BACKGROUND
Univar is one of the world’s leading independent distributors of industrial and specialty chemicals and related services with an extensive network of approximately 170 distribution centres across North America, Europe and China. 2008 saw sales total $2.4 billion in Europe and $9.4 billion worldwide.
As a leading company, specialising in the sales, marketing, application and safe, efficient handling of a wide range of chemicals and ingredients, Univar Europe, Middle East and Africa serves customers from all industries across the spectrum, from pharmaceutical and food right through to coatings and chemicals.
Operating from 56 distribution locations in 20 countries across Europe, Univar’s 2,300 European employees serve more than 50,000 customers in a diverse range of industries.
REQUIREMENTS
During 2008 Univar recognised the critical dependence of operations on the IT Network and made the strategic decision to improve the network design.
SICL, as a leading network specialist, and trusted technology partner to Univar was invited to analyse and design an improved solution. SICL visited Univar Fontenay, Paris, completed a detailed survey and analysis from which a new design was formulated to provide a functional, fast, secure, resilient and scalable network infrastructure that established a benchmark for Univar Europe.
SOLUTION
The Paris site network infrastructure was subsequently deployed by SICL with the design based on a resilient core switch environment, with access layer connectivity embodying the Cisco principles of Campus design with ‘self-healing’ features.
Security was improved by the enhanced security features on the Cisco platform with more flexibility and control of security policies towards the aim of the ‘Self-Defending network’ and providing a foundation for adoption of 802.1x Network Access Control (NAC).
Resilience was improved by removal of single points of failure within the network core through the use of intelligent stackable devices and resilient uplinks from Access Layer switches.
Scalability was achieved through the adoption of the Cisco Campus Model design throughout the infrastructure at all layers and results in a predictable network that has the added benefit of simplified management and maintenance and the uniformity of a single vendor / brand and corresponding operating systems at all sites.
The installation involved no downtime during business hours and therefore mitigated operational risk. The design is inherently resilient and also provisions hardware support by Cisco SmartNET.
RESULT
Improved functionality, security, resilience and scalability of the network has resulted in greater confidence in the network generally. SICL has subsequently used this benchmark design on further Univar European sites as part of a rolling program across the estate.
“SICL is a trusted technology partner with significant experience in network infrastructure design and deployment. Univar collaborate well with SICL to achieve our strategic IT goals.”
IT Manager
Univar Europe