Kyocera Document Solutions Europe B.V.

A flexible partner for a complex project:
Building a pan-European network with RIEDEL Networks

Thomas Schröder

Manager IT Operations Management

Kyocera Document Solutions Europe B.V. is a leading global provider of printing and multifunctional systems as well as digital solutions for information and document management. As an experienced partner, the company supports organizations in making their information processes more efficient, secure and sustainable - from capture and processing to output management. With a holistic approach to solutions and a strong focus on flexibility and environmental awareness, Kyocera accompanies its customers on the way to a smarter workplace.

Flexibility creates real solutions

How Kyocera and RIEDEL Networks jointly implemented a complex IT project

In a new IT project, there are always a number of technical requirements and criteria that must be met to ensure that a functioning solution is launched at the end. However, it is also important to consider the intangible factors that are crucial for a successful project. One of these factors is flexibility: the ability to adapt to and deal with every conceivable situation.

In 2017, Kyocera Document Solutions Europe began developing a concept for a new pan-European backbone network. The new concept was to be implemented and managed by a single provider - a flexible company that could cope with the demands and complexity of a network spanning different European countries.

I have been with Kyocera Document Solutions Europe for 15 years and currently manage the IT operations. My team is responsible for the IT infrastructure, from the network level to the application level. This infrastructure provides central IT services for Kyocera Document Solutions Europe. This enables our customers - our colleagues and our partners - to expand their business activities.

The promise: Flexibility and never having to open a ticket again

In 2017, we received instructions from our headquarters in Japan to further centralize our IT services and standardize the IP infrastructure in the EMEA region. In order to provide the services securely and reliably, we needed a solid foundation. We also had the strategic directive to move more services to the cloud. This gave rise to the idea of a pan-European backbone network.

The main lines of this pan-European backbone network are MPLS lines with IPsec VPN connections as a backup via the customers' local Internet access points. Previously, the network was built entirely on Internet-based VPN connections, which meant that we could not guarantee a high quality of service due to technical limitations.

"When looking for a partner, the top considerations are competitive pricing, high-quality service, and above all, flexibility."

In summary, our requirements were: competitive prices, high service quality and, above all, the flexibility to adapt to the different conditions in the individual countries. No matter which partner we chose for this project, they had to be able to adapt flexibly to the requirements of the customers at each location.

One of my colleagues had worked with RIEDEL Networks before and suggested that the company be involved in the official bidding process. Although Kyocera Document Solutions Europe had never worked with RIEDEL Networks before, we quickly realized that the company was a better fit than any other competitor we had considered. We were very impressed with the promised service improvement, pricing and the company's reputation for flexibility.

RIEDEL Networks offered us direct access to their second level support specialists as well as proactive monitoring of the entire network. If a network connection went down, my team would no longer have to create a ticket or wait ages on the support hotline with an uncertain chance of success. In IT, every minute spent on hold troubleshooting is a minute your colleagues can't work - and that lost time can mean financial losses for your business. At RIEDEL, I felt confident that direct contact with the support specialists would help us solve problems much faster.

Smoothing out the bumps of a complex Rollout

My team started the project by designing the internal network, taking into account the compliance and security requirements in the EMEA region. We then met with the account management team and the technical specialists from RIEDEL Networks and presented the specific requirements of the individual locations.

We decided to carry out the deployment in two phases. In the first phase, we connected our four most important data centers and locations, and in the second phase, we began connecting the remaining locations. We will continue to work throughout the summer of 2021 to roll out our pan-European backbone network to all of our customers and locations.

We are very pleased that the deployment has gone so smoothly so far. Throughout the rollout so far, RIEDEL Networks has met our expectations in terms of competence and flexibility. Even with very detailed rollout planning, sometimes requirements change during deployment and everyone involved has to find a way to cope with these changes. This is especially the case when you are working with several locations in several countries and local conditions have to be taken into account in each country. RIEDEL Networks has responded extremely flexibly to all situations and incidents.

Proactive monitoring creates cost savings

The deployment is still ongoing, but we have already noticed that the network is much more stable and the quality of service is much better from the customer's point of view. Troubleshooting has also been accelerated, as RIEDEL's proactive monitoring of the network means that failures are noticed immediately and rectified very quickly with local partners in the individual countries. Instead of coming to work in the morning and finding chaos, I now have an email waiting for me informing me that the alarm that went off at 2:15 a.m. has been fixed immediately.

We have completely outsourced network management to a company that we trust and that informs us when problems occur. The fact that we no longer have to monitor the network ourselves is of great added value for us as internal IT, so I can then sell this service on to our customers with a very good feeling.

"Working with a single partner eliminates the complexity of working within a large, multifaceted region."

We now have one point of contact for the entire EMEA region, which is very beneficial for us. The EMEA region is a very heterogeneous geographical area that spans many different countries with different laws and business requirements. The complexity is many times greater than in other markets. By working with just one partner for the entire region, we have been able to reduce this complexity. We don't even have to worry about language barriers anymore. Sometimes simple misunderstandings between people who don't speak the same language can be very expensive to resolve.

This brings us to another benefit of working with RIEDEL Networks: by working with such a professional and flexible partner, we have been able to save costs. With another provider, we would very likely have had to invest 30 percent more in our network over the past three years.

A launchpad for future projects

This collaboration with RIEDEL Networks was the starting signal for further projects. RIEDEL now advises us on numerous technical projects, such as our plans for cloud services, and always finds a solution when something unexpected happens. In the course of the deployment, for example, we discovered at several points that we were obliged by local law to operate our services locally. RIEDEL offered us a colocation room in their data center, which was the optimal solution for us and helped us to provide our IT services to our customers. The partnership with RIEDEL Networks, from account management to technical advice, has proved invaluable to Kyocera Document Solutions Europe time and time again.