CASE STUDY
VITRA SIMPLIFIES NETWORK ACCESS WITH BYOD
Networking innovation fires design flair for Swedish furniture company, making wireless communication a transformative business enabler with the implementation of a ‘bring you own device’ strategy
V
itra’s furniture business is headquartered in Switzerland but
its flagship store, Vitrahaus (pictured), is located across the border in Weil am Rhein, south Germany. The VitraHaus invites visitors to
explore, define and refine their sense of design, where communications and collaboration are central to bringing these concepts to life. The furniture company has been
partnering with Cisco for over a decade, evolving its IT infrastructure and expanding wireless local area network (LAN) deployments. The biggest concentration of wireless access points, more than 70, is at Weil am Rhein. The latest stage of that IT strategy intends to make wireless a key enabler for business transformation. “Improving guest Wi-Fi access was very
important,” said Marco Gersbacher, head of IT infrastructure services at Vitra, “while
50 Autumn 2013
we also wanted to make sure the business was fully prepared for staff and customers using their own devices.” Although Vitra had no formal
‘bring your own device’ (BYOD) policy, a growing number of employees were using personal smartphones and tablets alongside company laptops in the workplace. This trend created problems with device recognition and password reset requests. Certain devices could connect only over the wired network, others just to Wi-Fi, and some not at all. So a robust BYOD framework was a strategic priority. Without visibility of devices, however, the company was unable to guarantee network performance and security. A validated Cisco Borderless Network
design has helped enable Vitra to unify access across all network domains, including wired, wireless and virtual private network (VPN). Installed by NextiraOne, the system includes a LAN
refresh, based on Cisco Nexus 5548 and 1000V Series Switches in the core and Cisco Catalyst 3750 and 2960 Series Switches at the edge. Cisco Aironet 3500 Series Access
Points with CleanAir technology were also installed, forming a self-healing, self-optimising wireless infrastructure that can intelligently avoid radio frequency (RF) interference. And Cisco AnyConnect, combined with Cisco ASA 5520 Series Firewalls, provide a secure VPN service for remote and home workers. The Cisco BYOD Smart Solution features the Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) and delivers an all-in-one network policy control platform. The first element, the switching
upgrade, has optimised IT services with highly available 10 gigabits per second (Gbps) performance. And the Nexus 1000V Series Switches have given the company greater insight into virtual
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