AGL Energy, a leading Australia integrated energy company, was experiencing increased demand on their MPLS network after moving to SaaS-delivered applications and migrating from ISDN to SIP. This network was also becoming expensive to manage forcing internet traffic through their data centre rather than allowing a direct internet breakout. This, along with their ongoing migration from ISDN to SIP, forced AGL Energy to rethink its network strategy.

Solution

AGL Energy sought the advice of Telstra Purple’s experts on how SD-WAN could deliver a better user experience for SaaS services meeting AGL Energy’s cost requirements. Together they designed a SD-WAN network choosing Cisco Viptela SD-WAN on ISR-4ks. The SD-WAN managed service solution was delivered and integrated on Telstra’s Integrated Operations Management (IOM) platform for better management and visibility of their network and access to a dedicated support team of Level 3 IT experts. 

Outcome

The managed SD-WAN solution has so far been successfully rolled-out to 8 of AGL Energy’s 13 sites, digitally delivered and managed through Telstra’s IOM platform. The solution delivered better site network resilience, consistency of application performance and minimised service disruption. AGL now enjoys increased cost-efficiency and network management with the benefits of optimal performance and end-user experience.

• By choosing IOM, AGL Energy gets the certainty of a single Assurance Network Operations Centre from Telstra to run WAN, LAN and WLAN networks via IOM with a single partner to manage their network end-to-end.
• IOM provides proactive alarming and comprehensive reporting provided through the SolarWinds portal, a single pane of glass that helps to quickly detect, diagnose and resolve multi-vendor network performance issues.
• The SIP design continues to use Quality of Service (QOS) over MPLS for high-quality voice and video, with the resiliency of secondary internet links in case of an outage. 

“AGL is all about putting our customers first; SD-WAN allows AGL to deliver improved experience to our “internal” customers. Partnering with Telstra and Cisco has been instrumental in the success of our SD-WAN implementation, ensuring the successful design, delivery and operations. And more importantly the seamless transition of services from traditional connected networks to SD-WAN services” 

Ming Teh, Platform Owner, Cloud & Infrastructure, AGL.