Wabtec advances transit innovation with global IT agility

For years, Wabtec supported the information and communications needs of its global employees with disjointed networking solutions from several telecommunications companies. However, as Wabtec’s ever-evolving business and IT needs modernized, its incumbent telecom providers’ rigid legacy network infrastructures proved to be inefficient.

The company needed a higher-quality global network from a single global provider to support its critical business applications like Microsoft Lync, video conferencing systems and Oracle solutions, while also managing Wabtec’s substantial data back-up needs.

“Many of the larger telecom providers are very old companies and not as agile as we would prefer,” said Doug Salah, lead security and network architect at Wabtec. “We needed a single provider that would help us design a global network that is very agile to meet our rapidly changing business demands.”

Recognized results

• Consolidated vendor management
• Streamlined cloud migration
• Enhanced application performance
• Improved network reliability and control
• Optimized security resources
• Enhanced user experience

Solutions

Wabtec turned to professional services firm Advanced Technology Consulting, Inc. (ATC) to provide telecommunications expertise and recommendations. ATC’s experienced network and communications team provided a thorough assessment of various solutions and recommended Masergy.

“Tier-One providers offered inflexible solutions that we had to adapt to, and we subsequently had to change how we operated as a company to fit into their ‘box,’” said Salah. “Masergy on the other hand wanted to help us find the right solution and ensure that it met all of our needs. It was really refreshing.”

Masergy helped Wabtec deploy a seamless global MPLS network for reliable worldwide application delivery and performance with:

• MPLS for guaranteed service and security
• Internet Plus on the same access circuit for Internet connectivity
• Intelligent Service Control for real-time bandwidth allocation, visibility and control
• Multiple circuit configuration to diversified POPs for redundancy and disaster recovery

Business success

Masergy helped design and deploy a customized network solution for Wabtec that could meet their global IT demands. Specifically, Masergy’s cloud-based Intelligent Service Control tools have given Wabtec management the ability to constantly monitor the status of their global network and easily make real-time bandwidth modifications within minutes. For example, the Critical Plane in Wabtec’s network can prioritize the company’s Oracle data and applications above regular Internet traffic for greater speed and reliability. Also, the network’s Limited Plane allows for lower-priority, continuous data backups while other applications receive greater bandwidth.

Masergy’s global MPLS network provides a reliable platform that delivers consistent and superior-quality application performance to support Wabtec’s use of Microsoft Lync, Exchange and SharePoint solutions, as well as Tandberg video conferencing and Oracle applications, among others.

“We are becoming a more technology-driven company, and are moving more towards applications like Microsoft Lync and Oracle systems to enhance our operations and communications,” said Salah. “Masergy provides the networking power we need to make our applications run efficiently and effectively across our global enterprise.”

Delivering on Promises – “Our biggest concern was to have a much better experience with our new vendor. Customer service from our previous vendors had been very spotty,” said Salah. “Masergy’s focus was 100 percent customer satisfaction. Their networking experts and consultants were a great fit with our team, and it has been a very positive experience.”

“The whole experience from day one has been fantastic,” said Salah, “I was very skeptical that we could find a vendor that could provide the level of service that we required, and we were pleasantly surprised with the great services Masergy promised. And as we dug deeper into to the project, they have really delivered on those promises. This has been a great initiative, and will be a great longterm partnership.”