G4S relies heavily on being able to accurately manage all of its Cash In Transit (CIT) from the customer to the bank, according to Riaan Willemse, National IT and Control Centre manager at G4S Cash Solutions South Africa
The CIT management service forms part of a global cloud solution, which requires maximum uptime in terms of connectivity, with high speeds, low latency and full redundancy.
When looking to improve their network while reducing the cost of this service, G4S South Africa turned to XDSL, a local Internet Service Provider (ISP), to manage data lines and deliver their Xtreme MPLS solution.
“We work in a fast-paced environment which requires our systems to be up and running at all times. In order to keep operations running efficiently, we required a network designed for full redundancy on all sites, which also provides fast throughput and high capacity along with low latency,” said Willemse.
“The major ISPs were unable to provide us with the solution we required, as we were not simply looking to lease lines but needed a fully outsourced and managed network solution.”
The Xtreme MPLS solution from XDSL provides a Virtual Private Network (VPN) over a shared IP network, using a combination of fibre, Diginet, ADSL and 3G.
At each of the G4S branches, XDSL provides a Diginet line as well as two ADSL lines, with a managed IP Connect bundle for data and cloud services and a 3G managed APN network.
Each of these four access links offer automatic failover, with specified priorities for traffic set at the router.
XDSL also provides proactive monitoring, traffic engineering and full support. Network abuse and malware infections are proactively detected and dealt with before they can cause downtime or other issues.
“As with any implementation of this magnitude, there were some challenges faced at G4S. Firstly we were required to consolidate two separate networks, one for security and the other for corporate, and move all equipment from various locations at each branch to a central location.
"There was also a lot of legacy equipment at the branches which was not being used, which had to be removed from the cabinets to make room for the Xtreme MPLS solution. The existing security network was also poorly designed, so we had to ensure that the new installation was up to best practice standards. Working on a very tight deadline increased the challenge, however everything was completed without major problems,” explained Danie Fourie, director at XDSL.
