WiFi 6, VoIP and UVV: Polytype Modernizes its Network and Communications

200 employees work at the company's headquarters in Fribourg, as well as approximately 10 employees of the parent company WIFAG-Polytype Holding AG. They use a common network infrastructure and a telephone system from AlcatelLucent Enterprise, which has been supported by UMB since 2013. This system could not meet the requirements placed on a modern UCC solution today. For example, it was not possible for employees to make calls outside the company (for example, in the home office) using the company number. The network infrastructure for LAN and WLAN also no longer met current requirements. The client access switches were outdated and did not offer any PoE functionality. The end devices were only connected with 100 Mbs and the uplinks of the switches were limited to 1 Gbs, which led to considerable performance losses. It was therefore decided to implement a completely new and uniform solution for network and telephony for the Fribourg site. During the evaluation, it became clear that UMB AG could offer an overall solution that covered all functional requirements and offered secure future perspectives. The professional support for the existing telephone system and the possibility of continuing to use existing licenses and partially billing for services via the existing maintenance contract were further arguments in favor of UMB and the solutions from AlcatelLucent Enterprise. Thus, UMB was awarded the contract for the project at the end of 2020 and successfully completed the implementation in the summer of 2021.

New infrastructure for LAN and WLAN

For the new network solution, the existing core switches from HPE Aruba were retained. Stackable LAN switches from the AlcatelLucent OmniSwitch® 6560 product family are now used as client access switches, providing a proven peripheral solution for fast, highly available, secure, and easy-to-manage networks. The demand for high performance is realized with multi-gigabit ports for IEEE 802.11ac high-speed devices, fiber-based 10GigEUplinks and 20GigE stacking. Reliability is ensured by the SpanningTree network protocol, the AlcatelLucent Operating System (AOS), two data centers and the stacking configuration with redundant power supplies for the switches. For the WLAN, access points from the AlcatelLucent OmniAccess® Stellar AP1320 indoor series are used, which use IEEE 802.11ax technology (WiFi 6) to enable higher speeds, more capacity and efficient allocation of airtime on the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz WiFi bands. Access rights are now assigned for different user groups via user network profiles. Separate SSIDs (Service Set Identifiers) for employees and guests provide additional security.

VoIP and UCC for telephony 

A modern virtual UCC environment was implemented for telephony, with the AlcatelLucent OmniPCX® Enterprise Communication Server at its core. The communication server offers high-quality voice connectivity and flexible call management, providing telephony functions at any location and on any terminal. At the Fribourg site, 140 AlcatelLucent DECT telephones 8254 were installed. The rugged wireless phones designed for industrial environments feature a compact design and intuitive navigation. For access to unified communications (UC), AlcatelLucent OpenTouch® Multimedia Services have been implemented, providing a wide range of UC functions. Users can access these functions via the AlcatelLucent OpenTouch® ConversationClient on their desktops, laptops or smartphones. The AlcatelLucent OmniVista® 8770 Network Management System (NMS) provides a uniform overview of OmniPCX Enterprise and OpenTouch - and thus centralized administration of the complete solution. The AlcatelLucent OpenTouch® Session Border Controller ensures secure communication over the Internet. It protects the company against VoIP and SIP denial-of-service attacks as well as fraud and eavesdropping activities.

Benefits of the new solution

The new network meets the high performance requirements of WIFAG-Polytype. The client access switches offer fast and reliable connectivity with 1G ports and 10G fiber uplinks. LAN and WLAN (Wi-Fi 6) are extremely stable and can be managed centrally. The new VoIP telephony solution gives users the ability to use telephony and UCC functions (such as directory, one-number or forwarding) regardless of location - with the same user interface on PC and smartphone. The complete server environment for network and telephony is now virtualized and can be configured, controlled, and monitored with the new network management system in place.