as part of this implementation was taking good counsel. We relied upon the advice and expertise of our partners like Cisco and Glue Networks. After all, no one has all the answers. We built an integrated team of internal experts, Cisco and Glue Networks, all managed by an experienced IT project manager. Everyone had a vested interest in the success of the project, and our partners were part of the team. We did not look at them as ‘suppliers’, but rather as advisors who helped get us from old to new. During the conceptual design and investigative testing of the new network, we depended on Glue Networks for guidance on our core network routing, WAN acceleration, circuit provider selection and configuration, and many other significantly more technical and complex considerations such as optimum routing protocols to use.

LET THE BENEFITS BEGIN

Implementing SD-WAN technology solved several business problems and provided a number of benefits:

Improved File Sharing – MWH works globally, bringing the best and brightest to our clients, regardless of where the experts are located. The growth of 3D, 4D and 5D modelling, point clouds, and increased use of complex graphics is driving increased file sizes. Collaboration can become frustrating as people wait for uploads and downloads. The new network design also enabled us to implement new network circuits at MWH offices across the world which were, on average globally, 11.2 times faster in terms of download speed and 6.5 times faster in terms of upload speed. In fact, we improved the bandwidth of the network circuit at over 70 percent of our offices globally.

Increased Agility – Our old network was fully outsourced. We used a connectivity service provider as an intermediary between MWH and the actual providers. This created lengthy lead times for circuit ordering, which meant that if our company wanted to set up an office 60 days from now, we simply couldn’t do it. Our contract mandated 120 days lead time. By taking on all the network provisioning directly ourselves, we can set up an office in 30 to 60 days. This provides MWH with greater agility.

Greater Collaboration – IT wanted to deploy Lync voice globally. An additional capability that was realized by the business as a result of the new network implementation was the ability to deploy Lync voice to remote locations where this was previously not possible due to restrictive circuit bandwidths. This has increased the number of internal peer-to-peer calls that are made over the network and allows least-cost routing policies to be applied. More importantly, it drives collaboration as anyone in the company can very easily access anyone else through Lync.

Quicker Response Time to Clients/Improved Client Satisfaction - The biggest impact this project has had in the business has been the overall performance of the corporate network. Project teams across the globe are now able to exchange files quickly and efficiently. This allows a “follow the sun” tactical approach to many of the projects underway with the exchange of large files and data such as 3D modelling data and CAD files taking place regularly between MWH offices across different countries and regions.

SD WAN technology has enabled MWH to ramp up the speed with which we connect and serve our clients and our employees. It’s a win-win for any WAN manager.