Expand Cloud and SD-WAN Success: The Customer's Journey to Global Network Resilience

INDUSTRY

Manufacturing

HEADQUARTERS

Espelkamp, Germany

NY SIZE

6,000 employees

OVERVIEW

The group company is skilled in the fields of electrical, electronic and optical connection transmission and networking, as well as in manufacturing and mechatronics. The group company uses these skills to develop customized solutions and products such as connectors for energy and data transmission applications including, for example, mechanical engineering rail technology, wind energy plants, factory automation and the telecommunications sector.

OUR SOLUTION

"The Quantum SD-WAN management was the easiest we saw among the systems we evaluated, and that's a great advantage."
— Team leader of network and security

CHALLENGE

As the customer worked to shift the technology infrastructure of its parent company, the technology group implemented cloud services where they proved beneficial. They found their existing networking environment became increasingly inadequate. The customer acts as the backbone for IT operational readiness, process transparency, and efficient IT support for thousands of employees worldwide within the group company.

However, for over two decades, the group company relied on a traditional dual-line infrastructure. Their MPLS lines were prohibitively expensive, with a two-megabit connection costing the same as a 200-megabit internet line. Additionally, they found their network routing capabilities growing increasingly unreliable and they lacked the network redundancy they needed.

The technology group continues to invest heavily in internationalization, automation, digitalization, and capacity expansion, including new plants in Poland and capacity increases in Mexico and the USA. The manufacturer of industrial and circular connectors, network components, and other related products needed the most robust and flexible networking capabilities possible. “We needed reliable connectivity, intelligent traffic routing, and cost-effective network management in a fully integrated platform,” explained, the team leader of network and security.

SOLUTION

After carefully evaluating multiple options, the customer selected Quantum SD-WAN. There were several reasons behind the decision. First, the customer appreciates its long-standing relationship with Check Point. “We already were a very long-time customer of Check Point, and Check Point security products have proven themselves to be effective and dependable,” the team leader of network and security said.

There was also the ease of management the team found with the Quantum SD-WAN, as well as the ability to integrate seamlessly with existing firewall infrastructure, and the fully integrated security platform Check Point provided. “The Quantum SD-WAN management was the easiest we saw among the systems we evaluated, and that’s a great advantage,” he said. Quantum SD-WAN offers comprehensive SD-WAN management and security, featuring optimized network.

During the implementation, the customer deployed Quantum SD-WAN as a fully meshed VPN across their entire network infrastructure. That consisted of approximately 120 firewalls across roughly 70 sites. This strategic deployment enabled SD-WAN even at locations with only a single Internet connection to ensure comprehensive network coverage.

OUTCOME

The Quantum SD-WAN delivered significant improvements. The increase in network reliability alone provided a more stable connectivity environment for the group company’s highly demanding global operations. The Quantum SD-WAN also addressed multiple technical challenges through intelligent traffic routing, automatic failover between network connections, comprehensive performance monitoring, and unified management.

The network team particularly appreciated the Quantum SD-WAN’s ability to make intelligent routing decisions based on actual traffic conditions, unlike their previous probing-based methods. This meant critical applications would maintain optimal performance even during network disruptions. “One of the main features missing before was real-world traffic metrics like round trip times, availability, packet loss, and similar measurements. However, Quantum SD-WAN provides us with all of that.”

Quantum SD-WAN requires minimal ongoing management, as it runs consistently with little to no intervention needed from the IT team once configured. “From the end user’s perspective, the network became more stable as traffic will failover in cases when needed,” he added.

The team leader of network and security continues to work closely with Check Point, with ongoing migrations anticipated to optimize their network infrastructure further. The customer sees Quantum SD-WAN as a critical component of its digital transformation strategy, enabling more agile, reliable, and cost-effective network operations. “If Check Point systems are running, then they are running. You don’t have problems, and you don’t have to do much to manage them,” he said.

“One of the main features missing before was real-world traffic metrics like round trip times, availability, packet loss, and similar measurements. However, Quantum SD-WAN provides us with all of that.”
— Team leader of network and security

About Check Point Software Technologies Ltd.

Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. (www.checkpoint.com) is a leading protector of digital trust, utilizing AI-powered cyber security solutions to safeguard over 100,000 organizations globally. Through its Infinity Platform and an open garden ecosystem, Check Point’s prevention-first approach delivers industry-leading security efficacy while reducing risk. Employing a hybrid mesh network architecture with SASE at its core, the Infinity Platform unifies the management of on-premises, cloud, and workspace environments to offer flexibility, simplicity and scale for enterprises and service providers.