Case study industry: Fully managed SD-WAN down to the construction site
More than 250 sites, from larger offices to construction sites that come and go: KAEMI connects a German industrial company with Cisco Meraki and manages SD-WAN, LAN and WLAN at all sites completely, from the internet provider and the best line per site to hardware swaps in an emergency.
The starting point
An industrial company with project business has two kinds of sites: the fixed ones, from headquarters through larger offices to branch offices, and the moving ones, construction sites that appear with a contract and disappear with it. Both need reliable networking, but classic site connectivity is built only for the first kind.
Then there was the line question: more than 250 sites, each with a different local supply of xDSL, fibre and 5G/LTE, plus per-site provider contracts and, in case of a fault, the question of who is actually responsible. Managing this variety tied up internal capacity that should have been driving the core business.
The assignment for KAEMI: move the sites to a managed SD-WAN with Cisco Meraki, take the construction sites along, and take over the whole thing as a full managed service, internet providers included. As usual for references, we do not name the customer.
The project at a glance
- Industry
- Industrial: plant engineering and technical services
- Location
- Germany
- Environment
- More than 250 sites, from larger offices to changing construction sites; xDSL, fibre, 5G/LTE
- Solution
- Fully managed SD-WAN, LAN and WLAN with Cisco Meraki
- Service
- Design, rollout, provider management, proactive incident handling, hardware swap
Anonymised at the customer's request.
The approach
What makes this SD-WAN special
SD-WAN technology alone does not connect a construction site and does not clear a line fault. The difference lies in four decisions that make the model work in daily business.
Construction sites as moving locations
In project business, new places of work appear all the time, and they disappear again. A network model that opens its own project per construction site cannot keep up. So construction sites are a site type of their own here, with their own connectivity path, not the exception.
Provider management included
KAEMI also manages the internet providers: ordering, fault clearance and the work with the carriers per site. The company has one point of contact for network and lines, instead of chasing a different provider for every site.
The best line for each site
xDSL, fibre or 5G/LTE: for each site, the connectivity that is available and sensible there is chosen, with redundancy for outages. The combination is reviewed continuously and optimised whenever something better becomes available locally.
Proactive instead of reactive
Monitoring spots faults before they become a ticket: KAEMI works incidents proactively, coordinates fault clearance with the providers and, in an emergency, also swaps the hardware at the site.
The solution
Three building blocks carry the network
Platform, connectivity and the construction-site model interlock: designed once, repeated at every site.
SD-WAN, LAN and WLAN with Cisco Meraki
All sites run on Cisco Meraki with central cloud management, from the SD-WAN through the switches to the WLAN: templates per site type instead of one-off configuration, changes take effect everywhere, and every new site starts from a proven pattern.
Connectivity mix with redundancy
Every site gets the locally best combination of xDSL, fibre and 5G/LTE. If the primary path fails, the second path takes over automatically; the SD-WAN steers traffic across the best line available at the time.
The construction-site case
For construction sites there is a pre-configured case solution: Meraki hardware and 5G/LTE connectivity, plug it in on site, done. When the project moves on, the case moves with it, without a new setup project.
The approach
Four phases to a managed network
Nobody migrates more than 250 sites at once. The templates per site type turn the big project into many small, identical steps.
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Site types and design
From headquarters through larger offices and branches to the construction site: first the site types were defined and a template designed per type, with connectivity, redundancy and rules. The design is created once; the rollout repeats it.
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Rollout across the sites
Then the migration of more than 250 sites during normal business, site by site: lines ordered, hardware shipped pre-configured, switched over, verified. The templates keep the sites uniform.
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The construction-site model
In parallel, the case solution for construction sites took shape: pre-configured Meraki hardware with 5G/LTE that project teams can connect themselves. New construction sites no longer need their own network planning.
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Full managed service
Since go-live, KAEMI has managed the entire network, from the SD-WAN to LAN and WLAN at the site: monitoring around the clock, proactive incident handling, management of the internet providers including fault clearance and, in an emergency, the swap of hardware at the site.
The result
What the company has today
- More than 250 sites on one platform: SD-WAN, LAN and WLAN centrally managed, with uniform templates.
- Construction sites are connected with pre-configured cases, without a setup project per site.
- For each site the best available connectivity from xDSL, fibre and 5G/LTE, with redundancy for outages.
- One point of contact for network and providers: KAEMI manages both, including fault clearance with the carriers.
- Faults are detected and worked proactively, often before anyone at the site notices.
- In an emergency KAEMI swaps the hardware at the site; keeping the site running does not depend on a vendor's shipping route.
SD-WAN for your sites, managed by KAEMI
In a joint analysis workshop we look at your sites and lines and show what a fully managed SD-WAN can look like for your environment, construction sites and providers included. No obligation, and concrete.