Multinational companies are familiar with the many challenges of global business. Forbes listed the three top challenges as:
- Difficulties Analyzing and Reporting on Performance
- Lack of Financial Control
- Ensuring Local Compliance
A root cause of these operational challenges can be found in the disconnectedness of the systems supporting the global business. As Forbes puts it, “Cracks in the technology foundation.”
Connectivity Challenges
One point of connection that underpins all technology systems is communication. More specifically, the network that connects all locations, whether they are direct connections or facilitated through cloud applications. Every branch office, manufacturing and distribution facility is constrained by the connectivity services offered locally. Carriers and internet service providers may offer anything from satellite, microwave, fiber optic, cable, 5G, LTE, or even xDSL.
One Ecessa WANworX® client said of his organization, “When they build a warehouse, they don’t think about Internet. They think of low cost and access to a freeway. Because physically our locations are so far from Internet hubs, we’re stuck with twisted pair copper telephone wires to run DSL lines.”
That’s a big advantage of Ecessa’s carrier-agnostic approach to software-defined wide area networking (SD-WAN). Because Ecessa isn’t tied to one carrier or even one type of service, it can support any combination of network access anywhere in the world. And it does.
Global Business Network Examples
Take Summit Partners, for example. The global growth equity investment firm has offices in Menlo Park, Boston and London. Summit Partners uses Ecessa’s WANworX SD-WAN solution to support network data resiliency, VoIP, and video conferencing. According to Vic Zelny, CIO of Summit Partners, “We have a complex WAN environment with real-time VoIP and video protocols being key to our business. Ecessa [WANworX] is smart enough to reroute the traffic without impacting the in-progress conversation. So, even if the primary link fails, the remote Ecessa device has the packets in the right place.” Videoconferences don’t glitch or drop.
Woodstream, a manufacturer and distributor of consumer goods, has facilities in North America, United Kingdom and China. “Some of our locations are in the middle of nowhere, making it hard to find Internet connections with decent service,” said Larry Schumacher, Woodstream’s network administrator.
Prior to installing Ecessa solutions, Woodstream locations lost connectivity when Internet links failed and in many cases couldn’t work at all. Woodstream implemented Ecessa’s WANworX SD-WAN technology to enable the use of multiple ISP connections with VPN tunnels.
Creating a virtualized WAN with Ecessa’s SD-WAN solution enables Woodstream’s network traffic to flow over all available communication links. If a line goes down, traffic is automatically routed to the remaining good links, then routed back when the line comes back up. “Now even when our MPLS links fail, which they do from time to time, our users don’t notice anything different,” said Schumacher. “With WANworX in place, we’ve never had a problem, we’ve never gone down. Ever.”
Ensuring Reliable Connectivity Around the World
Ecessa supports worldwide hotel chains, global energy companies, regional transportation businesses, schools and universitites, and smaller organizations around the world. A leading clinical research organization with 35 locations in the U.S., Canada, and Europe relies on Ecessa to keep its full mesh network continuously connected and its communications secure. Another Ecessa client in the credit reporting, global information and insights industry connects offices in 30 countries spanning five continents. Ecessa helps them securely manage a complex global network. No matter how many (or few) locations you have, wherever you’re located, Ecessa will make your business run better with more reliable internet access.
Find out how Ecessa can improve network security and reliablity for your global business. Contact us today.